Two words come to mind when I think of this book: Incredibly creative. Egan weaves the lives of her characters so effortlessly that, although it appears to be all over the place, you barely notice any disconnectedness in the book at all once you’ve accustomed yourself to the pace and style. It’s one solid piece of work made up of so many smaller, but deeply interesting stories – stories that you read rather innocently but then take a few pages to start seeing their relationships more clearly.
And the moments of clarity are sudden and wonderful. A question hanging from an earlier story is answered two stories later. Threads that tie everything together appear; sometimes strong and obvious, sometimes just a weak touch. People. Habits. Music. Ideas. Past, present, and future; but not always in that order. A woman may start the book as a single New Yorker in her 30s…then shows up a teenage runaway in Europe some stories later…only to appear as a mother of two in her 40s even later in the book. You may be in some seemingly random man’s story, wondering where you really are, when someone else shows up briefly to remind you of something else that happened elsewhere in the book.
Egan’s writing style is incredible. Her stories seem normal — standard, well-written fare. Then you find yourself in the mind of a mentally ill character whom you recognize from somewhere earlier. “Ah, that’s what happened to the guy.” There are a lot of these “a-ha” and “oh, I see” moments where you’re putting things together. It really is brilliant and fascinating.
As for rank, I’m putting it at number four on the list. Or maybe number two. It really depends on what I’m thinking when I make the final call. In any case, I loved her approach and creativity. I mean, who else would think to throw a 75-page PowerPoint presentation (through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl) into a novel? I loved the book, and while it’s dabbling around in my top four, it really does stand apart on its own. It’s refreshingly worth the read, if only to see something unique and different.