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A review by shirleonelsie
The Sorrow Proper by Lindsey Drager
3.0
If I could give half stars this would be 3.5. I liked it but didn't love it. It's one I'll keep on my shelves but may not touch again for a number of years. Part of the reason for keeping it is the cover and title - they are so interesting! But I also want to have a variety of different types of books on my shelves once I get my own place. Now, I won't just keep any book - if it sucks, I'll get rid of it.
I picked this up for $.25 at a local library and thought it sounded interesting. A library closing due to the move towards e-books and computers and the librarians wishing to rebel against that. Turns out the book is more about a photographer and a deaf mathematician and their various Many Worlds than any of the other "plots" in the book. You also find out that a young girl was killed in front of the library and this greatly effects one of the librarians but you don't get much insight on that storyline. Also, the Many Worlds theory is only mentioned in conjunction with the photographer and the deaf mathematician (both of whom don't have names) so I don't really understand why it's described as how "Drager's debut novel explores the end of the public library system and the Many Worlds theory of quantum mechanics..." That led me to believe that the theory would be throughout each storyline.
I also greatly disliked the use of italics to convey speaking in the novel. Usually, italics are reserved for conveying thought or emphasis, but not so in this book. It made reading it a little more difficult because they sounded strange in my head. I guess it did make them (all the characters) sound a little sadder and longing, but I don't think the italics were necessary.
I will say that I love The Library at the end and it's a practically perfect image of something I would love to own sometime in my life.
____________________________________________________________
Language: None.
Explicitness: Some mention of the deaf mathematician being naked but nothing crazy.
I picked this up for $.25 at a local library and thought it sounded interesting. A library closing due to the move towards e-books and computers and the librarians wishing to rebel against that. Turns out the book is more about a photographer and a deaf mathematician and their various Many Worlds than any of the other "plots" in the book. You also find out that a young girl was killed in front of the library and this greatly effects one of the librarians but you don't get much insight on that storyline. Also, the Many Worlds theory is only mentioned in conjunction with the photographer and the deaf mathematician (both of whom don't have names) so I don't really understand why it's described as how "Drager's debut novel explores the end of the public library system and the Many Worlds theory of quantum mechanics..." That led me to believe that the theory would be throughout each storyline.
I also greatly disliked the use of italics to convey speaking in the novel. Usually, italics are reserved for conveying thought or emphasis, but not so in this book. It made reading it a little more difficult because they sounded strange in my head. I guess it did make them (all the characters) sound a little sadder and longing, but I don't think the italics were necessary.
I will say that I love The Library at the end and it's a practically perfect image of something I would love to own sometime in my life.
____________________________________________________________
Language: None.
Explicitness: Some mention of the deaf mathematician being naked but nothing crazy.