Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

Did the editor vanish too? ...

The reviews and recommendations of this book really intrigued and appealed to me. A story of a woman committed to an institution for more than sixty years, whose release upon the closing of the institution to a relative who never know of her existence is truly a unique and creative plot. So too was the writer's desire to tell the story from three perspectives and add multiple sub-plots which certainly enhanced the story. However, the stream-of-consciousness writing and lack of good editing did me in and I was left skimming the last seventy-five pages. Had this book been formatted differently, it would have been a much better read.

I can't recommend this book, although I would love to have read a copy of it in a different format where it didn't jump all over the place.