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Wreck and Order
Nominated for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
Nominated for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize
A boldly candid, raw portrait of a young woman's search for meaning and purpose in an indifferent world
Purposefully aimless, self-destructive, and impulsively in and out of love, Elsie is a young woman who feels lost. She's in a tumultuous relationship, is stuck in a dead-end job, and has a relentless, sharp intelligence that’s at odds with her many bad decisions. When her initial attempts to improve her life go awry, Elsie decides that a dramatic change is the only solution.
While traveling through Paris and Sri Lanka, Elsie meets people who challenge and provoke her towards the change she is seeking, but ultimately she must still come face-to-face with herself.
Whole-hearted, fiercely honest and inexorably human, Wreck and Order is a stirring debut novel that, in mirroring one young woman's dizzying quest for answers, illuminates the important questions that drive us all.
Nominated for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize
A boldly candid, raw portrait of a young woman's search for meaning and purpose in an indifferent world
Purposefully aimless, self-destructive, and impulsively in and out of love, Elsie is a young woman who feels lost. She's in a tumultuous relationship, is stuck in a dead-end job, and has a relentless, sharp intelligence that’s at odds with her many bad decisions. When her initial attempts to improve her life go awry, Elsie decides that a dramatic change is the only solution.
While traveling through Paris and Sri Lanka, Elsie meets people who challenge and provoke her towards the change she is seeking, but ultimately she must still come face-to-face with herself.
Whole-hearted, fiercely honest and inexorably human, Wreck and Order is a stirring debut novel that, in mirroring one young woman's dizzying quest for answers, illuminates the important questions that drive us all.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published February 9, 2016
38 people are currently reading
2317 people want to read
About the author
Hannah Tennant-Moore
2 books18 followersHannah Tennant-Moore's work has appeared in the New York Times, The New Republic, n+1, Tin House, Salon, Bookforum, Dissent, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and has twice been included in Best Buddhist Writing. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
dnf
January 24, 2016DNF at 21%
FYI: These quotations were all taken from an uncorrected ARC. But it was enough for me.
1% 'His look reduced me, not unpleasantly, to sex. When I got up from my stool to walk to the bathroom, I felt the cotton of my underpants shifting over my buttocks, my asshole tingling and contracting as if I were lying facedown in the sun after swimming in icy water.'
5%: 'Jared's butt cheeks were almost repulsive in their vulnerability-disproportionately small, cuddled against each other, the skin a mottled red sprouting long, curly, brown hair. I was entrusted with their care.'
13%: 'I opened my mouth wide, squeezed my eyes into old, hard vaginas sewed up tight.'
If you can believe it, I actually read another 7% after that last one. I'm not sure how I got past the one at 1% if I'm being completely honest. There were also random inserts about torturing Muslim men and how because of 9/11 it's become acceptable. And that's not right. And how her daddy gave her money to spend a year in Paris. And then she goes to Sri Lanka to meditate for weeks (also on daddy's dime) to forget her horrible boyfriend. And other deep stuff that completely failed to inspire me to feel anything for this pretentious as shit girl.
FYI: These quotations were all taken from an uncorrected ARC. But it was enough for me.
1% 'His look reduced me, not unpleasantly, to sex. When I got up from my stool to walk to the bathroom, I felt the cotton of my underpants shifting over my buttocks, my asshole tingling and contracting as if I were lying facedown in the sun after swimming in icy water.'
5%: 'Jared's butt cheeks were almost repulsive in their vulnerability-disproportionately small, cuddled against each other, the skin a mottled red sprouting long, curly, brown hair. I was entrusted with their care.'
13%: 'I opened my mouth wide, squeezed my eyes into old, hard vaginas sewed up tight.'
If you can believe it, I actually read another 7% after that last one. I'm not sure how I got past the one at 1% if I'm being completely honest. There were also random inserts about torturing Muslim men and how because of 9/11 it's become acceptable. And that's not right. And how her daddy gave her money to spend a year in Paris. And then she goes to Sri Lanka to meditate for weeks (also on daddy's dime) to forget her horrible boyfriend. And other deep stuff that completely failed to inspire me to feel anything for this pretentious as shit girl.
February 21, 2016
A day after reading it I still literally no positive thoughts about this book (other than that I'm glad I don't have to read it anymore) - cliche after cliche, no plot, RELENTLESS rich white person ennui, dumb characters we're told to see as smart due to pasted-on intelligentsia jobs, faux confessional/memoir writing style but the true protagonists are a few shitty, "ambiguously abusive" boyfriends, as though someone read Eat Pray Love and thought "what if I fused this with the concept of 'HBO's Girls, but worse' and added some rape to it?"
I keep coming up with words like dull, tired, and literally repulsive - as I read I kept wanting to interpret this as a parody novel or piece of deliberate satire about white privilege or something, but even with that charitable interpretation it's still a bland, meandering, plotless book.
I left my copy (with a warning note) in a coffee shop for a stranger to take, but I honestly felt guilty about passing such a waste of time on to another person.
I keep coming up with words like dull, tired, and literally repulsive - as I read I kept wanting to interpret this as a parody novel or piece of deliberate satire about white privilege or something, but even with that charitable interpretation it's still a bland, meandering, plotless book.
I left my copy (with a warning note) in a coffee shop for a stranger to take, but I honestly felt guilty about passing such a waste of time on to another person.
December 20, 2015
Back when Lena Dunham's HBO series was a hot commodity, an acquisitions editor at Random House thought that WRECK AND ORDER would resonate with all those young women who never missed an episode. A twenty-something female exploring her sexuality, in an endless pursuit of the perfect orgasm? The makings of a blockbuster, right?
The television programme died a slow death while WRECK AND ORDER worked its way through the publishing process. Sadly, it has arrived when readers no longer wish to inhabit the world of a complete wagon.
Elsie, the protagonist, is a narcissist who is obsessed with sex. She should be a sympathetic character, what with a backstory of familial dysfunction and a history of abusive relationships. And she's a lost lamb, funded by her father's generous checks so that she does not have to actually work and support herself like an adult. Should a reader not feel sympathy for a character trapped in perpetual childhood?
She goes off to find herself and ends up wallowing in self-pity, too busy studying her own navel to notice that she's lodged her head firmly up her arse. She treats those around her with selfish disregard, and if you manage to stick around to read through to the end of this plate of shite and onions, you'll find that her experience among the downtrodden does nothing to improve her because that's what all the other ordinary novels do and this is literary fiction.
Don't waste your time on this one. The author can write, but there's more to creating a novel than an ability to string words together into coherent sentences.
Thanks to Penguin Random House for providing the review copy.
The television programme died a slow death while WRECK AND ORDER worked its way through the publishing process. Sadly, it has arrived when readers no longer wish to inhabit the world of a complete wagon.
Elsie, the protagonist, is a narcissist who is obsessed with sex. She should be a sympathetic character, what with a backstory of familial dysfunction and a history of abusive relationships. And she's a lost lamb, funded by her father's generous checks so that she does not have to actually work and support herself like an adult. Should a reader not feel sympathy for a character trapped in perpetual childhood?
She goes off to find herself and ends up wallowing in self-pity, too busy studying her own navel to notice that she's lodged her head firmly up her arse. She treats those around her with selfish disregard, and if you manage to stick around to read through to the end of this plate of shite and onions, you'll find that her experience among the downtrodden does nothing to improve her because that's what all the other ordinary novels do and this is literary fiction.
Don't waste your time on this one. The author can write, but there's more to creating a novel than an ability to string words together into coherent sentences.
Thanks to Penguin Random House for providing the review copy.
June 10, 2017
I received this book for free through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers.
I can see why many people abandoned this book. The beginning is quite aimless and boring. For me, it wasn't until Elsie went to Sri Lanka for the second time that it got interesting.
I don't quite know what to make of this book. I kind of see what it was trying to achieve but it lacked a clear direction.
Overall, this wasn't completely horrible but it still wasn't a worthwhile read.
I can see why many people abandoned this book. The beginning is quite aimless and boring. For me, it wasn't until Elsie went to Sri Lanka for the second time that it got interesting.
I don't quite know what to make of this book. I kind of see what it was trying to achieve but it lacked a clear direction.
Overall, this wasn't completely horrible but it still wasn't a worthwhile read.
January 30, 2019
Darn! The beginning was so, so fearless, so promising, a setup for a wrenching story of self-destruction and annihilation and nihilistic despair, the kind of story where bad choices are the only choices available to a character you care about, and where you're willing to follow her all the way to the end because she is so true to her beliefs. Like so many debut novelists though Tennant-Moore let go of the noose she had around my neck after the first act. Instead of increasing tension, and narrowing the story to its one inevitable perfect ending--what I hoped for from this novel--the story didn't seem to know where to go. I was no longer invested.
Someone should give young novelists a copy of Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need. Still I am a big fan of Tennant-Moore, she shows her chops here where even the first few pages make it worth reading to the end, and I'll look forward with delight to reading her next novel.
Someone should give young novelists a copy of Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need. Still I am a big fan of Tennant-Moore, she shows her chops here where even the first few pages make it worth reading to the end, and I'll look forward with delight to reading her next novel.
December 9, 2015
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.
I don't think I was quite the right reader for this book, but I'm not really sure who that reader is. It was much too lurid for me, and I found myself skimming through parts just because I couldn't handle any more of the depravation. But I kind of should be the right reader for this book--a young(ish) female kind of questioning her role in the world. But this narrator just would not stop being such a spoiled brat. She's incapable of forming lasting relationships with anyone, and I certainly didn't enjoy spending time as her reader. She says, "If I could write, I would be the quintessential twenty-first-century narrator: characterized by the aimless bustle of the sharp mind, revealed through thoughts about my inner torment rather than events that explain the torment" (location 2984). Well, yeah. If that's what you feel makes the quintessential twenty-first century narrator, then I guess you fit the bill.
This was a frustratingly self-indulgent book. It's fiction, but reads like the diary of a person I wouldn't even want to sit next to on a bus. Having unlimited inheritance money and a really generous dad who doesn't seem to care what she does with her life, Elsie just floats around feeling like she's too good to go to school, too good to get a job, too good to form relationships with human beings. When she travels to Sri Lanka, it seems like maybe religion or at least an understanding of abject poverty might change her, and I kept waiting for that to happen. There was even a moment when I thought that Elsie might be some kind of cool modern feminist Siddhartha and that maybe this book was worth reading. She's lived a sheltered life, not knowing anything but wealth and comfort, and when she finally comes out, she will see poverty and suffering and turn into the Buddha! Nope. Reading this book felt like listening to that one acquaintance who makes terrible choices but is incapable of changing or even recognizing the problem, but just seems to keep talking.
I feel like I see what Tennant-Moore was probably trying to do: show us how purposeless life can feel for those who never really have to work for or earn anything on their own. She writes, "I am a modern evolutionary casualty, a woman capable of bearing children but deprived of the will to do so; a woman endowed with the will for meaningful work but constitutionally incapable of pursuing it. I am the type of human who will die out" (location 2909). Tennant-Moore creates a really believable character in Elsie of this purposeless woman. I just couldn't stand spending time with her. I don't really know what the purpose of this book was other than to say, "Look how terrible a 21st century woman can be."
All that said, the book was well-written, stylistically. I enjoyed the writing itself.
I don't think I was quite the right reader for this book, but I'm not really sure who that reader is. It was much too lurid for me, and I found myself skimming through parts just because I couldn't handle any more of the depravation. But I kind of should be the right reader for this book--a young(ish) female kind of questioning her role in the world. But this narrator just would not stop being such a spoiled brat. She's incapable of forming lasting relationships with anyone, and I certainly didn't enjoy spending time as her reader. She says, "If I could write, I would be the quintessential twenty-first-century narrator: characterized by the aimless bustle of the sharp mind, revealed through thoughts about my inner torment rather than events that explain the torment" (location 2984). Well, yeah. If that's what you feel makes the quintessential twenty-first century narrator, then I guess you fit the bill.
This was a frustratingly self-indulgent book. It's fiction, but reads like the diary of a person I wouldn't even want to sit next to on a bus. Having unlimited inheritance money and a really generous dad who doesn't seem to care what she does with her life, Elsie just floats around feeling like she's too good to go to school, too good to get a job, too good to form relationships with human beings. When she travels to Sri Lanka, it seems like maybe religion or at least an understanding of abject poverty might change her, and I kept waiting for that to happen. There was even a moment when I thought that Elsie might be some kind of cool modern feminist Siddhartha and that maybe this book was worth reading. She's lived a sheltered life, not knowing anything but wealth and comfort, and when she finally comes out, she will see poverty and suffering and turn into the Buddha! Nope. Reading this book felt like listening to that one acquaintance who makes terrible choices but is incapable of changing or even recognizing the problem, but just seems to keep talking.
I feel like I see what Tennant-Moore was probably trying to do: show us how purposeless life can feel for those who never really have to work for or earn anything on their own. She writes, "I am a modern evolutionary casualty, a woman capable of bearing children but deprived of the will to do so; a woman endowed with the will for meaningful work but constitutionally incapable of pursuing it. I am the type of human who will die out" (location 2909). Tennant-Moore creates a really believable character in Elsie of this purposeless woman. I just couldn't stand spending time with her. I don't really know what the purpose of this book was other than to say, "Look how terrible a 21st century woman can be."
All that said, the book was well-written, stylistically. I enjoyed the writing itself.
did-not-finish-dnf
January 25, 2016DNF at 2%. Yep, 2%. Couldn't take anymore than that. I think it's the quickest I've ever DNF'd any book.
December 26, 2015
I was so relieved to finish Wreck and Order by Hannah Tennant-Moore that I felt guilty. There are good things about this book. It may be that I'm the wrong reader. I enjoyed many moments in the novel, especially the descriptions of Sri Lanka. Of course, that's one of the places I dream of going, so I was predisposed to like those sections. On the other hand, the fact that I want to go there could have made me a harsher critic so...
Our heroine, Elsie, is a desperately unhappy person. At the same time, she seems convinced that although she's a terrible person, she is also, somehow, more authentic and, maybe, better than everyone else. She has lots of horrible, empty sex that left me wanting to become a nun (well not really but nothing about Elsie's sex, for me, was erotically exciting).She revels in her degradation, despising herself but also everyone else. She drinks too much and spends her time when she's not working part-time at Barnes & Noble translating an obscure text from its original French. Her French is the thing she likes most about herself (yes, that's what I said) but, naturally, the year she spent in Paris was not only a huge disappointment, it tainted her love of the language because it turned out she didn't speak it well enough to impress the taxi drivers.
I don't mean to pick on the book but it was hard to get through. It was given to me by the publisher although I can't track down from where I won it. I wish I had better things to say of it. It's not badly written; it's just terribly depressing. Or it would be if I could have been moved by Elsie. For a character this difficult to like, I think the writing has to be better than good; it has to be mesmerizing. I remembered reading Susanna Moore's books which had some characters I found repellent but her writing was so powerful, I couldn't stop reading. With Wreck and Order I had to keep pushing myself to keep going. I enjoyed some of the descriptions of New York City (it's my home after all and Tennant-Moore is good at describing places) but I really hated the self-destructive Elsie. Like her boyfriends, I wanted her to go into therapy but (like her) I didn't really think it would help.
