izzyctr 's review for:

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent

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I’m not sure what I thought of this yet. It was one of those books you have to kind of read with one eye open and breathe a huge sigh of relief when you realise you’re near the end. I’ve seen other reviewers discussing Turtle and not liking her as a protagonist. I thought she was great, and I did feel the connection with her despite the third person narrative. I’m not sure how Tallent gets so much praise for his writing though. In a lot of places the prose was just needlessly over-descriptive and sometimes the dialogue between Jacob and Brett was a bit jarring, but then I did feel that Turtle’s constant inner turmoil was communicated effectively. I have lots of big questions that weren’t answered, but I thought the ending wrapped things up well. Hmm. Anyway, finishing this has made me late for work.