Reviews

Didn’t hate it, didn’t love it. Definitely didn’t like all of the loose ends.

For example: they never really tell what happens to Joe’s mother, or Roger, and most especially, why do we not ever get to know what happens to Sam?

I could never figure out what was supposed to be so appealing about Simon... he seemed like a colossal arrogant self-absorbed jerk at best, and a manipulative, controlling stalker at worst.

I couldn’t figure out what made Anna such the prize, either.

Angela/Angelique had the most compelling story, and then she disappears for so much of the narrative, while we get more than we can stand of Mitch who really had no reason to be in the story at all, and also too much of Rachel, who is similarly extraneous. I felt like these were just thrown it because he needed seven types for the title.

I felt like I should be getting some deeper meaning, with the comparisons to Empson’s book of the same title, but really this is all just too high up in the academic realms of philosophy and overwrought psychology for me to make heads or tails of any of it.

Interested to read other reviews to see if they give me better perspective.

kirstiecat's review against another edition

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5.0

This story is really engrossing and has to do with how one event is seen from seven different angles. Even when it is slightly redundant though, it is different in the way that each perspective perceives the event (written from alternating first person points of view) And of, course, each time we read about the incident through the eyes of someone else, our view is changed and we realize as the reader, we are removed from any state of mind considering objectivity. It's quite experimental in this way though not in terms of the actual writing style. Very difficult to put down until the end...

kathleenitpdx's review

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challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

lyndann's review against another edition

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3.0

i liked it, but i don't remember it.....

rj42's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

You can't accuse Elliot Perlman of lacking ambition with this novel. It tells the complex story of what appears to be a child kidnapping, and the multi-faceted and intertwined events, spanning years, that led up to it. The relationships between the seven or so characters profiled here are examined exhaustively to build a comprehensive psychological portrait of the group and their interactions, with each character in turn filling in a little more of the bigger picture with their first person narrative. It is a huge undertaking and one that is thoroughly believable and convincing, but there is something ultimately unsatisfying and unfulfilled about Seven Types of Ambiguity – Perlman is very obviously and self-consciously trying to write an epic novel and consequently the story loses its essential humanity and its capacity to really surprise in favour of the author flaunting his own undoubted intelligence. Overall, it is far better than most literary fiction being published today, but nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is.

d1stractedreader's review against another edition

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3.0

Very easy to read apart from Simon’s long winded and pretentious discussions about poetry. Last part felt like a bit of an afterthought… And although I liked that the story is told from 7 different viewpoints, there was a lot of repeated exposition between parts - perhaps this was intentional, but I skipped paragraphs at a time.

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