Our heroine, Elsie, is a desperately unhappy person. At the same time, she seems convinced that although she's a terrible person, she is also, somehow, more authentic and, maybe, better than everyone else. She has lots of horrible, empty sex that left me wanting to become a nun (well not really but nothing about Elsie's sex, for me, was erotically exciting).She revels in her degradation, despising herself but also everyone else. She drinks too much and spends her time when she's not working part-time at Barnes & Noble translating an obscure text from its original French. Her French is the thing she likes most about herself (yes, that's what I said) but, naturally, the year she spent in Paris was not only a huge disappointment, it tainted her love of the language because it turned out she didn't speak it well enough to impress the taxi drivers.
I don't mean to pick on the book but it was hard to get through. It was given to me by the publisher although I can't track down from where I won it. I wish I had better things to say of it. It's not badly written; it's just terribly depressing. Or it would be if I could have been moved by Elsie. For a character this difficult to like, I think the writing has to be better than good; it has to be mesmerizing. I remembered reading Susanna Moore's books which had some characters I found repellent but her writing was so powerful, I couldn't stop reading. With Wreck and Order I had to keep pushing myself to keep going. I enjoyed some of the descriptions of New York City (it's my home after all and Tennant-Moore is good at describing places) but I really hated the self-destructive Elsie. Like her boyfriends, I wanted her to go into therapy but (like her) I didn't really think it would help.
October 31, 2018
Thank you Goodreads First Reads for my copy of Wreck and Order :) I am looking forward to reading it!
January 11, 2016
I received a copy of Wreck and Order from First to Read. I have to say, I loved this book. Elsie is the proverbial train wreck. When a teen, she allowed boys liberties- wanting to feel good. Feel free. Be loved. Don’t we want all these things as teens, just most of us never go about it the way she did. Alcohol abuse follows her young adulthood and she gets into a bad relationship. Jared makes her feel free, sometimes…. Makes her feel good….sometimes. But there is a thin veneer of love over the destructive tendencies. And yet this is the type of relationship she wants, isn’t it? She allows herself to follow what society says is the correct road. Bryan looks good on paper. No drugs, alcohol or physical pain. But it isn’t right. Why can’t she be happy? These words go through the book time and again as Elsie pushes herself toward what she thinks she needs. Happiness, stability, for her life to have meant something. She goes to Shri Lanka to try to learn how to just be comfortable. She knows she made bad decisions and she worries about her sexual cravings. Throughout the book I have wept with Elsie, laughed, wanted to shake her and just wanted to hug her. She is a mess, but she is also a very real, very touchable character. I love her!
January 8, 2016
This was a beautiful and damaged story of a young woman's quest for meaning in a harsh post 9/11 world. Sexually explicit and frankly uncomfortable at times, the book is not for everyone. But this is a writer to watch. The writing is descriptive and introspective. My highlighter feature went non-stop.
Provided by NetGalley
Provided by NetGalley
January 12, 2016
Before I jump into my review of this book, I have to say that there should definitely be a trigger warning attached to it. If reading graphic descriptions of violent sex is going to upset you or make you uncomfortable, then this is not a book you should read because there are several such scenes.
Despite the slight discomfort of those scenes, I really enjoyed this book. It felt at times like I was reading a memoir because the protagonist feels very real in that she is extremely flawed, and because the descriptions of Sri Lanka really put you in each city Elsie travels to. The culture and lifestyle of the people there is beautifully captured, as is the discomfort felt by someone who was raised in an entirely different culture when they are first introduced to a whole other world.
Elsie mentions at one point that she needs to reconcile her ideals with her personality, and I thought that was a really poignant idea. She wants so badly to help the Sri Lankan girl she befriends, and she does make progress, but her personality ultimately gets in the way of that and causes her to become cold toward Suriya. Elsie is entitled, spoiled, masochistic, and disturbed but that is precisely why this book is so wonderful. She is human.
There are many different subjects covered in this book: Buddhism, the state of third world countries, the moral dilemmas tied to the torture of supposed terrorists, tensions between different cultures, marriage and commitment, and the desire to do good or effect change without having the means to do so.
If you can handle the few graphic scenes, then I highly recommend you read this book. Hannah Tennant-Moore creates extremely realistic characters, effortlessly puts the reader in all the different settings of the book, and writes about what I am sure many can relate to when she discusses the barrier one's personality creates between thought and action.
Despite the slight discomfort of those scenes, I really enjoyed this book. It felt at times like I was reading a memoir because the protagonist feels very real in that she is extremely flawed, and because the descriptions of Sri Lanka really put you in each city Elsie travels to. The culture and lifestyle of the people there is beautifully captured, as is the discomfort felt by someone who was raised in an entirely different culture when they are first introduced to a whole other world.
Elsie mentions at one point that she needs to reconcile her ideals with her personality, and I thought that was a really poignant idea. She wants so badly to help the Sri Lankan girl she befriends, and she does make progress, but her personality ultimately gets in the way of that and causes her to become cold toward Suriya. Elsie is entitled, spoiled, masochistic, and disturbed but that is precisely why this book is so wonderful. She is human.
