A review by fiberreader
The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern
5.0
This is a book that I think I’m going to have to read again (at least once, if not more) to get a better understanding of what it was that I read. There is no clear way to describe the plot of this book, and frankly at the end I still wasn’t completely sure what happened, yet I loved every word of it. To enjoy this book, you need to suspend all you know of how a story should unfold — you can’t expect the traditional arc of conflict followed by the resolution. Rather, you need to let the story just *be* and accept that things are messy and unresolved and confusing. I suppose that in many ways, that’s what this book is about: that in real life, stories are messy and complicated and frequently lack a satisfying denouement.
The real beauty of this book, and the heart of my enjoyment of it, is the writing. Morgenstern has a real mastery of her words and weaves some truly exquisite phrases and passages. The highlights I made as I read often weren’t key elements of the story but rather phrases or passages that I felt were particularly well written. I do hope that she continues to write, and I’m already looking forward to my first reread of this book.
The real beauty of this book, and the heart of my enjoyment of it, is the writing. Morgenstern has a real mastery of her words and weaves some truly exquisite phrases and passages. The highlights I made as I read often weren’t key elements of the story but rather phrases or passages that I felt were particularly well written. I do hope that she continues to write, and I’m already looking forward to my first reread of this book.