A review by steph01924
Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet

4.0

Whatever ending I was expecting, it was not that. What WAS that?

I don't know what to say about this book. It was very interesting, at times it enthralled me, but...damn. It was heavy. Kind of depressing, and not always in the good way.

I enjoyed the back and forth history of the generations of Clem's family, the chapter names and the wry voice of older-Clem narrating. I loved Goz; what a great character. I enjoyed some of the Cuban Missile Crisis history. It got a little...pointless? I guess? to me towards the end, when there were things I was much more interested in focusing on. I skimmed those last few inserts.

This is one of those books. It's well-written and has an interesting premise and was quite taking at the time, but I doubt I'll ever go back to it in the future. It's not going to be one of my absolute favorites.

Spoiler

I guess I prefer my books to have some hope at the end. I thought for sure Clem was going to die on 9/11, and, hell, maybe he did since it CUT OFF SO ABRUPTLY. Jesus. Either way, maybe I can imagine that the attack helped him realize he should go back to be with Frankie and they lived together for the rest of their crippled days, perfecting the art of Doing It. I don't need the happy ending to be all spelled out but...there needs to be some glimmer of hope from the characters that that is where it's heading. I don't know if I got that from Clem, and that's probably what bothers me.

But that is my thing with books, and may not be yours. I'd still recommend it to people who can handle this type of book.