A review by pearloz
The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch

3.0

Hm. I don't know what to think. I feel like I got half or maybe two-thirds of a novel, and someone removed every other chapter or every third chapter? I wasn't as engaged as I usually am and I partially fault the reader who had a slurry, lackadaisical voice that made every character feel lazy and/or smug. Frankly, I could've done with either one or the other story--Joan on Earth was pretty captivating; the weirdly evolving people on CIEL was also interesting. Where the book lost me was at the merging of the two tales.

Also, some of the word choices were allusory but also funny? CIEL is obviously short for Cielo which is Spanish for Heaven; Jean de Men? I mean, c'mon!

I think I coulda done with a longer novel here.