Rating: 3/5
Review:
Not for me
I didn't like this book, but I think it's my fault rather than Jane Smiley's. I don't usually get on with Sweeping Family Sagas but allowed myself to be persuaded to read this by glowing reviews...and I shouldn't have done.
It's rare that I give up on a book, but I've had a good go at this and I simply can't face slogging through any more of an interminable-seeming sequence of disconnected vignettes while trying to work out who is who, and to whom they are related and how. I'm afraid I just don't care enough, which is a pity. Jane Smiley writes very good prose, she creates convincing characters and shows real insight into the things she portrays, but as a novel it just didn't hang together for me and became far too much of a chore with very little in the way of reward or enjoyment.
Some worthy-looking books which I have expected to struggle with have surprised me by being readable and engrossing (Cloud Atlas and more recently A Little Life being notable examples). This isn't one of them. I've given it a neutral rating because, although I didn't like it myself, I recognise that it's well written and has genuine merit which others may appreciate far more, but personally I really can't recommend it.
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