John Carroll

This book is grossly over-written. Turn to almost any page and you will read that an action by the central character, Agnes, is described repetitively. "She cannot understand it. She, who can hear the dead, the unspoken, the unknown..." and on and on it goes. It is meant, I assume, to be poetic, but It turns the book into a terrible slog, a bore, a repetitious, meandering, self-conscious drumming on the minds of those who can stay awake. It was an interesting idea for a novel, but it is weighted down by the prose style.