Ratings8
Average rating3.7
The Emperor's Children is a richly drawn, brilliantly observed novel of fate and fortune--about the intersections in the lives of three friends, now on the cusp of their thirties, making their way--and not-- in New York City. In this tour de force, the celebrated author Claire Messud brings to life a city, a generation, and the way we live in this moment.From the Trade Paperback edition.
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I felt compelled to finish this because I always feel compelled to finish books, but doubly so when I've borrowed it from a friend. In fairness, there was a point in the middle when I cared about what happened to the characters. But that point was a long time coming. Chalk it up to the economic climate, my general disdain for unhappy people who don't DO anything about being unhappy, or the barometric pressure, but I was bored and uninterested in the beginning. Things did get better, but that had more to do with twists of plot than character development, and by the end, the several characters I did feel invested in were mostly dropped from the arc of the story. Yes, work, life, and love can be complicated when you're a thirtysomething in New York, but I feel like that story has been told before. Better.
A bit long winded. The book could have ended at September. But I could see why she wanted to take it to November.