A review by mike_trigg
Bottle Grove by Daniel Handler

5.0

I was drawn to the subject area of this book -- a commentary on society and economic inequality in the San Francisco Bay Area (the same backdrop for my own upcoming novel). The writing style is unique and engaging -- a deliberately disorienting, almost dreamy (or drunk, given the characters?) stream-of-consciousness. And I thought it did a great job capturing and critiquing the wealth stratification of the Bay Area. It almost has a timelessness (again perhaps deliberate) to the story of class and extreme wealth, like it could have just as easily been based in Victorian England. A very original story, while still providing insightful commentary on our time.