Reviews

Last Things by Jenny Offill

girlglitch's review against another edition

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4.0

Told from the guileless perspective of eight-year-old Grace, Last Things is endlessly inventive and unexpected. Grace is caught between her father's love of science and her mother's myths, and the story is vaguely structured around her mother's own version of the history of the world. Then things start to unravel...

Last Things feels like a debut novel: it's creative and engaging, but there's something missing. It's a coming of age story without a transformation: Grace watches her mother descend into madness and her world spirals out of control, but her voice remains unaltered. Her journey never seems to reach a conclusion.

That said, Last Things is a compelling, imaginative read - hinting at the future brilliance of Offill's second novel, Dept of Speculation.

toniclark's review against another edition

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3.0

"Last Things" is the first novel (1999) by Jenny Offill, author of “Dept. of Speculation” (2014) and “Weather” (2020). I liked it, though I liked her next two even more (“Weather” is my favorite). Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, “Last Things” is full of wonder and danger.

“Grace's father believes in science and builds his daughter a dollhouse with lights that really work. Grace's mother takes her skinny-dipping in the lake and teaches her about African hyena men who devour their wives in their sleep.” [from the Amazon summary] I’m not usually keen on child narrators, but I easily warmed to Grace, caught between the worlds of reason and recklessness, torn between two fascinating and flawed parents.

Much of it is set in Vermont (my home) and even features Champ, the Lake Champlain monster.

anneclaire95's review against another edition

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4.0

Beautiful, lyrical, and heart-wrenching like a hand on my chest.

manaledi's review

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3.0

I loved [b:Dept. of Speculation|17402288|Dept. of Speculation|Jenny Offill|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1367929545s/17402288.jpg|24237023] and so had high hopes for this one. Her writing is still amazing and poetic, but the story didn't captivate me the same way. It's hard to have a child narrate an adult-themed book.

traciemasek's review against another edition

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3.0

I found this super engaging and imaginative and heart breaking but I’m writing this review 2 weeks after I finished the book and already completely forgot about it. Had to read the blurb to remember what it was about so I took at star off for its lack of staying power.

Maybe I should have given it four bc it does involve some of my favorite tropes: coming of age in the 80s, science education, New Orleans, and a hint of magical realism intertwined with intensifying family drama.

rebeccalm's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed the author's voice throughout this book - the words read like beautiful poetry to me. The choices in language and structure really helped to accentuate the fact that we were seeing the story of this family's life through the eyes of an 8 year old, Grace, who was quite an astute observer of the world and the people around her. A bit of truth, a bit of fiction, lots of weirdness - it really helped encapsulate the essence of childhood for me. The juxtaposition of the parent's personalities was also really interesting and well portrayed - a very grounded, matter of fact father and a more whimsical, spontaneous, storytelling mother. You would think the ideas of fact vs. fiction would be constantly at odds, but the portrayal of both parents and their respective quirks were so beautifully interwoven throughout the story - especially in how each aspect played themselves out in their daughter and the things she was picking up on about her family and their world. Such a beautiful and poignant book about growing up and realizing your parents are their own people with their own flaws.

allilikesbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed this book. The way the mother acted reminded me a lot of The Glass Castle, which I also enjoyed reading earlier this year. I'm glad I found this book.

g_treads's review against another edition

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4.0

- an interesting story about the collisions of genius and mental health and the reliability/relationships between parents and children
- my least favorite of Offill's novels, probably because of the age of the main character, very focused on the characters around her as opposed to her thoughts and feelings which I find more interesting
- surprising storylines and quirky characteristics throughout
- the style maintains the magical aura of her writing

heyitssones's review

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4.0

The farther back in her oeuvre I go, the more I like Jenny Offill's writing. Like her other books, it was a quick read in bite sized chunks, but filled with a sort of dreamlike quality, characteristic of young imaginations.

touchsomegrass's review against another edition

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3.0

this book tells the childhood story of an unsettling 8 year old girl who observes the falling apart of her parents' marriage, her mentally ill, free spirited mother rooted in fantastical worldviews and her scientist father and the gulf between fact and fiction. beautiful & hypnotising prose!! this was Jenny Offill's debut novel and i'm looking forward to reading her more recent books.