2.66k reviews for:

Dept. of Speculation

Jenny Offill

3.79 AVERAGE

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Read this in 2 sittings, the sadness is beautiful but formatted in a way that allowed me to avoid crying on the subway.
challenging emotional sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional medium-paced

Meh. 
emotional reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
miaaa_lenaaa's profile picture

miaaa_lenaaa's review

3.0
reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Very meh, it wasnt quite together enough to be together but also wasnt quite disjointed enough to be disjointed

To live in a city is to be forever flinching.
emotional sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A lightly philosophical novel which reads somewhere between a journal and a memoir. I want more visual detail and scenery, and more about the characters' personalities. This is such a short book, there was plenty of room for it. It was still well-written, emotional and thought-provoking even with only the minimum of these elements.

I read this in about an hour. I really like to dig in deep to a book, and though this was a fast read, it was gratifying, humorous and somehow encapsulated so much insight in its sparse style. It nailed it in such a unique way.

Some fun aspects (the Voyager record, various astronomy/space aspects) and very "modern" in style. A bit too random and the narrative / characters were not well developed. The main characters (I think!) were wife, husband, and daughter. This is a modern life story, but not an incredible read.
challenging emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes