A review by curlymango
Universal Harvester by John Darnielle

2.5

Getting to the acknowledgements page, I was surprised to see Darnielle describing this story as “largely about mothers.” There are mothers in the book, but it felt to me more focused on people left behind by their mothers (mothers who are all more or less ghosts with minimal exploration of their characters), or at least about how they grieve. So, featuring mothers but not really about them. Maybe I just didn’t understand. It felt aimless, confusing, and needlessly wordy starting with part 2 and like there was so much unfulfilled potential to explore loss and memory further. I feel as though Darnielle tried to embody the characters’ lack of closure with the mess of loose ends at the end of the novel, but that seems lazy to me.