"In various ways, he shows that there’s nothing social about distancing."
There's your zinger.
Solid review -- and I'm grateful for clean, quick, incisive criticism about novels like this one in particular; I thought, in 2021, it'd be a few years til I'd want to read another word about Covid drama, but 5 years out from lockdown I'm thinking I'll never want to read a Covid book in my life. Glad someone's out there taking the bullet.
"The dialogue between siblings is expertly rendered — anfractuous and sometimes confusing, yet always following the sinuous path of a conversation that runs through a shared lifetime. Each shift is motivated by ancient subtext, adult conversations determined by disputes and in-jokes forged in childhood."
This is incredibly gracious commentary/analysis for what's ultimately a somewhat lukewarm response. Exactly the sort of criticism to help a prospective reader, and the author themselves.
Well, damn, seeing this comment has made my morning coffee a little less bitter and the prospect of heading out to the day job, well, also less bitter. Thank you so much for the kind words.
You're absolutely right, my reaction to the book was lukewarm. I figure digging into the why and the how of even a tepid response makes the reading of the novel worth it — and made it easier for me to get through a Covid book. I feel the same as you on that front, and now I've read one I think I'm done for good on that topic.
Still, you give the vibe here of an easy-handed writer-for-hire. In a good way! A lot of TMR reviews are special for how they get their hands in the mud with a book, and try to converse with it; this was an interesting, fluent, breezy change of pace. A perfect model of something I think they even mention in the mission statement, about wanting to be a watchdog on the fiction scene, apart from a platform for discussion. You should definitely market this particular knack. Not just quality writing, but the quick and pulp-free digestion/critique of new novels.
"Easy-handed writer-for-hire" makes me think cowboy in a way that I don't hate. I might put it in a bio. Thanks again for the feedback. Really looking forward to reading your next piece on BRBG.
"In various ways, he shows that there’s nothing social about distancing."
There's your zinger.
Solid review -- and I'm grateful for clean, quick, incisive criticism about novels like this one in particular; I thought, in 2021, it'd be a few years til I'd want to read another word about Covid drama, but 5 years out from lockdown I'm thinking I'll never want to read a Covid book in my life. Glad someone's out there taking the bullet.
"The dialogue between siblings is expertly rendered — anfractuous and sometimes confusing, yet always following the sinuous path of a conversation that runs through a shared lifetime. Each shift is motivated by ancient subtext, adult conversations determined by disputes and in-jokes forged in childhood."
This is incredibly gracious commentary/analysis for what's ultimately a somewhat lukewarm response. Exactly the sort of criticism to help a prospective reader, and the author themselves.
Well, damn, seeing this comment has made my morning coffee a little less bitter and the prospect of heading out to the day job, well, also less bitter. Thank you so much for the kind words.
You're absolutely right, my reaction to the book was lukewarm. I figure digging into the why and the how of even a tepid response makes the reading of the novel worth it — and made it easier for me to get through a Covid book. I feel the same as you on that front, and now I've read one I think I'm done for good on that topic.
Still, you give the vibe here of an easy-handed writer-for-hire. In a good way! A lot of TMR reviews are special for how they get their hands in the mud with a book, and try to converse with it; this was an interesting, fluent, breezy change of pace. A perfect model of something I think they even mention in the mission statement, about wanting to be a watchdog on the fiction scene, apart from a platform for discussion. You should definitely market this particular knack. Not just quality writing, but the quick and pulp-free digestion/critique of new novels.
"Easy-handed writer-for-hire" makes me think cowboy in a way that I don't hate. I might put it in a bio. Thanks again for the feedback. Really looking forward to reading your next piece on BRBG.
left and right used to refer to different sets of values, now they refer to whether or not to trust the experts
Loved the arrival of covid...such peace and quiet...hearing the birds sing...