The World Without You by Joshua Henkin
3 stars
Henkin, as in Matrimony
his first book, is a wonderful writer. Unfortunately, I don’t know ANY of his
characters. But more importantly, I don’t WANT to know them. The father is
distant, the mother is self-absorbed. Clarissa, who has turned her back on a
career as a cellist, is unhappy with her current life and sure a child – HER
child, and only HER child - will complete her world. Lily is angry at everyone
for unknown and unknowable reasons. Noelle, a wild child to the extreme, has
become an orthodox Jew, sure that only blindly following every jot and title of
every law will fulfill her. Thisbe, the
widow of the only son of the family, valiantly tries to remain normal. Who are
these unhappy people? Surely there must be someone Henkin can write about that is
at least marginally happy. If there was
a happy ending to this book, I could not find it. I was not looking for a saccharine sweet
book, I was just hoping for something other than unrelieved unhappiness. I’ll look for another author for my next
book.
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