This book just did not work for me. I really enjoyed reading The History of Love (even though it was so long ago that I can’t tell you anything about it) and so I had high hopes for Krauss’s new novel but I did not enjoy this book.
I found there to be way too much going on. Flipping between a third person story (which is the part I actually enjoyed, for the most part) and a fictionalized first-person account from the point of view of the author, I was constantly trying to keep track of what was happening in each story, which was made more complicated by the fact that the events in both stories were very similar. Add to that the fact that the first-person account would go off on philosophical tangents and I was lost.
The end was even more confusing to me than the rest of the book. It seemed like she was trying to tie things together in a mysterious way but instead the book completely left the realm of realism and entered a weirdly magic place. Now, don’t get me wrong, magical realism can be great. But here it felt like it came out of nowhere, making a mostly realistic story feel lost and confused.
This book really missed the mark for me.
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