Monday, June 23, 2014
Compelling
Title: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
By: Karen Joy Fowler
I love the explanation the narrator and main character Rosemary Cooke gives for starting her story in the middle. It’s one of the reasons I kept on reading; I knew from the outset that something interesting was being held back for later. What that was, I cannot reveal. You must read the book to find out why it leaves a deep impression.
". . . I made up a friend for myself. I gave her the half of my name I wasn’t using, the Mary part, and various bits of my personality I also didn’t immediately need. We spent a lot of time together, Mary and I, until the day I went off to school and Mother told me Mary couldn’t go.This was alarming. I felt I was being told I mustn’t be myself at school, not my whole self."
This is a psychological novel about a family, with excellent character development. It’s also funny, shocking, tragic, and well-researched.
View similarly tagged posts: fiction
Posted on June 23, 2014 at 3:18 a.m.
