A review by dgrachel
Mister N by Najwa Barakat

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This is really difficult for me to review. For the right reader, I can see this being a much loved work. The prose is excellent and the story is complex. In a short period of time the reader comes to realize that the eponymous Mister N is mentally ill. This creates a great deal of confusion in the narrative as it is written in first person. I did not enjoy spending 254 pages stuck inside Mister N’s brain. The back cover calls this a dark comedy and says it is “comical and tragic by turns”. I found no hints of comedy at all, just darkness. This is a sad, tragic, and depressing novel. Well written? No doubt. Just not a novel for me. 

As a side note on the advanced proof: the number of textual errors was awful and I hope the final version is better edited. There are frequent misspellings, missing words, and duplicated words. If I’d been enjoying the story, I probably would have overlooked them, but since I was not, each stood out like a flashing red light. 

Thank you to LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program and the publisher, And Other Stories for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.