Helpful Score: 3
The main character in this book is so thoroughly unlikeable that you actually feel sorry for her boyfriend -- a character who a reader would normally loathe. The author's use of "lists" that her depressed character writes is simply aggravating. I will give it one prop: It is a penetrating account of a person having a nervous breakdown. I will also note that even though I knew this book was on people's wish lists, I left it in my hotel room on my vacation. It was such a miserable read (I did keep reading because I thought it was going to get better --- read it right till the last miserable page) that I couldn't imagine adding it to my carry-on bag's weight.
If you are reading this review before adding it to your wish list -- please spare yourself and skip it.
If you are reading this review before adding it to your wish list -- please spare yourself and skip it.
I picked this up because the author received a lot of accolades for her writing - a GRANTA award, I think. As expected, her writing is solid and gives me a good sense of what's going on around her and in her head; however, the writing is prolix (used purposely) and there's no getting around that. I couldn't get around it, anyway. I had to abandon it.
Rosa and I had zero in common and I couldn't even form a tenuous connection with her. Too much of a navel-gazer.
Rosa and I had zero in common and I couldn't even form a tenuous connection with her. Too much of a navel-gazer.
