The Life Before Her Eyes

Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: I read this book after I read the review in the New York times. I won't get into the plot here as others already have. I do not read poetry, so I was surprised to enjoy this book so much. It has been my experience that most poets do not write prose well, especially novels. Ms. Kasischke is an exception to that rule. I did not like the main character of Diana at all. But I don't think that Ms. Kasischke wants you to sympathize with Diana; that's part of what makes this book so good. Diana is a totally unsympathetic, unlikeable character, but you can't wait to see what happens. The first chapter would stand alone as a great short story. Read it and you will be hooked. I've recommended this book to several people already and I recommend it to you. Read this book. Tell other people about it. You will agree with me that Laura Kasischke is an incredibly talented writer.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting premise--that is never realized
Review: The story begins with an interesting question: if you were forced to choose between saving your own life or sacrificing yourself for your best friend, what would you do? Unfortunately, the author chooses not to explore the more meaningful impact of the decision and instead focuses on the excrutiating minutia of one character's future 'life.'
The book is a quick read and I was curious to find out how things would turn out but, in the end, I was left very unsatisfied. I never really enjoyed the author's style of writing. I found her analogies, metaphors and descriptions to be trite, contrived and somewhat juvenile. The novel's saving grace was its premise, which I kept hoping would be discussed. Unfortunatley, it never was.

Rating:
Summary: Almost amazing
Review: This is the type of book that completely hinges on the last 30 pages. So many odd things happened throughout the book, I was dying for a great ending that would wrap up the story and give an explanation for all the the crazy happenings. However, the ending never came. I was left to image for myself why Diana acted the way she did... and for the life of me, I couldn't seem to figure out why. The reader is shown so many of Diana's thoughts it sometimes seems as though we are intruding on her fractured mind. Diana's mind is so odd... I couldn't help but wondering if this book was going to end up with Diana in a psych ward.

In conclusion, this is a beautifully written book that was incredibly intruiging, but very unsatisfying.