A review by terrypaulpearce
The Instructions by Adam Levin

3.0

This book had a lot of potential. The man can clearly write, and he has some great insights and snappy prose. But this really needed an editor, and I didn't like the final third that much. Without revealing too much about the plot, all the interesting stuff peels away and we're left with a chaotic action climax that didn't resonate for me like some of the subtler stuff earlier on. Also, I think the book tries to hard to be offbeat in places, throwing new perspectives and POVs in a little jarringly. There's clearly a lot of respect for David Foster Wallace in this, but Foster Wallace is, well, Foster Wallace. This doesn't quite pull it off. If this all sounds negative it's because I was loving the potential early on, and feel a little disappointed now. Overall, though, it's a good read, with some cracking observations and some original ideas, if a little long at 1,000 pages.