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A review by elenajohansen
Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen
1.0
DNF @ page 50, around 20%.
I was initially intrigued by the idea of the narrator perceiving his wife as an imposter, as a sign of either mental illness, falling out of love with her, or both. In order to do this, though, the writing style is heavily laced with repetition, filter words, and other tricks to distance the reader from the narrator. Which I found an odd choice, given that it's in first person.
This quibble is definitely literary in nature, but this work is obviously striving to be "literature" in the way I dislike most, stressing the importance of style and theme over all else, including character, plot, and reader engagement.
Mission success: I am not engaged.
I was initially intrigued by the idea of the narrator perceiving his wife as an imposter, as a sign of either mental illness, falling out of love with her, or both. In order to do this, though, the writing style is heavily laced with repetition, filter words, and other tricks to distance the reader from the narrator. Which I found an odd choice, given that it's in first person.
This quibble is definitely literary in nature, but this work is obviously striving to be "literature" in the way I dislike most, stressing the importance of style and theme over all else, including character, plot, and reader engagement.
Mission success: I am not engaged.