A review by jodyjsperling
The Clasp, by Sloane Crosley
4.0
I had heard that this book was perhaps an updated version of "The Necklace," by Guy de Maupassant, and certainly, the story revolves around Maupassant's classic story, but the novel is not a simple updated version.
At its highest points, The Clasp is one of the rare modern novels that has compassion for its characters. Crosley cares what happens to the people in her book. There is a hint of positive transformation in each of the three principle characters' lives. Anyone tired of reading one Nihilist novel after the next will enjoy this book greatly.
At its lowest points, the novel drags through overly-clever, narrative junk. At times I can feel the writer peeking through the fictional curtain and begging the reader to acknowledge that she made a good joke. An early example of this sort of wink occurred on the first page of chapter one when one of Victor's coworkers is seen holding a "press release" regarding Victor's firing. Crosley writes, "Nancy held the paper announcing Victor's departure in her hand, crushing it so that his last name, Wexler, melded with his first into VictorWe. Alas, he did not feel particularly victorweous today." This example among others suits the author more than the character whose perspective the chapter is filtering through. Victor, it's safe to say, would not be feeling so clever after discovering he's been fired.
Overall, I found The Clasp to be a refreshing read, a pleasant relief from the literary impulse away from plot. There's plenty of character development, but there's also things happening, a story, tension, stakes. I'll gladly look forward to Crosley's next novel.
At its highest points, The Clasp is one of the rare modern novels that has compassion for its characters. Crosley cares what happens to the people in her book. There is a hint of positive transformation in each of the three principle characters' lives. Anyone tired of reading one Nihilist novel after the next will enjoy this book greatly.
At its lowest points, the novel drags through overly-clever, narrative junk. At times I can feel the writer peeking through the fictional curtain and begging the reader to acknowledge that she made a good joke. An early example of this sort of wink occurred on the first page of chapter one when one of Victor's coworkers is seen holding a "press release" regarding Victor's firing. Crosley writes, "Nancy held the paper announcing Victor's departure in her hand, crushing it so that his last name, Wexler, melded with his first into VictorWe. Alas, he did not feel particularly victorweous today." This example among others suits the author more than the character whose perspective the chapter is filtering through. Victor, it's safe to say, would not be feeling so clever after discovering he's been fired.
Overall, I found The Clasp to be a refreshing read, a pleasant relief from the literary impulse away from plot. There's plenty of character development, but there's also things happening, a story, tension, stakes. I'll gladly look forward to Crosley's next novel.