Nik Kroushl
I worried that Kelly Link's brilliance as a short story writer would make her debut novel too dense or hard to follow, but I was thankfully wrong. Yes it was weird and broke the literary rules, yes there are some plot points I'm unclear about, but it was deeply accessible to follow Laura, Susannah, Daniel, Mo, Thomas and the others through their stories. I did actually really love these characters, they were all so distinctly wrought and had depth and their own arcs, which I think is difficult to do with a medium sized cast like this where they also all have their own POVs.
I was worried the ending would be unhappy, but it held its weight as a bittersweet and narratively appropriate conclusion. (I should have known better, based on the romance novel throughline.) The pacing was occasionally rambunctious, but the abundance of deeply funny moments and sexy moments and sweet moments made up for it all. I had a hard time putting it down and going to sleep.
I worried that Kelly Link's brilliance as a short story writer would make her debut novel too dense or hard to follow, but I was thankfully wrong. Yes it was weird and broke the literary rules, yes there are some plot points I'm unclear about, but it was deeply accessible to follow Laura, Susannah, Daniel, Mo, Thomas and the others through their stories. I did actually really love these characters, they were all so distinctly wrought and had depth and their own arcs, which I think is difficult to do with a medium sized cast like this where they also all have their own POVs.
I was worried the ending would be unhappy, but it held its weight as a bittersweet and narratively appropriate conclusion. (I should have known better, based on the romance novel throughline.) The pacing was occasionally rambunctious, but the abundance of deeply funny moments and sexy moments and sweet moments made up for it all. I had a hard time putting it down and going to sleep.