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A review by kate66
A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence
2.0
All I can really say is thank goodness that's finished. It should be 1.5 stars because I finished it and it did give me a headache but only one.
I don't books that don't really go anywhere. I don't mind slow and thoughtful books. I don't mind strange characters. What I loathe is ditherers and procrastinators, of which the narrator, Rachel Cameron is a prime example. An unmarried teacher of small children, living in the small town where she was born, I the same house she has always lived in with a mother who plays on her heart problems in order to elicit sympathy from Rachel.
It's only 234 pages long but it felt like twice that. The style of speech was infuriating with things not said and sentences finished with a dash as yet another apology was poured forth.
Margaret Atwood referred to this as an "almost perfect novel". I disagree. I found it dull, monotonous, irritating and far from perfect. I'll not be rushing to read another Margaret Laurence no matter who says she's great.
Not for me.
I don't books that don't really go anywhere. I don't mind slow and thoughtful books. I don't mind strange characters. What I loathe is ditherers and procrastinators, of which the narrator, Rachel Cameron is a prime example. An unmarried teacher of small children, living in the small town where she was born, I the same house she has always lived in with a mother who plays on her heart problems in order to elicit sympathy from Rachel.
It's only 234 pages long but it felt like twice that. The style of speech was infuriating with things not said and sentences finished with a dash as yet another apology was poured forth.
Margaret Atwood referred to this as an "almost perfect novel". I disagree. I found it dull, monotonous, irritating and far from perfect. I'll not be rushing to read another Margaret Laurence no matter who says she's great.
Not for me.