There are many different subjects covered in this book: Buddhism, the state of third world countries, the moral dilemmas tied to the torture of supposed terrorists, tensions between different cultures, marriage and commitment, and the desire to do good or effect change without having the means to do so.
If you can handle the few graphic scenes, then I highly recommend you read this book. Hannah Tennant-Moore creates extremely realistic characters, effortlessly puts the reader in all the different settings of the book, and writes about what I am sure many can relate to when she discusses the barrier one's personality creates between thought and action.
February 4, 2016
I won this book in a giveaway from LibraryThing and usually I make myself read whatever I win from them because FREE BOOKS. However, as hard as I tried, I could not bring myself to finish this book. I tried I really did! The story is told through the mindless rambling of a young woman attempting to "improve her life". I put that in quotations because she doesn't try, she wants things to go badly. Whether it be through disgusting intimate scenes with her boyfriend or deciding she wants to try living somewhere else so her dad mindlessly gives her money. Seriously everyone in this book is a zombie and/or some sort of junkie even though drug use is never brought up. You could say that my strong distaste of this book is evidence of some skill in the author, but really I think she just tried too hard and gave us one dimensional characters striving to be philosophical and the result, an epic boring failure. Hopefully I have not been too mean, though I doubt anyone will read this. If you wish for another review of this book, written by my talented sister, here is a link to hers.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a quote from the book that I've been showing to my loved ones because of its ridiculousness.
-"Watched. Watched myself watching. Watched the watched self being watched. So who was the watcher, ultimately? Fuck if I knew. I leaned back again. This was what meditation had given me."
I stopped on Page 93...over 30%.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a quote from the book that I've been showing to my loved ones because of its ridiculousness.
-"Watched. Watched myself watching. Watched the watched self being watched. So who was the watcher, ultimately? Fuck if I knew. I leaned back again. This was what meditation had given me."
I stopped on Page 93...over 30%.
Read
March 22, 2018I started reading this a few days ago. It's been sitting on my shelf for a while and it was a LibraryThing giveaway that I should have read and reviewed long ago. I'm on a mission to clear books off my TBR shelf (very slowly) and picked this up but 30 pages in and I'm giving up. There's nothing wrong with the writing - it's definitely a very confident, young voice. Maybe it's just not for me. But after getting through some 30 pages, I realized that I really didn't care for the narrator or her story and that I've got plenty more books to spend my reading time on. DNF
January 22, 2016
Wow, I actually finished this book. Well, let's say I got to the end of it. I won't say that I read all of it because I did not. I skipped a LOT of this book. There is a LOT of talk, thinking and doing of sex in this book. You would say the main character is obsessed with it. She is also obsessed with a man who is an alcoholic who screws anything with two breasts. She leaves him and comes back, leaves him and comes back, etc. She finds a guy who does well, has a nice apartment, really loves her but doesn't want to party all the time. she's bored and can't handle it. He kicks her out, she goes back to the alcoholic.
I stayed up until 5:00 in the morning reading and/or scanning this thing then realized the time. I only had an hour left of reading, but I put it away and went to bed. I finished it this morning and I was like, I really didn't even need to go back to it. Nothing had changed. I'm sitting here shaking my head wondering what the point of this book was, why this book was written and why did I waste my time? Apparently I was just so tired, lazy and comfy in bed that I didn't want to look for another book to read. That's all I can say for myself. Although the time she spent in Sri Lanka was interesting (she was only thinking about sex then and it wasn't constant).
I would, however, give the cover 4 stars.
Thanks Blogging for Books for sending me this to review. I had seen this book everywhere, but really hadn't read the reviews until after I got it. I wish I had paid more attention. That's like six or seven hours of my life I'm never going to get back.
I stayed up until 5:00 in the morning reading and/or scanning this thing then realized the time. I only had an hour left of reading, but I put it away and went to bed. I finished it this morning and I was like, I really didn't even need to go back to it. Nothing had changed. I'm sitting here shaking my head wondering what the point of this book was, why this book was written and why did I waste my time? Apparently I was just so tired, lazy and comfy in bed that I didn't want to look for another book to read. That's all I can say for myself. Although the time she spent in Sri Lanka was interesting (she was only thinking about sex then and it wasn't constant).
I would, however, give the cover 4 stars.
Thanks Blogging for Books for sending me this to review. I had seen this book everywhere, but really hadn't read the reviews until after I got it. I wish I had paid more attention. That's like six or seven hours of my life I'm never going to get back.
December 23, 2015
This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Not only does it discuss so many of the ideas and feelings I thought so few other people had and didn't really know how to put into words, it delves so deeply and so brutally honestly into them that it's mind-blowing. In the many clashes and confrontations, no one is all right or all wrong, no one is all good or all horrible, and everyone is both. I could see every side, and understand and hurt and root for everyone to come out of it okay. On top of the engrossing content and the engaging character examination, the writing itself it excellent. Every eight pages or so, there was a line that was so insightful or that so properly and completely described its subject matter that it made me stop reading. Even if you haven't felt personally the emotional tidal waves that crash violently over the characters, or you haven't felt like the outsider who just doesn't understand the things others seem to understand so easily, or you haven't realized that you don't want the things that other people want, I think you could know what all of that feels like just from reading this book. It must be gnawed on, and it can be painful and horrifying at times, but it makes so many things - about life and human nature and our connections to each other - so very clear in the process. This story will stay with me for a very long time.
