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A review by billymac1962
All That Is Mine I Carry with Me by William Landay
5.0
When I finished this book I was unsure whether to rate it 4 or 5 stars. Throughout 98% of the book I had it pegged at five stars and right after finishing it I felt some disappointment at the resolution as a whole and with the nagging feeling that there was a plot inconsistency that left me with ambiguity that was driving me nuts. I went for a walk with a well timed interview with William Landay on one of my favorite podcasts and thought about the book.
When I came home, I re-read one particular page to try to clear things up, and it did. One sentence, actually, that I'd forgotten, and that firmed things up plotwise. I'm satisfied now with the resolution and I think I can safely say that I am firmly decided on five stars. Which is remarkable given another thing about this book:
The book is divided into four parts. Each part is told from a different character's perspective, which is always a fine storytelling device.
Book 1 had me in its grips very well. It was told in the manner of a true-crime narrative which hooked me into the story and introduced me to interesting characters.
In Book 2 the quotation marks disappeared from the writing. I knew this was going to happen from other reviews, but I had enjoyed Defending Jacob so I was definitely going to read this.
Since Book 1 had them, I was hopeful that they would return in the next sections, but they did not.
Those who are familiar with me through my reviews would know that if I am fixated on a particular thing it will completely destroy my reading enjoyment. I hate literary devices such as overly lyrical prose and indeed, the lack of quotation marks. There were one or two times that I had to stop and retrack to figure who was talking, or if it was dialogue at all! Whenever this happened, an analogy occurred to me. You know when you edit photos with software you can use filters to enhance them? I consider the tack of using overly lyrical descriptions (not the case here, just an example) or an absence of punctuation or quotation marks to be a filter over storytelling. When it bugs me it frustrates me and all I want is the story and DITCH THE DAMN ART.
So it is very much worth pointing out that although he employed this no-quotation device, not only did it not kill my enjoyment, I was absolutely enthralled in this novel and could hardly put it down. I am also pleased to say that even though there were indeed one or two missteps, I flew through the dialogue like nobody's business.
For someone like me who usually can't get past style, this is a huge thing.
The more I write this review, the more I loved his writing and his storytelling. The story? It's a family drama about a mother of three children (Alex, Jeff, Miranda) who goes missing one day. The father is a rather infamous defense attorney and he is suspected of murdering her.
I've been thinking about it constantly since finishing it three hours ago and I think it will be a long time before I can shake it. It's brilliantly done.
When I came home, I re-read one particular page to try to clear things up, and it did. One sentence, actually, that I'd forgotten, and that firmed things up plotwise. I'm satisfied now with the resolution and I think I can safely say that I am firmly decided on five stars. Which is remarkable given another thing about this book:
The book is divided into four parts. Each part is told from a different character's perspective, which is always a fine storytelling device.
Book 1 had me in its grips very well. It was told in the manner of a true-crime narrative which hooked me into the story and introduced me to interesting characters.
In Book 2 the quotation marks disappeared from the writing. I knew this was going to happen from other reviews, but I had enjoyed Defending Jacob so I was definitely going to read this.
Since Book 1 had them, I was hopeful that they would return in the next sections, but they did not.
Those who are familiar with me through my reviews would know that if I am fixated on a particular thing it will completely destroy my reading enjoyment. I hate literary devices such as overly lyrical prose and indeed, the lack of quotation marks. There were one or two times that I had to stop and retrack to figure who was talking, or if it was dialogue at all! Whenever this happened, an analogy occurred to me. You know when you edit photos with software you can use filters to enhance them? I consider the tack of using overly lyrical descriptions (not the case here, just an example) or an absence of punctuation or quotation marks to be a filter over storytelling. When it bugs me it frustrates me and all I want is the story and DITCH THE DAMN ART.
So it is very much worth pointing out that although he employed this no-quotation device, not only did it not kill my enjoyment, I was absolutely enthralled in this novel and could hardly put it down. I am also pleased to say that even though there were indeed one or two missteps, I flew through the dialogue like nobody's business.
For someone like me who usually can't get past style, this is a huge thing.
The more I write this review, the more I loved his writing and his storytelling. The story? It's a family drama about a mother of three children (Alex, Jeff, Miranda) who goes missing one day. The father is a rather infamous defense attorney and he is suspected of murdering her.
I've been thinking about it constantly since finishing it three hours ago and I think it will be a long time before I can shake it. It's brilliantly done.