Emily Rose

I loved this book. Took me some time to read it as I like to drink in novels, but the dialog read like a script and the settings were so exacting, it was easy to follow and feel as though you were sharing taxis and drinks Jake and his crew. I definitely related little too much to the sense of floundering many of these characters experience in the novel (their reasons being in the shadow of WWI), feeling purposeless and used by the war, too worldly to move back home and too jaded to move on with domesticity elsewhere. The characters seemed timeless. We all know these people. Definitely as someone who lives in a city and among hipster types, the vapid concept of "its where the people are at, and not the place" hits home. I feel its a shame many have been forced to read this book for school or missed the purposeful positioning of this story with its character driven plot. I definitely feel it's a book to read college age and up. I can imagine the concept of survivors guilt and consumption as a means to cope with the nilhism the characters are coping with is (hopefully) hard to relate to until a later stage in life. It's worth the read (and for others the re-read). Also side note, did anyone feel this gave a "something about mary" narrative vibe? If not for just that reason, please read.