Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse) > Recent Status Updates

what on earth is she going on about.

I keep trying to like Bryan Washington, and I keep failing. This is probably going to be a DNF for me. It's ... hmmm, how to say this ... boring.

I am reading this at the same time as Ian McEwan's newest, What We Can Know, and they both start with dinner parties, roughly around the same time (late 90s-early '00s) at which 3 or 4 entirely unlikeable, upper-middle-class British couples are gathered. It's very confusing!

The opening scene in this book makes much to-do about the protagonist, an American anthropologist working in the U.K., being without an umbrella in a downpour. Moments later, within the SAME SCENE, the coroner's assistant takes her coat AND UMBRELLA from her. Where was the copy editor??? This crap infuriates me. Also, the writing is middling, but the premise is so strong I'm sticking with it ... for now.

these stories are amazing! Such flights of imagination that pack a huge emotional punch. Grand Stand-In, the first, blew me away.

I hate John so much I think I might not be able to finish this.

my god, this writing - it hits me in the solar plexus and takes my breath away.

Ugh I have to give this up. The writing is pedestrian; the characters flat and clichéd.

Loving this. Hill is in full control of his sprawling narrative. The satire is exquisite.

I was sooooo into this and then the library loan expired! And I couldn't renew coz there's a long wait list! So now I have to pause! It is a 600+ page book - WHAT WAS I THINKING? I didn't plan to fail I failed to plan!

Only on chapter 4 but already can tell this is a masterpiece. No one writes like Lauren Groff. No one.

Is it just me or does this have a Shirley Jacksonesque vibe?

Omg read by Meryl Streep! ! ! 🥰

This is fantastic.

more than half way through and still not sure about this one.

Such beautiful writing.

This is weird. There are so many misused words (I counted about 6 within the first 45 mins of listening) that I'd say it has to be intentional--but they are not malapropisms; they are not funny or ironic, and I can't figure out how they are indicative of character either. I'm listening so maybe the reader is just not pulling off the right tone or delivery? Could a writer (and copy-editor) be THIS sloppy?

Abandoning at 30% coz who needs to read another book about creepy men behaving badly?