Laura van den Berg
Teoksen Find Me tekijä
Tietoja tekijästä
Image credit: Author Laura van den Berg at the 2015 Texas Book Festival. By Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44361948
Tekijän teokset
The Greatest Escape 1 kappale
Associated Works
You Must Be This Tall to Ride: Contemporary Writers Take You Inside The Story (2009) — Avustaja — 20 kappaletta
Fairy Tale Review: The Grey Issue — Avustaja — 2 kappaletta
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Syntymäaika
- 1983
- Sukupuoli
- female
- Kansalaisuus
- USA
- Maa (karttaa varten)
- USA
- Syntymäpaikka
- Florida, USA
- Asuinpaikat
- Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA - Koulutus
- Rollins College (BA)
Emerson College (MFA) - Ammatit
- fiction writer
- Suhteet
- Yoon, Paul (spouse)
- Agentti
- Katherine Fausset
Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
Listat
Palkinnot
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Associated Authors
Tilastot
- Teokset
- 10
- Also by
- 9
- Jäseniä
- 1,252
- Suosituimmuussija
- #20,488
- Arvio (tähdet)
- 3.5
- Kirja-arvosteluja
- 69
- ISBN:t
- 39
- Kuinka monen suosikki
- 2
I started Find Me knowing that it's ranking on goodreads was awful. But it sounded so freaking cool, that I had to do it anyway. In fact my to-read notes were: "A woman immune to the impending amnesia-plague uses it as a chance to rewrite her life, but supposedly it's terrible?" As billed.
OK, that's not fair: the first half was far from terrible. In fact, while I don't think even the first half would have wide-based appeal, I thought it was fantastic: just a touch of surrealism, beautiful language, The central discourse --the interconnection of current self and the people we've been in our lives; how memory matters (or doesn't) and whether we choose to be who we are or are shaped -- was interesting and I felt van den Berg really had a lot of new ideas on this well-worn topic and certainly a new way of showcasing. A side note on "beautiful language:" I think there's a fine line between "lyrical" and "purple prose" and often the more beautiful the language is purported to be, the less I like this book; van den Berg steers well-clear of this problem. She is a master of English. Her sentences are gorgeous, thought-provoking and clear. They build her story, rather than detract from them. It's honestly the only reason I finished part two -- she's truly superlative.
The second half, though, is rough. It's basically a travelogue through the post-apocalypse, although just how apocalyptic is kind of unclear. The problem is that without a solid plot to support everything else, the surrealism and existentialism become overwhelming and repetitive. This part both drags and is actively painful to read. I kept hoping it would get better, but it doesn't: it just ends, all of a sudden, after completely abandoning narrative and leaving a very surreal passage. I'm not even totally sure what happened in the end.… (lisätietoja)