This book was won for free from the publisher through the Goodreads First Reads program. Thank you!
This book was won for free from the publisher through the Goodreads First Reads program. Thank you!
February 3, 2016
This year I am embracing a 'new' concept; I stop reading books I can't stand to read another page of or risk running around my house screaming. I haven't been in this predicament often because I'm stubborn, but this year is about quality vs. quantity and I can't waste my time. I was planning to go with Nancy Pearl's rule of 50 pages for this book, but each time I looked at my reading pile beside the bed I would quickly dive under the covers. "Please don't make me read another page of that book!"
The description on the back of my arc starts with these words, "Decisively aimless..." No. This is destructively aimless and tries, oh so painfully, to be a book of many 'nothings' trying to be 'somethings'. The age old trick of waving our intelligence around in these merry-go-round philosophical ways only works for some and not here. It felt chaotic, uncomfortable, and not messy in a way you would/could find refreshing in other novels looking for meaning in life. And less I forget the sexual dealings within are better forgotten.
The description on the back of my arc starts with these words, "Decisively aimless..." No. This is destructively aimless and tries, oh so painfully, to be a book of many 'nothings' trying to be 'somethings'. The age old trick of waving our intelligence around in these merry-go-round philosophical ways only works for some and not here. It felt chaotic, uncomfortable, and not messy in a way you would/could find refreshing in other novels looking for meaning in life. And less I forget the sexual dealings within are better forgotten.
February 24, 2016
I was excited to start reading this since I had marked it TBR forever ago on Goodreads. Imagine my surprise when I find out I was a winner in a Goodreads giveaway. But here's the thing. This book is terrible. And I hate to say that, you know? Someone took a lot of time and effort to put this together but my God is this book bad.
There's no plot at all. The main character, Elsie, is beyond infuriating. She has absolutely no direction and lives off daddy's money. Add in the fact that she has obvious major self-esteem issues (what was with that "boyfriend" of hers?!), and a money-pushing father in that 'here's a check for $4,0000... college is a waste anyway' kind of way and this book brings absolutely nothing to the table.
Hated it.
There's no plot at all. The main character, Elsie, is beyond infuriating. She has absolutely no direction and lives off daddy's money. Add in the fact that she has obvious major self-esteem issues (what was with that "boyfriend" of hers?!), and a money-pushing father in that 'here's a check for $4,0000... college is a waste anyway' kind of way and this book brings absolutely nothing to the table.
Hated it.
August 12, 2016
Stunning debut novel. Not sure what the bad reviews are all about - but I found this a great read. Having done a bit of travelling, I found the author being able to articulate some genius observations. Some gems from the work: "The only reason I was able to travel around the world was the senseless way money flowed through the word, pooling here, evaporating there" & "The mistake is always the same: trying to live the life one has in one's head instead of the life before one, which is endlessly generous if you humble yourself to it as the only possible means of fulfillment". And maybe one of my favorite lines in novels - Only someone unloveable could love aloneness so much.
March 12, 2016
I loved the premise of Wreck and Order, Tennant-Moore's writing is beautiful and she grapples with important questions around who we are, and what we are doing with our lives. But at the end of the day the story fell short for me, and I began caring less and less about our main character. CW for language, sex and rape.
January 19, 2016
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
I've decided that life is too short to read bad an/or mediocre books. I wanted to like Wreck and Order because the description sounded interesting, but this book was just not my jam. I only got a third of the way into the book before giving up on it.
I've decided that life is too short to read bad an/or mediocre books. I wanted to like Wreck and Order because the description sounded interesting, but this book was just not my jam. I only got a third of the way into the book before giving up on it.
July 8, 2018
While I admire the story of finding yourself, the book was horrible. I cannot begin to understand why it received an award. The violence, especially the sexual violence, is appalling and degrading. The only part of the story I enjoyed was the story of the Sri Lanka family. Some of the characters and families she encounters were interesting. I could not wait to finish this book and have it done.
July 31, 2017
This book is a very raw, insightful look into the life of a young woman. I appreciated the candor of her writing and the noble search for meaning in the modern era.
April 29, 2016
It was, in theory, an interesting experience reading this book. *Warning (or probably I'm saving someone the effort of reading the thing) Spoilers for the entire book under the spoiler tag! *
Why was this potentially interesting read? Because it's such a complete, unrelenting portrait of an unlikable shit of a person. Elsie makes bad decisions, we don't ever see evidence of the sharp intelligence we are promised in the blurb, and we are from time to time reminded of by Elsie herself. She wants sex of the sick type, she floats on her father's money, slums in Sri Lanka until she gets bored of it, she goes to a war torn country in the first place because she thinks it will justify her own unhappiness. She desperately needs a shrink, but refuses to go and see one. She's self-destructive, she thinks her mother banal because she used pseudo-Buddhism as a crutch when she was going through a bad phase in her life, but fails to realize that that is exactly what she herself is doing. Or she does. I really don't know. She navel gazes too much, and most of it is sex related. There's nothing erotic about her, everything base and degrading. If we read the first few pages and then the last, we wouldn't know a few years had passed in the interim. In a way, this book is a remarkable character study of a vapid, horrible someone with no growth.
