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A review by softandcrunchy
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
1.0
Another tediously unoriginal and boringly stylised novel that has all the trappings necessary for the contemporary book club and Hollywood feature.
Let me tick off the elements. Overwritten passages of whimsy and false resonance, the idea of the power of books to save and redeem, and some heavily romanticised and overlaboured notions about history. Oh yeah, let's not forget to include plenty of poor plot devices that give the author the excuse to continuously mention the apparently thin veneer between the living and the dead. Like many other reviewers, I found the metaphors unrelenting, and I have now sworn to never again read a novel about books.
I now know where Markus Zusak got his inspiration for The Book Thief.
Let me tick off the elements. Overwritten passages of whimsy and false resonance, the idea of the power of books to save and redeem, and some heavily romanticised and overlaboured notions about history. Oh yeah, let's not forget to include plenty of poor plot devices that give the author the excuse to continuously mention the apparently thin veneer between the living and the dead. Like many other reviewers, I found the metaphors unrelenting, and I have now sworn to never again read a novel about books.
I now know where Markus Zusak got his inspiration for The Book Thief.