Clunky in construction and frequently awkward in its prose. I think the weaknesses of this book could have been addressed by a good editor, who would have tightened it up and cut things that cluttered the structure without really adding to what the book is doing (like the out-of-the blue mentally ill daughter, whose therapist recommends a diet free of additives, sugar and caffeine--what does any of that have to do with the substance of this book? and why do we get a detailed description of her office furniture?). But publishers are allocating fewer resources to skilled editing these days, and the result is books like this that are much less good than they should be. (If you count something that happens in chapter two a spoiler, then this review contains spoilers.) In chapter two, a free-spirited carpenter named Paul accidentally kills a man while trying to stop him from beating a dog. He panics, doesn’t call the cops and brings the dog home to his girlfriend Kate, the newly successful author of an Eat Pray Love-type memoir. To paraphrase the book, what happens next is the rest of their lives—a crisis of faith for Kate and a possible path to it for Paul. The novel asks (sometimes ham-fistedly) whether we live a chaotic universe or a divinely ordered one—and if it’s the former, is there still room for faith? As someone who believes in God, but not God’s so-called plan, the ideological question alone makes for something of a page turner. Not to mention the thriller plot that forms the book’s architecture, and my concern for that sweet dog. Spencer’s storytelling doesn’t always make sense to me—I’m not sure why we need to dip into as many POVs as we do—but on a gut level, I really loved this book. It’s a story of people (and dogs) lost and found and lost again, the way we all are.
What do You think about O Homem Do Bosque (2013)?
Got a small way into this and discovered I had read it before. Don't you hate that?
—elena
Good book, had an unusual plot that fortunately worked well.
—Mariamj331
Didn't love the ending but otherwise found it pretty good!
—Georgia