Why did I not consider awarding this book a better rating? Because, in the reading, it's a book I could not stand. An unlikable character can make a book work, like (for me, personally) in Serena, since Serena had a charisma that made it impossible to ignore her even as you loathed her. Elsie is a dead fish in comparison. The writing here was good, but if a horrible character is stuck in the same routine and never changes, the writing needs to be exemplary. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I could have spent my time getting a root canal instead, I'd rate the two experiences about the same, with the root canal winning because at the end of it I'd be free of my rotten tooth. This book gave me a migraine.
Why was this potentially interesting read? Because it's such a complete, unrelenting portrait of an unlikable shit of a person. Elsie makes bad decisions, we don't ever see evidence of the sharp intelligence we are promised in the blurb, and we are from time to time reminded of by Elsie herself. She wants sex of the sick type, she floats on her father's money, slums in Sri Lanka until she gets bored of it, she goes to a war torn country in the first place because she thinks it will justify her own unhappiness. She desperately needs a shrink, but refuses to go and see one. She's self-destructive, she thinks her mother banal because she used pseudo-Buddhism as a crutch when she was going through a bad phase in her life, but fails to realize that that is exactly what she herself is doing. Or she does. I really don't know. She navel gazes too much, and most of it is sex related. There's nothing erotic about her, everything base and degrading. If we read the first few pages and then the last, we wouldn't know a few years had passed in the interim. In a way, this book is a remarkable character study of a vapid, horrible someone with no growth.
Why did I not consider awarding this book a better rating? Because, in the reading, it's a book I could not stand. An unlikable character can make a book work, like (for me, personally) in Serena, since Serena had a charisma that made it impossible to ignore her even as you loathed her. Elsie is a dead fish in comparison. The writing here was good, but if a horrible character is stuck in the same routine and never changes, the writing needs to be exemplary. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I could have spent my time getting a root canal instead, I'd rate the two experiences about the same, with the root canal winning because at the end of it I'd be free of my rotten tooth. This book gave me a migraine.
January 16, 2016
I received a free, advanced copy of this book from Penguin's first to read program, and if not for that fact I never would've finished it which is a shame because I was really looking forward to reading this.
First, can we talk about all the sex? And not just sex, but depraved, gross sex. For seemingly no reason, since the narrator never really seems to learn anything or grow. She constantly talks about her focus on the man's pleasure and continues to date and/or sleep with people that pay her sexual needs no attention, yet never does she take any charge or try to change this situation in anyway.
Around page 31, I made this note: "I still don't feel rooted in what's happening. I feel like everything is happening in blinks--we get information about her but no context. I would stop reading now if this wasn't an ARC." That feeling persisted for much of the beginning of this book. It was all narration, and it jumped around a lot. It felt like a short story that wouldn't end. And it's a shame, because when she gets to Sri Lanka for the first time, there are moments that really shine and the writing becomes much more engaging.
I felt like that for much of the time she was in Sri Lanka. The story was better and the writing was better. Until, inevitably, it started to devolve towards the end. This narrator is reprehensible, and there was never a moment where I liked her even a little bit. Because of the things she did and the things she thought, I also had trouble believing much of what happened in this story. Never did I feel like she was the type of person to go traveling around Sri Lanka, looking into Buddhism and spending all this time with Suriya. And, to make matters worse, her musings at the end of the novel are very similar to her musings at the beginning. She doesn't change, she doesn't grow, and she doesn't seem to learn anything.
This was a frustrating read from page one to the end.
First, can we talk about all the sex? And not just sex, but depraved, gross sex. For seemingly no reason, since the narrator never really seems to learn anything or grow. She constantly talks about her focus on the man's pleasure and continues to date and/or sleep with people that pay her sexual needs no attention, yet never does she take any charge or try to change this situation in anyway.
Around page 31, I made this note: "I still don't feel rooted in what's happening. I feel like everything is happening in blinks--we get information about her but no context. I would stop reading now if this wasn't an ARC." That feeling persisted for much of the beginning of this book. It was all narration, and it jumped around a lot. It felt like a short story that wouldn't end. And it's a shame, because when she gets to Sri Lanka for the first time, there are moments that really shine and the writing becomes much more engaging.
I felt like that for much of the time she was in Sri Lanka. The story was better and the writing was better. Until, inevitably, it started to devolve towards the end. This narrator is reprehensible, and there was never a moment where I liked her even a little bit. Because of the things she did and the things she thought, I also had trouble believing much of what happened in this story. Never did I feel like she was the type of person to go traveling around Sri Lanka, looking into Buddhism and spending all this time with Suriya. And, to make matters worse, her musings at the end of the novel are very similar to her musings at the beginning. She doesn't change, she doesn't grow, and she doesn't seem to learn anything.
