It's a book about two largely mundane lives that inexplicably has the narrative grip of a thriller. I credit Walton's writing skill for this, and I'm still not sure how she did it. Between the depressingness and the summarizing, by all rights I should have bounced off this book rather than reading it in a day.
This was exactly my reaction! I also agree that I would have found a connect-the-dots of cause and effect to be more intellectually satisfying, though I agree with branwane that not knowing the ripple effects of one's actions is more realistic.
The nurses think that she recalls living two completely different lives (and is slipping between realities now) because she has dementia; we, the readers, know that she's recalling alternate timelines.
This reader embraces the freedom to attribute both My Real Children and Among Others to the delusions of the protagonists.
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Date: 2015-01-09 09:51 pm (UTC)This was exactly my reaction! I also agree that I would have found a connect-the-dots of cause and effect to be more intellectually satisfying, though I agree with
The nurses think that she recalls living two completely different lives (and is slipping between realities now) because she has dementia; we, the readers, know that she's recalling alternate timelines.
This reader embraces the freedom to attribute both My Real Children and Among Others to the delusions of the protagonists.