Adult Book Mini-Reviews

This is, of course, a blog dedicated to young adult fiction, but recently I've been reading more and more adult books. Since I don't want to encroach on the deluge of YA fiction, here are three mini-reviews of adult books.

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. This is not so much a single story driven by one plot as a collection of characters. Most chapters could very well stand on their own, but such a reading experience would be lacking the coherency provided by the intersection of the characters' lives. The plot lines weave intricately and beautifully together, accompanied by deceptively simple but evocative prose, and the story and somber tone alike elicit an array of emotions. Jennifer Egan has the remarkable talent of taking something unexpected and twisting it into the most beautiful thing you have ever seen, and that's why she had an entire chapter written in PowerPoint that just worked.

Recommended? Immensely so.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. This is the kind of polarizing book that you either get or don't, and as much as I wish I could be in the former camp, I am not. House of Leaves is written in experimental form, and while I did understand (hopefully) the purposes of most of the strange literary devices he was using and the kind of effect meant to be get across, it just didn't work for me. Every review I've read about this has raved about how fascinating, how deep, how incredible this book is, so I feel like I'm breaking some literary law by saying that even though I think Danielewski is a remarkable writer, I just didn't really enjoy the experience of having to alternately rotate my book and use a mirror to read half the pages.

Recommended? Yes, if you like very experimental fiction. No, if you think you do but apparently actually don't. No, if you already know you don't.