
Normally a novel with a convoluted, contrived structure and/or format screams "MFA thesis!" at me and I run away screaming. Normally. The exception proves the rule.
Things I hate in a novel:
- unnamed narrators
- lack of quotation marks
- second person
- a "chorus"
- sudden and complete narrative changes halfway through the book.
You have to be a MASTER to pull that shit off. You've made the bar a million times higher and I'm going into your novel expecting to hate it. Is that what you want? Don't flout convention simply to flout it. You MUST have a VERY GOOD reason. And you must be able to write at the caliber of Ian McEwan to pull off the "Oh wait--you've been reading a novel written by one of the main characters! Now let's get to the real story." (And he does pull it off, but others don't.) Have I liked books with these ridiculous contrivances? Yes. But as I say, I hold them to a much, much higher standard and go in with a bad attitude. (And I have recently even read a Pulitzer Prize-nominee who pulled this crap and I hated her novel.) Luckily, this book is one of the beloved exceptions.
Things I loved about Twenty-One Truths About Love:
- Lists (which are the best).
- Actually had a plot. (Which I wasn't sure about going into a novel written in lists.)
- Was funny.
- Was touching.
- Hinted throughout at an outlandish crazy thing that might happen. Which I never thought would. But then, HE WENT THERE!
- Made me think maybe I could also start journaling if I did it as lists.
- Made me wonder what I would do for my spouse, or my child (if I had one).
- Made me think about what it would be like if my spouse had a first wife who'd died, and how that would change everything. It's hard to compete with a ghost.
- Loved the friendship with the older vet.
- Features an independent bookstore!
If I haven't sold you on the book, well, your loss. It's a warm, quick read with humor and angst and crises and it felt very real. And I kind of really, really want to try bullet journaling now. Who knows--maybe I'll end up writing a story.
Published by St. Martin's Press, a division of Macmillan, my employer.
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