This was a frustrating read from page one to the end.
March 21, 2016
I had really high hopes for this book. Like, really high. I thought I could relate to the main character because we both took time off after school to go travel and get to know ourselves. Well, we really have nothing in common. Elsie, the main character, decides to leave town with her father’s money and travel the world. She is so self-absorbed that while visiting an impoverished country, she still can’t stop thinking about her problems for one moment.
Elsie is a self-destructive character that thinks the grass is always greener on the other side. Honestly, she was infuriating and I wanted to shake her and talk some sense into her! I actually disliked her more and more with each page that I read.
Typically, I can get through a good book in days and at the longest, a week. This book has taken me almost a month and it was a painful month. I hate to post a bad review but I just didn't enjoy it. I feel almost guilty at how excited I was to finish this book. It could totally be great for someone else, just not me. I would not recommend this book to a friend.
*Rating 1/5
Elsie is a self-destructive character that thinks the grass is always greener on the other side. Honestly, she was infuriating and I wanted to shake her and talk some sense into her! I actually disliked her more and more with each page that I read.
Typically, I can get through a good book in days and at the longest, a week. This book has taken me almost a month and it was a painful month. I hate to post a bad review but I just didn't enjoy it. I feel almost guilty at how excited I was to finish this book. It could totally be great for someone else, just not me. I would not recommend this book to a friend.
*Rating 1/5
December 24, 2015
I received an advanced copy of this book through First To Read.
This book reads more like ramblings from a journal than a novel.
I can't decide if the main character is more self absorbed, self important, or self loathing. I know the answer is all of the above. She is handed money by her father any time she needs it. To travel the world, to ship her abusive boyfriend across country to be with her, to support her rather than support herself.
She is damaged beyond repair. I just want to shake some sense into her. The irresponsibility of no job and a trust fund. The getting off on being abused either physically or mentally. There were too many times I just wanted to stop reading and not go on.
The writing is ok. I do wish that when the author is describing, that she would use proper sentences, not the chopped up English like when the Sri Lankan's are speaking. It gets confusing to decipher description from dialogue.
This book reads more like ramblings from a journal than a novel.
I can't decide if the main character is more self absorbed, self important, or self loathing. I know the answer is all of the above. She is handed money by her father any time she needs it. To travel the world, to ship her abusive boyfriend across country to be with her, to support her rather than support herself.
She is damaged beyond repair. I just want to shake some sense into her. The irresponsibility of no job and a trust fund. The getting off on being abused either physically or mentally. There were too many times I just wanted to stop reading and not go on.
The writing is ok. I do wish that when the author is describing, that she would use proper sentences, not the chopped up English like when the Sri Lankan's are speaking. It gets confusing to decipher description from dialogue.
March 13, 2016
Hmmm...not sure yet what to say about this book.
The only reason I finished this book is because the author is an excellent writer, that's very evident, and I loved the travel to Sri Lanka, her friend Suriya, and the Buddhist wisdom that was threaded through. The storyline of the self-destructive character was challenging in most parts, as she truly was destroying herself, and knowingly, which was irritating. About 25% through the book, it turns, there is character growth, there are interesting new developments in the storyline, but it just doesn't pull through for me. I was not looking for a happily ever after, or for someone to swoop in and save Elsie, but good grief! I can't say more without giving anything away. The book was a fast read and I felt compelled to turn each page, so not a total lost.
The only reason I finished this book is because the author is an excellent writer, that's very evident, and I loved the travel to Sri Lanka, her friend Suriya, and the Buddhist wisdom that was threaded through. The storyline of the self-destructive character was challenging in most parts, as she truly was destroying herself, and knowingly, which was irritating. About 25% through the book, it turns, there is character growth, there are interesting new developments in the storyline, but it just doesn't pull through for me. I was not looking for a happily ever after, or for someone to swoop in and save Elsie, but good grief! I can't say more without giving anything away. The book was a fast read and I felt compelled to turn each page, so not a total lost.
January 28, 2016
Oh dear. I thought I was reasonably skilled at discerning the characteristics of a book through its jacket blurbs and publishers' descriptions but I really missed the mark with this one. I did not expect a globe-trotting journey to discover meaning and purpose to begin with (and continue to feature) skeevy sex. How does some word like "gritty" not appear in this books' description? I specifically chose to guarantee a free copy of this book through Penguin's First Reads program because I like tales of self-discovery as well as travelogues, and this sounded like an ultimately hopeful story. Had I any idea of the dark content I would never have taken a copy which could have been enjoyed by a more appropriate audience.
May 5, 2016
Let's be clear: Many readers will find this book extremely irritating. It's a whole lot of navel-gazing by a privileged, 20-something white woman, but it really resonated with me, and I found it to be a refreshing antidote to the popular genre of "Eat, Pray, Love" knockoffs. The lessons that none of us are special; it's okay to live an ordinary life that feels right to you; and that it's important to recognize that having the freedom to figure out what that is is a privilege -- these are all important bits of wisdom that many Millenials still need to learn. It was an enjoyable read for me, but you'll know within the first 50 pages or so whether you'll like it.
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