Await Your Reply

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I really wanted to love this book. The author is critcally acclaimed and this novel in particular is said to speak for our current age. The theme of identity and truth is one I've been exploring a lot in fiction this year, and I was looking forward to this one very much.



The truth was, though, that the beginning, which starts in three unconnected narratives, bored me. I kept putting down the book and picking up something else instead (I usually have four to six books going at any one time, and I have started *and* finished at least that many since I started this book). It didn't grip me. But I kept on plugging away because I was supposed to like it. And it would get better, right?



Well, in some places in this book the insight and style are breathtaking. In other places, there are long passages that seem disconnected and trite. In some places, I ached for the characters, and in others I rolled my eyes, because it seemed like the author was trying too hard. Overall, it took me a while to manage my way through, and while I was somewhat disappointed, it wasn't awful. I think in some ways I just set my expectations too high for this book.



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