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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
Thoughtful, funny, at times annoying, at times really enjoyable. Give it a chance.
The form of this book is interesting. It calls itself a diary, but it’s out of sequence and it’s been significantly edited to form some sort of through line. Does it work? Sometimes. I feel like I have way more insight into this author than I really want. I’m not sure that anything really insightful or remarkable was successfully captured. Most people would probably find this boring. I wasn’t exactly bored but I wasn’t moved, either.
Funny, smart, moving, silly. Sure, there are entries that read like "wtf who cares" and there are ones that are unbearably profound -- but the sweet spot are those middle moments, that find the profundity in the mundane and the mundanity in the moments meant to be immense. It's life, just written really really well.
Parts of this book are so bad (the random order of entries, the deliberate vagueness of non name-dropping name-dropping) and parts of it are so good (the actual writing!). And sometimes I can relate to Julavits completely and sometimes I think we could never ever be friends. She has some weird chosen affectations in both her writing and her personality that I just don't understand. She seems really dumb and really smart, really shallow and really deep. I kept reading because she's such a complex person and she kept surprising me.
I so enjoyed this book, and it did feel like reading a diary. I especially liked the notes about Maine and Mainers, which felt honest and true. I think Heidi and I should be best friends.
I don't get this book, this diary. If the author's goal was to make you think she was a winy, bitchy, narcissistic, insignificant person that really had nothing to say, she succeeded. If the book is meant to be ironic, it went right over my head. I confess I'm about half way through it, but I'm giving up. It's much ado about not much of anything. Pass.
While I certainly admire the form, as well as how brutally honest she is about what's going on in her life and her head, the thing about "diaries" is the only thing you have pulling you forward is the voice. And I simply cannot STAND this voice. She sounds like every Rich-Culture-White-Lady I've ever met at any Department Reception. (The thing with the Etsy seller was just AWFUL). Full disclosure, could not finish. Got about halfway through and I couldn't stand the sound of her voice any more. Still. Another reader may not have my same hangups? Her writing is strong, no doubt. I just wasn't picking up what she was laying down.
Some very beautiful passages. Interesting approach to not organize chronologically - made every entry stand on its own.
The Folded Clock is a diary of sorts, but not one that follows standard chronology. It jumps around in time like memory but with so much wit and insight that it makes no difference. It’s more like peering into the mind of a funny, insightful, honest friend who shares her thoughts about life, parenting, writing, marriage, aging, youth, friendship and much more. Highly recommended.