A review by jenmcmaynes
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

I'm giving up on this one, 350 pages into it. The plot is glacially slow. This far into the book, I still have a hard time distinguishing the characters. There is a large cast, and Byatt jumps from person to person, usually for just a paragraph, in most chapters. It is very hard to identify with them when so little information is given. And finally, Byatt provides info dumps of political and social updates of circa 1900 England. They are very dry and usually have little direct bearing on the plot. All of this is disappointing, as I usually enjoy Byatt's writing and, in theory, the setting and plot should appeal to me. Also, I hate quitting books! Booooooo! :(