Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Long Island Compromise
Brodesser-Akner's second novel is inspired by the true story of the kidnapping of a wealthy Jewish man, but it’s kind of hard to get into, because after the actually kidnapping, the story jumps ahead to the adult life of the man's middle child, and he is a sad, horny, drug-addled mess. His section is lengthy and often unpleasant. I had read good reviews so I was determined to stick with it, hoping later sections and characters would be less relentlessly vile. But the next section involves his anxiety-ridden older brother, who’s made some poor financial and professional decisions, and it’s even more claustrophobic. (The horrible hot weather may not have helped my reading experience here.) The back half is more readable, focusing more on the women of the family, but I found the end to be pretty frustrating. Is the message here that rich people are assholes? And more so if they’ve had traumatic experiences? I dunno. This was kind of a bummer. B.
__
A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment