Jessica
This is the first book I've read in months that I've actually enjoyed reading and wanted to continue with. So, that's exciting. Unfortunately, I have to agree with some of the other reviewers' criticisms: many of the most important events in the book don't actually get scenes, but are referred to in passing after the novel skips forward in time. There is a lot of “telling”, rather than showing. Then sections of it seem like a sly wink at that “NYC academics who are also novelists” milieu, as if they were really the intended audience. (It's not as bad on this front as novels like [b:Americanah 15796700 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356654499s/15796700.jpg 21519538], but just in parts...) This combines to make a novel that is nice to read, but once you finish you realise it didn't really have much of a plot. I vastly preferred [b:The Lowland 17262100 The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366930267s/17262100.jpg 23858897] and recommend it to everyone who is considering reading this!
This is the first book I've read in months that I've actually enjoyed reading and wanted to continue with. So, that's exciting. Unfortunately, I have to agree with some of the other reviewers' criticisms: many of the most important events in the book don't actually get scenes, but are referred to in passing after the novel skips forward in time. There is a lot of “telling”, rather than showing. Then sections of it seem like a sly wink at that “NYC academics who are also novelists” milieu, as if they were really the intended audience. (It's not as bad on this front as novels like [b:Americanah 15796700 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356654499s/15796700.jpg 21519538], but just in parts...) This combines to make a novel that is nice to read, but once you finish you realise it didn't really have much of a plot. I vastly preferred [b:The Lowland 17262100 The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366930267s/17262100.jpg 23858897] and recommend it to everyone who is considering reading this!