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mjhalberstadt's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I love love love Sarah Manguso's 300 Arguments as well as much of her poetry, but I find that her writing style applied to storytelling simply does not work in this case. A friend described this to me as an "oblique character study", which feels right to me. So many sentences and symbols took my breath away, but I also felt deeply bored and frustrated, and I wanted her commentary about sexual abuse and class to cut sharper than it did. Then the end contains a series of shocks that don't quite feel earned... I'll read Manguso's next collection of poetry, but remain wary of her fiction. Really disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Classism, Incest, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Child abuse
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