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A review by obscene_jack
The Rain Before it Falls by Jonathan Coe
3.0
It's hard to make anything of it, honestly. Was it fun to read? It was. Am I glad it's finally over? You bet.
Is it a simple and sad story of stupid mistakes and their consequences? Yes.
Is it an emotionally-heavy story? Emotionally-heavy is its second name.
Did it give me something apart from a heavy heart? Well, there was one moment (and probably the point of the whole book), a moment where the narrator steps back and looks at all the multilayered stuff described, and finds it beautiful and full of meaning, yet fickle and elusive. And it touches you. Briefly. Uncontrollably. Probably with no consequence.
So is it a beautiful story? Oh yes, intricately and fleetingly, but yes. For a second.
Was it worth it? Err...
Still, pretty good for the ramblings of an old woman with a photo album. Almost too good.
Is it a simple and sad story of stupid mistakes and their consequences? Yes.
Is it an emotionally-heavy story? Emotionally-heavy is its second name.
Did it give me something apart from a heavy heart? Well, there was one moment (and probably the point of the whole book), a moment where the narrator steps back and looks at all the multilayered stuff described, and finds it beautiful and full of meaning, yet fickle and elusive. And it touches you. Briefly. Uncontrollably. Probably with no consequence.
So is it a beautiful story? Oh yes, intricately and fleetingly, but yes. For a second.
Was it worth it? Err...
Still, pretty good for the ramblings of an old woman with a photo album. Almost too good.