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A review by deanna
The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
With The Temple of My Familiar, Alice Walker ruminates extensively on evolution, gender & sex, power dynamics, race, and relationships in a thought-provoking, convoluted stream of consciousness-esque format at the expense of character development and a cohesive plot-line. And it's not for me. While my favorite novels must have characters that I can connect with, I will happily settle for a strong, well-developed plot-line. Sadly, The Temple of My Familiar doesn't offer much in either area.
In the absence of these two requirements I tried instead thinking of and reading the book as a short story collection instead of a novel, reading a chapter at a time. While the tales being told are occasionally interesting in their own right, the overarching narrative meant to tie them all together wasn't strong enough to keep me engaged as a reader. So I tried taking a break to read other books, but the desire to to come back to The Temple of My Familiar and give it another try never coalesced.
I must concede defeat.
In the absence of these two requirements I tried instead thinking of and reading the book as a short story collection instead of a novel, reading a chapter at a time. While the tales being told are occasionally interesting in their own right, the overarching narrative meant to tie them all together wasn't strong enough to keep me engaged as a reader. So I tried taking a break to read other books, but the desire to to come back to The Temple of My Familiar and give it another try never coalesced.
I must concede defeat.