Described as "a complex novel that builds slowly and deliberately," this book is indeed very slow and long and wordy. But it doesn't build up to a very big climax. Sure, it ends sort of nicely with everything all wrapped up, but it just wasn't very exciting.
I felt like the author's writing style was an exercise in making sentences as complex as possible and to show how much she knows about all sorts of topics. All the name-dropping of artists and literary references... (the way she did this in The Plot was somewhat intriguing to me, but now I'm feeling a little looked-down-upon for not being cultured enough to get things). Do we really need a Boo Radley reference?
My main complaint is that I can't even begin to imagine a family that dysfunctional. Sure, there is generational trauma, and the father is emotionally unavailable, but the mother seemed loving enough. And twins and triplets are known to have special bonds -- there were no reasons offered for these family members to dislike each other that much, so it was just not a believable story. Plus it made me dislike all the characters.
I did like Rochelle, who was maybe the only real character to me, albeit in a very extreme situation with her mother. The way the hoarding situation was described was done well. (But I didn't get how Sally, who couldn't stand even having a chair in her dorm room, would become interested in "things")
Phoebe, the latecomer, is actually a likeable character but also not believable. All too conveniently she is able to solve all her family's problems. For an author known "for the depth of character studies," again, I didn't think she showed how the characters (besides Sal's tragedy) could be so broken in the first place, and if they were all so seriously flawed, how they can be so easily fixed. I didn't feel like the character arcs were developed well.
Unfortunately, I didn't love this book.
I felt like the author's writing style was an exercise in making sentences as complex as possible and to show how much she knows about all sorts of topics. All the name-dropping of artists and literary references... (the way she did this in The Plot was somewhat intriguing to me, but now I'm feeling a little looked-down-upon for not being cultured enough to get things). Do we really need a Boo Radley reference?
My main complaint is that I can't even begin to imagine a family that dysfunctional. Sure, there is generational trauma, and the father is emotionally unavailable, but the mother seemed loving enough. And twins and triplets are known to have special bonds -- there were no reasons offered for these family members to dislike each other that much, so it was just not a believable story. Plus it made me dislike all the characters.
I did like Rochelle, who was maybe the only real character to me, albeit in a very extreme situation with her mother. The way the hoarding situation was described was done well. (But I didn't get how Sally, who couldn't stand even having a chair in her dorm room, would become interested in "things")
Phoebe, the latecomer, is actually a likeable character but also not believable. All too conveniently she is able to solve all her family's problems. For an author known "for the depth of character studies," again, I didn't think she showed how the characters (besides Sal's tragedy) could be so broken in the first place, and if they were all so seriously flawed, how they can be so easily fixed. I didn't feel like the character arcs were developed well.
Unfortunately, I didn't love this book.