“I recently finished Paint It Black, by Janet Fitch, which I absolutely loved, and I stumbled across an interview in which Fitch said she was extremely inspired by this novel. Having wanted to read it for a long time, I decided to bump it up to the top of my reading list and give it a go. But honestly, I really didn't care for it. Parts of the novel are really beautiful and well-written, but most of it is just plain confusing. Gaitskill has a tendency to go off on tangents, not just in the middle of paragraphs, but in the middle of sentences! Some sequences of the book were really hard to follow, and I consider myself to be pretty sharp when it comes to difficult literature.
I also had a problem with the character of Alison. She's supposed to be this glamorous, beautiful model, but from the way she was written, I could only imagine her as frumpy, plain, and downright disgusting. The only sense we get of her beauty is when it's reflected in the other characters' view of her, as when people constantly approach her at parties or restaurants to tell her how beautiful she is. But her self-loathing and neurosis, while it's probably just intended to humanize her, just makes her seem like an ugly and annoying girl who just stumbled upon some extreme good fortune, career-wise.
I do respect Gaitskill for taking chances and being so bold in her choices. One good thing about the book is it does help you to realize that even the "beautiful" people have a hard time finding true beauty and happiness in their lives, which in some ways is a comforting thought. But, based solely on my own level of enjoyment of this book, I was a little disappointed and ended up rushing through the last few pages just because I wanted so badly for the story to be over so I could move on to another, hopefully more satisfying, read.”
AyalaSurit wrote this review Wednesday, April 2, 2008.
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