Painting Time by Maylis de Kerangal

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? This Electric Lit list of books curated by Camille Bordas, who wrote The Material, drew me to Maylis de Kerangal.

Why not 3 or more stars? Bordas was right to put Painting Time on a list about obsession. De Kerangal clearly did her research for this novel about the art of trompe-l’œil painting and couldn’t help sharing what she learned. The world she crafts is immersive but claustrophobically small. I kept wanting to peek behind the details—someone’s eyeshadow color, the way they looked while sleeping—to understand who the characters were as people. I settled on interpreting the deluge of minutiae as the development of Paula’s vision as a painter. Regardless, it’s tedious.

To the Lake by Kapka Kassabova

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? I loved being a member of the Graywolf Galley Club, receiving advance copies like this (plus swag).

Why not 3 or more stars? Kassabova steeps herself in the history and culture of Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa in the southern Balkans, her grandmother’s homeland, and learns how the region has shaped her own identity. The book’s languid and circuitous meandering failed to hold my interest despite the poetic voice at play in the writing. Nearly four hundred pages of examples of the area’s complexities return the reader to the premise of the introduction. Yes, yes, war and history shape people, but where might this journey have led with a more innovative approach?

The Chimney Sweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? A relative who loves a good thriller passed this one along.

Why not 3 or more stars? After novelist Gerald Candless dies suddenly, his daughter Sarah takes on a project to write a memoir about her beloved dad and uncovers a tangle of secrets that puts everything into question, even his identity. While Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine sure can string together a charming sentence, the mystery doesn’t earn the sweet time it takes to unravel.

The Pornographer by John McGahern

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? The illustrious NYRB Classics Book Club strikes again!

Why not 3 or more stars? I recognize that one shouldn’t expect much pep in a book about an unwanted pregnancy and the loss of a beloved aunt, but sheesh. The Pornographer does boast some solid writing, especially when our deplorable narrator reflects macroscopically on the nature of humanity, love, and death. Those moments would add up to five pages I would happily devour; the full effect of 250 pages of misery and cringeworthy characters, however, proves too much to overcome.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? Thanks to this bookstagrammer, I get all kinds of great recommendations for reads off the beaten path.

Why not 3 or more stars? I Who Have Never Known Men has a fascinating premise: a young girl and 39 women are imprisoned for years in an underground cage patrolled by guards, and no one knows why or how they got there. Once they escape to the desolate world above, the story spins its wheels for the rest of this short and nightmarish novel, stalling at any moment that threatens momentum. Harpman’s commitment to letting the reader marinate in uncertainty is quite the tease and memorable indeed.

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? Within my personal library, I am particularly proud of the nature collection and thought Fuzz would be a nice addition. This copy came from Politics & Prose.

Why not 3 or more stars? Mary Roach is a gifted writer with a keen eye for story, but she doesn’t manage to Rumpelstiltskin this into gold. Aside from the species of offender, Fuzz contains little variety. Nature, be it flora or fauna, causes harm to humans, and nature is dealt with, usually lethally. That’s about it. On the plus side: Roach’s signature dad jokes and a conversation with a Vatican priest about the ethics of man’s dominion (though the line of inquiry quickly peters out).

Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature by Charles Baxter

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? I recently read The Feast of Love and Gryphon and was excited to explore more of Baxter’s work when I found this at Politics & Prose.

Why not 3 or more stars? Writing about writing is one of my favorite genres, as it offers insight into the author’s approach to craft and, often, their own reading taste. I love coming away with a list of new things to read or the urge to revisit a short story with a different perspective. Wonderlands felt entry-level, its arguments too obvious to be robust. Like reality in the dream worlds Baxter describes, my mind tended to drift with every page.

Holly by Stephen King

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? One Tuesday last September, a customer rushed into the bookstore searching the shelves for this newly released Stephen King novel. Our copies had not yet arrived. A few months later, this most excellent cover enticed me from the shelves at Walmart, and I took it home.

Why not 3 or more stars? Holly takes place from within the firm clutches of COVID-19 tragedy and fear. It all felt forced to me and got in the way of the greater story at hand. Why did the specificities of pandemic America matter to this book? I’m not quite sure, but I am certain that the pace of the story warranted more speed, especially since the baddies are revealed from the outset. Hurry up, Holly!

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? You know what’s the best part about the remainders section at Politics and Prose? Sometimes I will have forgotten about a book I want to read, then squeal in delight to find it unexpectedly among the shelves.

Why not 3 or more stars? John Darnielle gives me literary blue balls. His stories are unsettling, run through with dread, and always reserved in their telling, so much so that you wonder whether he’s keeping something from you. The two teenagers who take the game too far, the event that destroyed Sean’s face, a reconnection with an old flame, Chris Haynes—none of it amounts to much. Like The Universal Harvester, Darnielle’s second novel, the central mystery isn’t to be solved. While I can respect the journey being the point, Wolf in White Van doesn’t lead the reader anywhere satisfying. I, for one, read the last line, shrugged, and set the book aside.

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? One of my truest joys is browsing the horror section at Powell’s Books on Hawthorne on a Saturday afternoon. This was a jewel from one of those excursions.

Why not 3 or more stars? This Thing Between Us is worth a look; it’s not a bad book by any means. I took issue with the epistolary format that didn’t end with the book’s climax and its meandering conclusion. There’s a certain sloppiness here that gets under my skin, especially when the story has such potential. Itches remain unscratched. Siri gone mad? I craved something a bit more ME3AN.