A review by sharknerd
Query by Zilla Novikov

funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This book tells its story in a unique way, through an author's query letters to a large variety of publishers. While I cannot, personally, relate to that experience, as I am not an author, I found the novella to be funny and compelling. 

The main character grows a lot throughout the story as she starts meeting up with an activist group after work, and we clearly see her changing moods in each of her letters. It's funny to see how even things included in every letter start to change as the author gets more and more annoyed with writing them, such as her address and the title of her novel. It does get a bit repetitive at times but this is also part of the intention, showing how tiring it is to have to write and send all of these letters.

The novella also contains references to Canadian life, mentioning McGill in passing and the Greenbelt a lot, for example, which is also nice to see in a time when media is saturated with US references. I did have a bit of trouble keeping track of who's who, but this is not very important in the novella.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you are looking for something fairly quick and different to read.