I did not expect magical realism in this story, although the blurb does talk about it. Sometimes in such stories, I enjoy a little diversion in the form of magic or the inexplicable, but this time around, I was not as drawn.
I began with this introduction not to discount the book but to mention a very important aspect of it. Since it forms the foundation of all the angst in the story, it is something an average reader would have to be sure to expect if they are to relish their reading.
Our lead protagonist has retrained very late in life to take up a job in an editorial position. She wants to advance further to have a stronger say in the drafts that move on to the acceptance stage, but she is not there yet.
She is then called to her childhood home, a place she has few memories of but knows that her father wants her to stay away. She decided to put old issues to the rest and sets out and surprises herself with what she finds there.
I have been a reader all my life, but I did not seem to get along with Emily’s brand of book love and what she did with it.
Thirdly, the twist – the hidden secret seemed quite obvious as soon as the magic came into play. Once again, after all this, it might seem like I am not recommending this book to other people, but that is not the case. It did not work for me because of the three above-mentioned factors. It was easy to read and picture, and the flow did not pause at any point. We kept moving from one thing to the other, making it quite easy to follow a train of thought even with all the diversions.
It has received a lot of rave reviews in the blogosphere, and I think many will like it more than I.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
Superfluous Reading 