This book is 4.4 on Amazon (4.5k ratings) and 4.3 on Goodreads (10k ratings). I'm looking to see if anyone here has read it and has thoughts on the writing. The author won a Pulitzer Prize for another book, and this book is clearly in the bottom three books out of about 1000 books that I have ranked.
The actual writing, not the story or plot, reads on a junior high student level. On nearly every page I was asking the author; "Why are you telling me this?" She has 500 paratheticals (like this one, but I didn't count) that added nothing (really) to the sentence (the string of words that form a singular thought.) I gave the book a 1/5, something I rarely do. Please tell me where I missed the boat on this book.
by sleepystork
3 Comments
Well, when you look at reviews right after a book is released they tend to skew very high or very low depending on the reputations of the author. If the book really isn’t that great at the end of the day, you’ll see the ratings dip and a year from now you’ll have a better sense of the overall popular opinion
Man I tried getting into Strout after hearing all the hype but her style just doesn’t click with me either 😅 Those parenthetical asides you mentioned drive me crazy too – feels like she’s constantly interrupting her own thoughts. Maybe the Pulitzer crowd sees something we’re missing but the writing felt pretty basic to me when I picked up one of her other books 💀
I love Strout! Have not read this latest one, but am looking forward to it. I love her style, but not every book clicks for everyone.
Have you read Olive Kitteridge? That’s the book most people know her by and has been made into a series. You might check it out. If that doesn’t appeal, I’d say you won’t like her other books.