Björn recenserade The book of memory av Petina Gappah
None
3 stjärnor
Having read and really liked Elegy For Easterly, I was disappointed with this. Not that it's a bad novel, just... eh.
Gappah has said that she wrote 37 different drafts of the book. It shows. There are some incredibly strong scenes, rivalling anything in her debut, but the plot that connects them feels strained and by-the-numbers. Especially the purported murder mystery that, like in far too many books, only remains a mystery because the narrator chooses to withold things she knows from the reader until the end.
I still hope that Gappah has a great novel in her. She certainly has both the language and the pathos for it. But this isn't it.
Longer review in Swedish
Having read and really liked Elegy For Easterly, I was disappointed with this. Not that it's a bad novel, just... eh.
Gappah has said that she wrote 37 different drafts of the book. It shows. There are some incredibly strong scenes, rivalling anything in her debut, but the plot that connects them feels strained and by-the-numbers. Especially the purported murder mystery that, like in far too many books, only remains a mystery because the narrator chooses to withold things she knows from the reader until the end.
I still hope that Gappah has a great novel in her. She certainly has both the language and the pathos for it. But this isn't it.
Longer review in Swedish