A review by jennifer
The Wallcreeper by Nell Zink

4.0

So I read the New Yorker profile of Nell Zink and I don't recall anything about her making a bet with Franzen to rewrite Freedom, only better, shorter, and with a female protagonist. Nonetheless I got the distinct impression that's what she was doing in The Wallcreeper, much to my benefit as a reader (I also liked Freedom). Despite Zink doing her best to make the female protagonist, Tiffany, hate-able, I was charmed. I also had to look up a lot of vocabulary words (reading this book on a Kindle came in handy in that respect) since Tiffany, and Zink, are smarter than I am. But, on the bright side, I now know that an incubus is "a male demon believed to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women." I'll be looking for ways to use that in sentences frequently from now on. I might also have to read Mislaid now.