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A review by mgoorchenko
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
4.0
3.5 stars.
Kushner’s depiction of prison life seems accurately dismal and well-developed. My main gripe is with the writing itself. Kushner interrupted Romy’s story with those of other characters and I found them just that rather than smoothly interwoven subplots. I think a more straightforward narrative of simply Romy would have worked better and been more compelling. At one point, Kushner goes from writing in the first person as Romy to writing in the third person while describing the teacher’s experience, but there wasn’t enough about him that was interesting to make that technique work at all. Still, I think this is well worth reading.
Kushner’s depiction of prison life seems accurately dismal and well-developed. My main gripe is with the writing itself. Kushner interrupted Romy’s story with those of other characters and I found them just that rather than smoothly interwoven subplots. I think a more straightforward narrative of simply Romy would have worked better and been more compelling. At one point, Kushner goes from writing in the first person as Romy to writing in the third person while describing the teacher’s experience, but there wasn’t enough about him that was interesting to make that technique work at all. Still, I think this is well worth reading.