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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book's beauty lies in it's writing, lyrical almost, and - to me - this retelling of Oedipus Rex is more iconic than the source material. Striped with themes of dementia and tinged with loss at every turn, "Everything Under" was one of the single most jarring books I've ever read.
The first chapter of my copy is full of underlined phrases and words, and most of my margins are annotated within an inch of their life. I laughed, I cried, and I grieved not only the narrator's mother's memory but also my own grandmother's. The echoes of dementia in the writing were so familiar with was painful, the disease taking my own grandmother's life a few years ago.
5/5 - and I wholly recommend for those wanting to experience loss and cry like it - whatever "it" for you is - happened hours ago.
The first chapter of my copy is full of underlined phrases and words, and most of my margins are annotated within an inch of their life. I laughed, I cried, and I grieved not only the narrator's mother's memory but also my own grandmother's. The echoes of dementia in the writing were so familiar with was painful, the disease taking my own grandmother's life a few years ago.
5/5 - and I wholly recommend for those wanting to experience loss and cry like it - whatever "it" for you is - happened hours ago.
Is this a beautifully written book? Yes. Can I see why it was shortlisted for the Booker? Absolutely. Did it have a good sense of place? Fabulous. Did I enjoy it? Hmm. I'm really not sure. The first half dragged for me, but I did get into it later. I much preferred Fen, and think that, for me at least, Daisy Johnson's style works much better in short stories.
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Dementia, Murder, Abandonment
Very creative and clever retelling of an old story, but although I generally liked the vibe, the writing was just a little too opaque,and it went on just a little too long for my taste.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's not a bad book. I didn't hate it. I wanted to like it. Ostensibly it has a lot of the things I enjoy in a book. But once I realized it's just Oedipus (there may be indications earlier, but for me it was the first mention of a limp), thoughts of OH I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE overwhelmed my reading experience ... also the writeups and the book itself really oversell the whole "they speak their own made-up language" thing, which I was hoping would be deeper. This is not incomprehensible twinspeak; this is a handful of made-up words that rises a level or two above what a lot of families and really anybody who spends too much time together ends up with.
Ultimately I wasn't thrilled by the mythic but well-trod twists and turns, and I'm left wanting to know how the narrator went from uneducated, unsocialized, abandoned teenager with presumably no official record of her existence to cottage-owning lexicographer, something that I assume requires at least a college-level degree. Unless you can walk into the dictionary office and floor everyone by saying "harpiedoodle."
Ultimately I wasn't thrilled by the mythic but well-trod twists and turns, and I'm left wanting to know how the narrator went from uneducated, unsocialized, abandoned teenager with presumably no official record of her existence to cottage-owning lexicographer, something that I assume requires at least a college-level degree. Unless you can walk into the dictionary office and floor everyone by saying "harpiedoodle."
Good, but not my favorite.
[woman searching for mother who abandoned her on river, Oedipus story]
[woman searching for mother who abandoned her on river, Oedipus story]
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Interesting but feel like it lost its way a couple of times because of how many little things were going on!