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A review by allymcbeal
The Answers by Catherine Lacey
4.0
3.5 / 5
ARGH. This book has SO much potential. After reading the first chapter I thought it had the potential to become on of my favorite books of all time. The way the author described chronic pain, and the emotional relief of a diagnosis, of a reason for agony, was beautiful and moving. Then, things go off the rails. This book is just so unfocused. It has interesting things to say about pain, love, identity, celebrity, emotion, and a hundred other topics, but it tries to say all of them at the same time and ends up diluting the best parts of itself.
I won’t get into specifics because the story does unravel in an unexpected way, but I’ll say that it really loses me when the POV changes perspectives in Part 2. There’s all these big, heady, significant ideas being set up, but they’re dropped before the author can really say anything on them. The most frustrating part of the novel is the “twist” at the very end that feels out of a much lesser piece of writing.
All that said, I do still think this book is worth reading because there are moments of real brilliant writing here. Here’s my favorite passage, Mary is in the middle of a street festival, on drugs, watching a couple argue. She imagines their fight
ARGH. This book has SO much potential. After reading the first chapter I thought it had the potential to become on of my favorite books of all time. The way the author described chronic pain, and the emotional relief of a diagnosis, of a reason for agony, was beautiful and moving. Then, things go off the rails. This book is just so unfocused. It has interesting things to say about pain, love, identity, celebrity, emotion, and a hundred other topics, but it tries to say all of them at the same time and ends up diluting the best parts of itself.
I won’t get into specifics because the story does unravel in an unexpected way, but I’ll say that it really loses me when the POV changes perspectives in Part 2. There’s all these big, heady, significant ideas being set up, but they’re dropped before the author can really say anything on them. The most frustrating part of the novel is the “twist” at the very end that feels out of a much lesser piece of writing.
All that said, I do still think this book is worth reading because there are moments of real brilliant writing here. Here’s my favorite passage, Mary is in the middle of a street festival, on drugs, watching a couple argue. She imagines their fight
“Why are you not me? Why are you not doing life like I would do it? I thought being in love meant getting to be two people. How could you do something I wouldn’t do? This is impossible and insane. I cant only be one person. I need to be you, too. Let me be you”.