Talking to the Dead

Rating:
Summary: The best read in my 21st century...
Review: 'Talking to the Dead' is incredible at many levels. The voice is strong from the beginning. The relationship between the sisters is rich, wonderfully written, provocative. While it's a totally different work, it's a gem in the same way as 'A Handmaid's Tale': haunting, and something that leaves such powerful images that it's simply not forgettable.

Rating:
Summary: Tense, brittle, doomed
Review: I liked this book a lot. I didn't expect everything to be explained, because Nina the narrator doesn't know all the answers (for example, about Edward's role in Isabel's life); I didn't expect to be shocked by plot twists--the whole book moves like a magnet to its climax and conclusion. The interest came for me in the gorgeous writing, and in the author's ability to sustain a terrible tension, a sense of gathering doom, like a summer storm rolling in slowly, but with stunning force. I enjoyed imagining Isabel through the eyes of the various characters; and imagining how Isabel's various mental troubles developed and manifested through life, while she remained (on the surface) a perfectly functional woman. We keep getting new information that changes that imagined course, right up to the end; so maybe it's the unwritten parts of the story that kept me fascinated. I didn't read it very quickly--I spent a couple weeks reading it in short sittings at the gym--maybe that helped me remember it as more attenuated, more impressive in the way its tone is maintained.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful writing
Review: This novel was completely haunting. I didn't even like the main characters of the story but I felt compelled to know what was going to happen. The description is luscious and sensual, particularly when she is describing food. The sex scenes are haunting because they are so dismissive. Even if you read this book only for the beautiful prose, you will find a story that is provacative and understated in its complexity.