A review by gj377
Learwife by J.R. Thorp

1.0

God, I really wanted to like this one. I love Shakespeare, and these stories that give voices to the women of literary and mythological history have been very popular in recent years, and I've liked a few. So a story following Lear's exiled wife after the end of the play should be right up my street.

But this was just so s l o w. I wasn't in the mood to read a book so slow. Other reviews have talked about its lyrical prose, but there's such a thing as too much lyricism in my opinion. You can't read a novel length poem where every sentence is a metaphor, a string of words to describe each individual thing, without any real pacing or plot. I got bored, and I found it a real slog to read.

I will say - the lyricism, if viewed as the main character's grief, almost works, and I wonder if that was what the author was going for. Her inability to fix her thoughts on one thing, constantly diving back into memory and metaphor, could be a reflection of her inability to focus through her grief after learning of the death of her husband and daughters. But it wasn't enough. Not for me, sadly.

Thanks to Canongate for an ARC of the book (via NetGalley).