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A review by matthewcpeck
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
5.0
You may be wary of "Dept. Of Speculation" because it's yet another novel about a marriage shaken up by an affair. And a protagonist that's a writing professor in New York, no less. But Jenny Offill's masterful condensation and slicing/dicing of narrative makes this well-trod path seem like uncharted territory.
Its 170-odd pages consist of curt little paragraphs, separated by double-spaces. It's part linear story and part quotes, poetry, history, scientific facts, and jokes: a style reminiscent of "Wittgenstein's Mistress" and W.G. Sebald. And even with all this, and a couple of deliberately jarring changes of tense and points of view, the book moves along like a thriller.
I read an interview with Offill in which she explained that she originally had a conventional novel in the works, which she then pared down and scrambled up in a fit of inspiration. With her generous wit and psychological acuity, that early version of "Dept. Of Speculation" would still have been a notably good book. But its unconventional form makes it a great book, and worth the attention that it's received.
Its 170-odd pages consist of curt little paragraphs, separated by double-spaces. It's part linear story and part quotes, poetry, history, scientific facts, and jokes: a style reminiscent of "Wittgenstein's Mistress" and W.G. Sebald. And even with all this, and a couple of deliberately jarring changes of tense and points of view, the book moves along like a thriller.
I read an interview with Offill in which she explained that she originally had a conventional novel in the works, which she then pared down and scrambled up in a fit of inspiration. With her generous wit and psychological acuity, that early version of "Dept. Of Speculation" would still have been a notably good book. But its unconventional form makes it a great book, and worth the attention that it's received.