Kate

You can tell Flynn is brilliant. I had to stay up late to finish but it was worth it.

This was very well-written, but after learning that Annie Dillard's story about the tomcat never happened to her, I'm pretty suspicious of memoir.

It's hard for me to identify my problem is, because all the pieces are believable: manic abusive visionary father who distrusts the government, abusive brother, mother who does nothing, family who bows to the father and brother's influence. Religion that makes people do crazy things. That all makes sense.

But something doesn't feel right.

My guess is that Tara had to dissociate as a child, to play a role, and continues to do so as an adult. That probably contributes to a feeling of distance in the writing. But I find it odd that we don't know what she currently believes about religion, or how she came to have a real boyfriend without dealing with her views about women. A lot of inner thought is left unexplored.

I hated the first few pages. So much purple prose. Something was described as “Sisyphean” and I had to roll my eyes.

But the book redeemed itself, with the plot and characters. I loved Graham and the expats and the concept of the ministry. I loved learning about the arctic expeditions.

I felt like High Fidelity did it better but the Julian Assange bits almost made up for it

A very smart book, written by a smart author. I didn't particularly like the love interests but that's ok.