Well, not quite everyone. The New York Observer reviewer derisively compares it to teen fiction (which I find insulting to good YA fiction), and other detractors point out that Obreht never actually lived through the war in Yugoslavia. The Salon reviewer is enthralled and exasperated. Either way, it arouses strong feeling.
Well, not quite. It didn't excite the same level of response in me. I like Obreht's writing, and enjoyed the fairytale of Natalia and her grandfather, including the stories of the Deathless Man and the Tiger's Wife. But I'm not enthralled**. IMO, the biggest failure in the book is due to poor editorial review -- Luka's***, Darisa's, and the apothecary's stories comprise about 10% of the words in the book, but add nothing to the core story of Natalia and her grandfather. They are merely a distraction and should have been cut. The Salon reviewer also noted this problem, but I have to disagree with the suggestion that "Obreht would have been well-advised to parcel out its constituent elements as stand-alone stories" because the other 90% of the book contributes to that core story. Okay, this did exasperate me, actually, but with more of a sense of resignation than outrage.
** I'm biased because I know the author, but preferred 13, Rue Thérèse. Both books are debut novels that are germinated from childhood experiences. Both feature slightly dull narrators who are researching/imagining someone with a far more interesting personal history.
*** this won't make sense unless you've read the book, but I can't help but wonder if there's any irony in the choice of his name. Do you think someone of Obreht's generation listens to Suzanne Vega?
No comments:
Post a Comment