Reviews

Departamento de Especulaciones by Jenny Offill

brattyreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

maddeg's review against another edition

5.0

pay attention the point of view. and she meant it

bibliocyclist's review against another edition

emotional funny sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

Are you apt to nudge the envelope?  Do you more often think before you act or think instead of act?  What goes without saying, and “why must everything have already begun”?  If you already accept the absence of self, the impermanence of all things, and the unsatisfactory nature of ordinary experience but harbor the suspicion that you’re still Doin’ It Wrong, check out the rapid-fire novella Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill.  Step into the shoes of its unnamed, rockily-married narrator, join the ghost of Carl Sagan in making apple pie from scratch, journey past your breaking point to the place “where no one can go any further,” and plot out a new map from there. 

irvherbblinger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

4.5

brunogcarr's review against another edition

4.0

Como anunciam James Wood e M. Cunningham, este é um livro difícil de definir e classificar. É diferente, original e, pese embora não consiga a coesão e até a coerência de uma narrativa mais conservadora, a verdade é que toca onde tem que tocar: é engraçado e comovente ao mesmo tempo. Sátira e elogio familiar. Interessante.

oxnard_montalvo's review against another edition

3.0

Another must read from 2014, which was compulsively readable, but I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as 'breathtaking' as The New York Times did. It's unconvential in style with every paragraph being made up of fragments of memory, tangential facts, snippets of conversation that summerize the essence of the mood Offil is going for. But while this is interesting, it doesn't delve. It's deliberately vague and mysterious, hinting at transgressions greater than what happens in reality- a man has an affair, a marriage suffers, there is hurt, maybe they break up or maybe they don't. Offil seems to be going for a kind of mythic tone of voice for a common enough story, and while there are moments of genuine warmth and feeling, particularly when recounting parental love, the novella as a whole remains cold and aloof.

outoftheblue14's review against another edition

4.0

Traduzione di Francesca Novajra.

"Pare che la lettura richieda al sistema nervoso uno sforzo enorme. Una rivista di psichiatria scriveva che le tribù africane avevano bisogno di più ore di sonno da quando avevano imparato a leggere. I francesi avevano accolto queste teorie e, durante la Seconda guerra mondiale, riservavano le razioni più abbondanti a chi doveva affrontare fatiche fisiche estenuanti, e a chi svolgeva attività che contemplavano la lettura e la scrittura."
(p.11)

harperhg's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

bittersweet_symphony's review against another edition

4.0

This plotless novel gave me a new appreciation for more stream-of-consciousness types of fiction, which have been painful reads for me in the past.

soundbyte's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Not my type of book but had some nice prose