the middlesteins, jamie attenberg
come on world, why is there always hype and attention lavished upon the merely ok? there is an obvious answer but i won't be rude enough to spell it out. i think this story could have worked better as a short story, tightened up and more poignant. as a novel it's pretty skinny-flabby - mild attempts at depth and family drama obscured by some timeline shuffling and mild black (grey) humour - i prefer pathos and hubris and slight exaggeration for maximum emotional impact. the issues are there for the exposing but the incisions were not made. i felt hardly any significant emotional response. as it was i almost was at the end of the book before i realised it wasn't still the introduction. maybe the e-reader experience played a part in this.
5/10 merely passable and readable
i am going to start a very precise scoring system with possible modifications to come.
