Status Updates From Terrapin: A Mystery

So far digging the flashbacks to the late 60's/early 70's where you get to learn more about the characters as they grew up.

My God, so artificial. The characters in the present day are woodenly acting out parts in a bizarre mystery novel, while the c. 1970 flashbacks, which take up more than half the bulk, are just going absolutely nowhere. Plus there's the "tell" clinic he's putting on (i.e. of the "show don't tell" stylistic advice)

There is nothing I like about this book so far. Not the style (dear God, commas go inside the closing quote), not the awkward dialogue, not the ten cent words, not the damnable choice to start the book with a boring lead-in to a murder and then cut immediately to an even more boring series of closely spaced flashbacks.

Quite simply one of the best novels I've ever read, on several levels: an intriguing murder mystery, an engrossing coming of age story, and indeed, as the blurb says: "Terrapin is about man's potential for doing either good or evil, his tendency to do the latter, and his response to the consequences of his actions."

'TA took a sip of beer. He pursed his lips and seemed to be looking past Adam. Dennis knew that look. TA said, "People make choices, but there are consequences that can't be chosen. What may seem at first to produce happiness can bring misery. Making choices calls for discernment, and discipline. Sometimes, the right choices are counterintuitive, and inconvenient."...'