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elleceemoonbb 's review for:
Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos
by Nash Jenkins
Rounding up from 3.75
The story was engaging and kept me reading, but to be honest the book could have been cut down by anywhere from a quarter to a third. The action grinds to a halt many times in order to have a dense paragraph about the the sunset over the campus --lovely writing, but frustratingly placed and a touch overwrought.
The dense, overly academic style will certainly not be for everyone. Those more forgiving may see it as a characterization of the otherwise totally effaced narrator. Maybe he's someone who overintellectualizes things to keep them at a safer distance emotionally. Maybe his obsession with the story of people he never even knew keeps him from examining his own. Maybe that obsession is why he's able to "know" (make up?) the intimate details of conversations and events he could not possibly know about. But at times it's a slog, and it many times undermines the sense of action and motion. The narrator remains too underdeveloped, though. Thinking of him as someone who latches on to the stories of others as surrogate relationships is my own conjecture, and probably how I justified the structure at all.
The structure of the story, a collection of documents and recollections, is not a bad one, but Jenkins' balancing of a historical report and a more traditional narrative is not always deft. I was able to suspend my disbelief because the story was compelling, but I can see how it would be a sticking point.
The story of Foster and his schoolmates, as well as some of the character's future reflections on that time, is the book's saving grace. Even if you haven't been part of the privileged boarding school crowd, you'll find familiarity in the characters, the politics, and the social anxieties of being a teenager. The characters are flawed, sad, and frustrating, and the divide between what teenagers actually feel versus what they think they're supposed to be is poignantly felt. A period piece, the book even includes playlists and other touchstones, but the feelings of confusion, alienation, and the feelings fifteen-year-olds can't yet name remains timeless.
The story was engaging and kept me reading, but to be honest the book could have been cut down by anywhere from a quarter to a third. The action grinds to a halt many times in order to have a dense paragraph about the the sunset over the campus --lovely writing, but frustratingly placed and a touch overwrought.
The dense, overly academic style will certainly not be for everyone. Those more forgiving may see it as a characterization of the otherwise totally effaced narrator. Maybe he's someone who overintellectualizes things to keep them at a safer distance emotionally. Maybe his obsession with the story of people he never even knew keeps him from examining his own. Maybe that obsession is why he's able to "know" (make up?) the intimate details of conversations and events he could not possibly know about. But at times it's a slog, and it many times undermines the sense of action and motion. The narrator remains too underdeveloped, though. Thinking of him as someone who latches on to the stories of others as surrogate relationships is my own conjecture, and probably how I justified the structure at all.
The structure of the story, a collection of documents and recollections, is not a bad one, but Jenkins' balancing of a historical report and a more traditional narrative is not always deft. I was able to suspend my disbelief because the story was compelling, but I can see how it would be a sticking point.
The story of Foster and his schoolmates, as well as some of the character's future reflections on that time, is the book's saving grace. Even if you haven't been part of the privileged boarding school crowd, you'll find familiarity in the characters, the politics, and the social anxieties of being a teenager. The characters are flawed, sad, and frustrating, and the divide between what teenagers actually feel versus what they think they're supposed to be is poignantly felt. A period piece, the book even includes playlists and other touchstones, but the feelings of confusion, alienation, and the feelings fifteen-year-olds can't yet name remains timeless.