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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
I'd read a number of average, ultimately unfulfilling novels this year, and decided it was time to choose something I was more likely to really get into. Since I found [b: A Visit from the Goon Squad|7331435|A Visit from the Goon Squad|Jennifer Egan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356844046s/7331435.jpg|8975330] amazing, and Jennifer Egan was about to release another title, I chose one of her earlier titles.
While I didn't love it as much as the other one, it was a pleasure to read words so artfully strung together. Egan's mastery of vocabulary and how to craft a well-written book fully impresses me. The plot creeps along, slowly, but methodically. The characters change and grow and made me ponder.
Why didn't I give it a higher score, then? I felt some of the parts with Z made the storyline bog down even more, and I never could fully understand Moose's deal. Maybe I would have liked it better with more emphasis on each character, or fewer characters, with more of a focus on the main story arc.
Still, I am very much looking forward to her new historical novel; her writing is a sheer pleasure to read.
While I didn't love it as much as the other one, it was a pleasure to read words so artfully strung together. Egan's mastery of vocabulary and how to craft a well-written book fully impresses me. The plot creeps along, slowly, but methodically. The characters change and grow and made me ponder.
Why didn't I give it a higher score, then? I felt some of the parts with Z made the storyline bog down even more, and I never could fully understand Moose's deal. Maybe I would have liked it better with more emphasis on each character, or fewer characters, with more of a focus on the main story arc.
Still, I am very much looking forward to her new historical novel; her writing is a sheer pleasure to read.
In Look at Me, Jennifer Egan explores the meaning of identity in the modern world, where new identities can easily be created with a few clicks of a mouse. This academic beginning to my review should not dissuade you from reading this absorbing book. Egan skillfully weaves several characters’ stories into an engrossing, thought-provoking novel. Some critics felt the novel suffered from the focus on the empty life of the glitterati that fascinates Charlotte, and truthfully, sometimes you sincerely dislike her. But you also like her pluck and self-truthfulness, and the focus is necessary to the novel’s themes.
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/look-at-me/
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/look-at-me/
Proof that A Visit From the Goon Squad was no fluke and that Egan was already one of our best contemporary writers. If anything, Look At Me is more impressive in its balance of nail biting narrative with provocative social commentary (not to mention its uncanny prescience about the rise of islamic terrorism).
Unlikable main narrator. It was difficult to get invested in any of the characters. The fact that the synopsis contains the word "edgy" should have been a red flag. I really only enjoyed how everything tied up at the end. However, I'm not sure if that was because it was actually good or if maybe I was just relieved it was finally over. A few interesting themes that could have been explored in depth were only touched on and everything felt very surface level.
This was an entertaining read. The story breaks into a dual narrative, and I was less interested in the second storyline. But, I did think the author explored some interesting ideas and also some interesting insight into aspects of our very visual culture.
Big portions of this are amazing, especially in the first half. Published in 2001, it was ahead of its time in contemplating reality tv, interactive online presences, and terrorism, but this has the paradoxical effect of making it seem dated now. Look at Me is about a model who is in a car accident and winds up with 70 titanium screws in her face.
There's a lot of good stuff in this, but like, I did not get this book? One of the characters is foreign, but he's written as a space alien? It goes on for too long and not enough happens. I dunno, sometimes I was on its wavelength and it felt special, but there were long stretches where I was not