Dual Citizens

Enjoyable read but doesn't quite land, I think, because of Ohlin's narrative choices. Mostly narrated in the first person by Lark, who is a child of an absent father and an unloving mother, who works to erase herself from most situations, which in different hands could have been a very interesting narrative perspective, but in this novel just leaves us with a bit of a non-entity. The sister too is problematic – a concert pianist who runs away from that world to run a wolf preserve – mainly because she serves no real narrative function except to frame the narrator's actions (sort of) and provide a vehicle (literally) for Lark's final desire (which is also kind of odd).

The interactions between the sisters provides some of the best material but is often peripheral. Lots of interesting ideas percolating in the book that never quite land. Nevertheless, it was an interesting read with lots of film conversations that I enjoyed (Lark is eventually trained as a film editor) .