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booksandbread_'s review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
3.25
Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation (a read-in-one-sitting book) is like eavesdropping on the innermost thoughts of a woman unraveling-which is brilliant and quietly heartbreaking.
She uses sharp, fragmented bursts that captures the slow erosion of identity that comes with marriage, motherhood, and unmet artistic ambition. Sigh.
Offill makes the ordinary feel profound, balancing humor with gut-punch moments of honesty.
It’s not a traditional novel-it’s a mood, a reckoning, a glimpse into the mind of someone trying to hold onto themselves as life keeps pulling them under.
Beautiful, strange, and so very real.
She uses sharp, fragmented bursts that captures the slow erosion of identity that comes with marriage, motherhood, and unmet artistic ambition. Sigh.
Offill makes the ordinary feel profound, balancing humor with gut-punch moments of honesty.
It’s not a traditional novel-it’s a mood, a reckoning, a glimpse into the mind of someone trying to hold onto themselves as life keeps pulling them under.
Beautiful, strange, and so very real.
sinisterbeard's review against another edition
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
davidaguilarrodriguez's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Good writing, oddly unemotional but a very interesting read examination of a marriage from the wife’s perspective. Fucking men.
heyheycharly's review against another edition
4.0
This novel propels you along and you won't want to put it down. Even when it ends you are left wondering. Her descriptions are spot-on and beautifully written so that you fall completely into the story. I really enjoyed it.
One of my favorite quotes from the novel:
“There is a husband who requires mileage receipts, another who wants sex at three a.m. One who forbids short haircuts, another who refuses to feed the pets. I would never put up with that, all the other wives think. Never. But my agent has a theory. She says every marriage is jerry-rigged. Even the ones that look reasonable from the outside are held together with chewing gum and wire and string.”
One of my favorite quotes from the novel:
“There is a husband who requires mileage receipts, another who wants sex at three a.m. One who forbids short haircuts, another who refuses to feed the pets. I would never put up with that, all the other wives think. Never. But my agent has a theory. She says every marriage is jerry-rigged. Even the ones that look reasonable from the outside are held together with chewing gum and wire and string.”
xxx_xxx's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
niraghae's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
istar_woman's review against another edition
3.0
The reason this novel is on so many "best" lists eludes me. It's an OK read.
paienpoesie's review against another edition
2.0
Son 172 páginas que me he leído en dos veces en una noche de trabajo.
No sé si esto no es mi estilo pero aparte de haberme hecho sentir amargada durante un tramo de lectura, no me ha dicho nada.
(Matrimonio, hijos, infidelidad, hacerse mayor, expectativas no cumplidas, sueños rotos).
A lo mejor la ficción contemporánea experimental no es lo mío y me tengo que dedicar a leer sólo libritos de fantasía.
No sé si esto no es mi estilo pero aparte de haberme hecho sentir amargada durante un tramo de lectura, no me ha dicho nada.
(Matrimonio, hijos, infidelidad, hacerse mayor, expectativas no cumplidas, sueños rotos).
A lo mejor la ficción contemporánea experimental no es lo mío y me tengo que dedicar a leer sólo libritos de fantasía.
manavisharma's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 rounded down. This little book is written in a very easy to read format - almost as if you're reading someone's steam of consciousness. And despite that, I struggled to get through the book. There were parts I really liked but the constant insertions of quotes by famous people or random tangential sentences and jokes felt gimmicky/pretentious and took me out of the story. It felt more like an experiment than a book with heart about a crumbling marriage. The parts I liked best were the ones focused on our heroine's emotions, where she took the time to dig in and share her journey with us - and I wish that was the tone the author stuck with.