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Lordy, Lordy, this is one of the slowest novels I’ve recently read. The descriptions of this as a “quiet” novel might be the understatements of the year. While I often find stories of ordinary people to be compelling and moving, this one was just boring. There were little bits of action and then long stretches of Zorrie’s thoughts, as in “Zorrie thought about X. Zorrie thought about Y. Zorrie thought about Z, and how all X, Y, and Z had endings.” [That’s not an excerpt from the book - only my impression.] Zorrie spent a huge amount of time thinking, but none of this was explored deeply. It all felt so….repressed. I just couldn’t find a character in this book I could connect with.
I listened to the recorded version and it’s possible that listening to it and the narrator’s voice negatively influenced my experience; sometimes I like a book better when i read it in print. But I found this book so slow that mid-way through I bumped the speed up by 25% to see if that would help. It didn’t.
Still, the writing is good in its clarity, and the author creates an image of Indiana that is consistent with what I know. Hence, I rounded up from a 2.5- to a 3-star rating. Lots of people love this book. Maybe you will, too.
I listened to the recorded version and it’s possible that listening to it and the narrator’s voice negatively influenced my experience; sometimes I like a book better when i read it in print. But I found this book so slow that mid-way through I bumped the speed up by 25% to see if that would help. It didn’t.
Still, the writing is good in its clarity, and the author creates an image of Indiana that is consistent with what I know. Hence, I rounded up from a 2.5- to a 3-star rating. Lots of people love this book. Maybe you will, too.