A review by trin
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

2.0

This is not a bad book, but it just didn't work for me, on almost any level (exception: I liked the illustrations). The voice falls flat of true humor, skates just above twee. I don't think the memoir elements meshed well with the biographical ones -- Miller's obsession with scientist, Stanford president, and eugenicist David Starr Jordan should feel like a driving force, but instead it just seems to peek its head above water for awkward transitional moments. And the book is oddly if not poorly paced: it doesn't really build to anything, not even Miller's -- plausible! -- accusation that Jordan may have murdered Jane Stanford.

I am always happy to be cornered to hear about someone's special interests, but this felt more like a series of party anecdotes and less like a book.