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A review by georgereads982
Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener
This book was my first look into autofiction and I can't lie, I don't really know how I feel about it as a genre. The stark contrast between the chapters about Wiener's great great grandfather and the chapters about her relationship was jarring. I found the difference in quality to be stark, with the chapters surrounding her family life much more digestible and engaging. The content surrounding her alleged ancestor felt very out of place. The chapters about her ancestor felt so much longer and harder to wade through.
At certain points it felt like Wiener was working through what she wanted the book to be whilst writing it. A part of me wishes Wiener chose to make this book into two. Both aspects of the story are interesting in their own right but are simply not fleshed out enough because of the constant flipping between the past and present. Again, this could be my lack of knowledge about autofiction, but I really can't understand the need to make these vastly different stories into one book. Especially because, despite the blurb mentioning discussions on colonialism and Wiener's ancestry, I would argue there is very little discussion of these topics. A large majority of the story wasabout her father's affair, her polyamory and her own affair. None of that is mentioned in any descriptions of the book. Which felt misleading.
On a positive note, I have great respect for Wiener's unwillingness to shy away from the fact that she makes awful, hurtful decisions. She touches on this briefly when discussing her great great grandfather, she mentions how easy it is as an author to scrub yourself clean of responsibility. I don't feel that Wiener did that, which I imagine was very difficult and confronting for her. It was interesting to read about her life from her perspective although there were certain parts that I felt had too much detail, but that's just me.
At certain points it felt like Wiener was working through what she wanted the book to be whilst writing it. A part of me wishes Wiener chose to make this book into two. Both aspects of the story are interesting in their own right but are simply not fleshed out enough because of the constant flipping between the past and present. Again, this could be my lack of knowledge about autofiction, but I really can't understand the need to make these vastly different stories into one book. Especially because, despite the blurb mentioning discussions on colonialism and Wiener's ancestry, I would argue there is very little discussion of these topics. A large majority of the story was
On a positive note, I have great respect for Wiener's unwillingness to shy away from the fact that she makes awful, hurtful decisions. She touches on this briefly when discussing her great great grandfather, she mentions how easy it is as an author to scrub yourself clean of responsibility. I don't feel that Wiener did that, which I imagine was very difficult and confronting for her. It was interesting to read about her life from her perspective although there were certain parts that I felt had too much detail, but that's just me.