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Reviews
Winner of the National Book Award: A Novel of Fame, Honor, and Really Bad Weather by Jincy Willett
jdgcreates's review against another edition
4.0
It's hard to sum up my feelings about this book because it was simutaneously very funny and tragic. It was incredibly fluid which made it a quick read, and its bizarre characters, literary/intellectual satire, bawdy humor, and foreshadowing only added to the page-turning quality. Narrated by the hilariously caustic & inevitably flawed librarian/spinster twin sister of the town slut/glutton, the juxtaposition of their intimate beginning and subsequent divergence is quite entertaining.
There are plenty of fabulous library-related gems inside, one of my favorites being:
"I spent my next hour reshelving, and the next thirty minutes straightening out the Mc's and Mac's. Nobody on God's earth understands the Mc/Mac principle anymore. In order to do that, you have to be willing to think about something other than your genitals for a full minute. Nobody appreciates the horror of a good book dying on the wrong shelf."
There are plenty of fabulous library-related gems inside, one of my favorites being:
"I spent my next hour reshelving, and the next thirty minutes straightening out the Mc's and Mac's. Nobody on God's earth understands the Mc/Mac principle anymore. In order to do that, you have to be willing to think about something other than your genitals for a full minute. Nobody appreciates the horror of a good book dying on the wrong shelf."
adglass24's review
1.0
Thought it was hilarious at first. Then it became too perverse for me to stand.
rebeccamm's review against another edition
2.0
Liked the two Amy books I've read much better than this one. It was dark, which wasn't the problem, rather, it felt less finished and yet it left me not really wanting any more.
susanhert's review against another edition
2.0
I don't quite get how people can laugh at this book. The writing is good, to be sure, and I wanted to see how it came out, in the same sort of way one wants to see what is happening at a car wreck site on the highway, but it is certainly not a funny book.
bil's review against another edition
3.0
A deeply Rhode Island book, though from an era I don't exactly know.
bajidc's review against another edition
5.0
Not what I was expecting but sometimes the best books are just that. I first heard of Jincy via David Sedaris and assumed her writing was in the same vein. It is (funny, quirky, clever) and it’s not (dark, twisted, frightful). Viva librarian heroines though!
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