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A review by sydsnot71
Lost on Me by Veronica Raimo
2.0
I don't know if two stars is harsh, but I think I'm just tired of reading books by writers that seem to be exercises in self-analysis they wrote because their therapist thought it would help.
I mean this is more a memoir than fiction however much Raimo talks about the dishonesty of her memory and making things up. I've read three books on the International Booker Longlist and I don't think any of them are fiction. Perhaps the judges think they're pushing the envelope of fiction and fact. Perhaps they are. But this tendency to write auto-fiction is beginning to drag.
It's not even a bad book. I quite like it. Some of it is funny.
But it feels like over-hearing someone's phone call where they're talking about personal stuff that you think isn't meant to be discussed out loud on a train. And I'm not sure I want that from my books.
You can argue that all memoirs have an element of fiction to them. You can argue that memory is fallible - either deliberately or accidentally. You can argue that we organise our lives narratively because it helps us make sense of them. You can argue about how even history is just an attempt to make sense of the past in the same way. Whatever. None of these things make this a novel.
So, two stars it is. Sorry Veronica. It was lost on me.
I mean this is more a memoir than fiction however much Raimo talks about the dishonesty of her memory and making things up. I've read three books on the International Booker Longlist and I don't think any of them are fiction. Perhaps the judges think they're pushing the envelope of fiction and fact. Perhaps they are. But this tendency to write auto-fiction is beginning to drag.
It's not even a bad book. I quite like it. Some of it is funny.
But it feels like over-hearing someone's phone call where they're talking about personal stuff that you think isn't meant to be discussed out loud on a train. And I'm not sure I want that from my books.
You can argue that all memoirs have an element of fiction to them. You can argue that memory is fallible - either deliberately or accidentally. You can argue that we organise our lives narratively because it helps us make sense of them. You can argue about how even history is just an attempt to make sense of the past in the same way. Whatever. None of these things make this a novel.
So, two stars it is. Sorry Veronica. It was lost on me.