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A review by bent
Don't I Know You? by Marni Jackson
1.0
I didn't like this book. I went in with a bad attitude - I didn't find the premise interesting but it was the book that my book club picked to read. It wasn't what I expected, but I still didn't like it.
I found the celebrity angle didn't really add anything to the book. In some cases, it detracted. I didn't see the need for John Updike to be the visiting author in the first story, or Joni Mitchell in the second. The beginning of the Leonard Cohen chapter I found sort of interesting, except the fact that the ice cream seller was Cohen kind of distracted from the parts of the story I enjoyed - the bizarre ice cream flavours and strange choice of music. I think that story had a kernel of something interesting, that was dispelled with the presence of Shell and the whole funeral sequence.
I didn't like the main character. I found her unsympathetic. Also a bit pretentious, but that might have just been the writing. I found that several stories/chapters reminded me of other things I'd read that had been better done.
I liked two things in the book: The beginning of the Mr. Softee chapter, and the sudden twist in the Meryl Streep chapter when we find out why Streep has been cultivating Rose's friendship. I thought that was brilliant and the only real emotional spark the book provided. Otherwise, it was a bit of a chore to read.
I found the celebrity angle didn't really add anything to the book. In some cases, it detracted. I didn't see the need for John Updike to be the visiting author in the first story, or Joni Mitchell in the second. The beginning of the Leonard Cohen chapter I found sort of interesting, except the fact that the ice cream seller was Cohen kind of distracted from the parts of the story I enjoyed - the bizarre ice cream flavours and strange choice of music. I think that story had a kernel of something interesting, that was dispelled with the presence of Shell and the whole funeral sequence.
I didn't like the main character. I found her unsympathetic. Also a bit pretentious, but that might have just been the writing. I found that several stories/chapters reminded me of other things I'd read that had been better done.
I liked two things in the book: The beginning of the Mr. Softee chapter, and the sudden twist in the Meryl Streep chapter when we find out why Streep has been cultivating Rose's friendship. I thought that was brilliant and the only real emotional spark the book provided. Otherwise, it was a bit of a chore to read.