josieowens 's review for:

Everything Under by Daisy Johnson

1.0

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I know that this is supposed to be an admired novel but was never enjoyable for me. Perhaps if I could have just sat down and read it straight through then I might have enjoyed it a bit more. However, it was just an unpleasant slog. I was often confused on which character was the focus of a chapter. I often got lost within paragraphs and didn't know of whom the author was speaking. Therefore, I constantly had to stop and reread. This makes me really dislike a book. One back up and reread is ok but not repeatedly. I also felt that the book had WAY too much extra stuff and events that didn't do anything to enhance the story or characters. The only significant plot detail was based on Oedipus Rex so that was hardly revealing although I felt as if Johnson was trying to make the reader guess the terrible fate or Marcus/Margot. Why not just get this plot device out in the open in the first place and focus on the story about the characters instead? It felt overly contrived. I am very excited to move on to another book as I wasted too much time on it hoping for more from this one. I must follow George Higgins's rule - give it 40 pages and then quit it.