Tannat

DNF at 33%, right after Hugo’s chapter.

Many of my friends loved or at least liked this book.  I just thought it was dull. In case you’re unaware, this book consists of a set of six novellas, loosely connected, all written in the present tense and first person by different POV characters. I got through two of the novellas, and gave up after reading the first few pages of the third because it wasn’t getting any better. I didn’t love the writing like those friends who loved the book, and I found that it devolved into run-on quasi-incoherence whenever any kind of action sequence occurred. It was downright annoying.

So I was annoyed or bored throughout each novella until the only somewhat interesting thing would happen. And then? That section would end, we’d jump ahead, switch characters, and I’d be bored again. Slog through a hundred pages and get nothing for it? Ugh. Plus I hated reading both Holly’s and Hugo’s novellas. Even the friends who liked the book wouldn’t tell me that I’d find something worthwhile or interesting if I kept reading, and they all felt that the book went downhill in the second half or so.

I hate not finishing books, but there’s usually something I want to find out about, like how it all turns out. Here the only thing I was somewhat curious about was what had happened to Holly’s little brother, and that wasn’t enough to propel me through another four hundred pages of dross.

I haven’t read Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, and after this, I’m not sure I’m even going to try.  I’m told it’s a better book but this was such a terrible read for me that I can’t imagine Cloud Atlas going much better.