A review by leighkhoopes
Corpos Subtis by Norman Rush

3.0

Two and a half stars, really. This is an odd, odd little book that is written well but runs off in pseudo-intellectual tangents for pages, introduces characters who provide absolutely nothing to the story besides convenient exposition, and then ends abruptly with no real resolution or climax or anything. I received an advance reader's copy of Subtle Bodies as part of the FirstReads program, and was intrigued to read something by an apparently celebrate author whose work I was totally unfamiliar with. Ned and Nina are a likable enough duo, and their relationship is cute and realistic, but the whole cadre of Ned's friends are tiresome and boring, as is all the forced yet under-explored drama surrounding their ringleader Douglas's untimely death. Old girlfriends are mentioned, a possibly borderline personality son makes a random appearance, and for some reason there are a lot of discussions about Israel that seem completely irrelevant but were probably just a little too subtle for me. I'm sure there's a very specific group of people who will love this book; I am not one of them.