Weather

I really wanted to like it — so many of my friends have — but it just didn't work for me. The writing is tight, terse yet rich and really quite enjoyable, the kind I would normally devour... but the story itself felt flat. Affectless. Is that a thing now? It reminded me of [b:lost Children Archive 40245130 Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547386427l/40245130.SY75.jpg 62525285]: an ever-so-detached first-person narrator moving through the world but without really being part of it. A complete lack of connection. The whole book is bleakness, resignation. Not the fog of medication or apathy — her observations are too sharp at every level — just ... I don't know. I don't get it. A kind of going-through-the-motions thing, with exquisite awareness yet no spirit.

Such a great book to start the year with! This is a complex story told through vignettes, short snippets of thoughts and observations about the minutiae of everyday life that all add up to a commentary on some much bigger themes: the climate crisis, the US healthcare system, the state of US politics, the inherent difficulties that accompany family dynamics. Jenny Offill's writing is witty and insightful, often funny, and really beautiful. I will be picking up more from her ASAP.