lathany

I've just finished reading We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. It's difficult to say what the book is about without spoilering the main concept. It doesn't help that this is a book that's really only about a concept and playing it out. But I think I can say it's about creating a family situation and then following the youngest person through it.

I found it interesting and was keen to get all the way through. I also found it irritating in places as things didn't work out in a way I thought was fair (which was some of the point). Also, I feel I liked both Fern and Lowell a great deal less than I believe I was supposed to.

Overall, I found it a nice idea but too much of the solution ended up coming from Rosemary and not from all the people who were older than five when Fern went away. It left me feeling that her parents were incredibly unsuited to the role they had assigned themselves as they were unable to help Rosemary deal with the departure of what was pretty much a twin. That may have been the point, but it was irritating. And similarly, Lowell never seemed to realise that maybe Rosemary needed help, even if not as much as Fern. Consequently I didn't like the parents or Lowell as they just didn't seem to have any empathy for Rosemary at all. Ditto the students. I didn't take to Fern either. I hadn't been spoilered for her, but there was obviously something about her that was different and this was clear from the first few pages. Dunno - just didn't empathise with her. I felt sorry for her, but that was all. I did like Rosemary herself and also Todd, Harlow (particularly her cameos in the last chapters) and - in the end - Reg and Ezra. So overall - interesting story but the lack of empathy with most characters was bad for me.