A review by vgk
So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor

3.0

I was really blown away by McGregor's two other novels, 'Even the Dogs' and 'If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things'. I thought they were both flawless books, with beautiful prose, inventive structures and styles, and sharp and compassionate observations. I would classify both books as more than just novels, I would classify them as art. After them, 'So Many Ways to Begin' was a bit disappointing. The beautiful prose is still present, as are the sharp and compassionate observations, but the story itself was lacking for me. Where his other books have you desperate to turn the page, to work out what the story is really about, this book's plot is obvious from the first pages. I also found I wasn't all that interested or involved with the characters. I could easily have put the book down and never picked it up again throughout it's entire length. In fact I would have, had I not been so impressed by his other books. It was an effort to read this, and I would be mortified if anybody read this first and consequently decided against reading his other novels. It isn't a bad book, it just doesn't live up to the quality of his other work in my opinion. Jon McGregor is a brilliant writer, this just isn't his finest work.