Book Review: Winner of the National Book Award

I'm not really sure how to review this book. I thought it was cleverly written. I cared about the characters. But I strongly disliked the book.

On the front of the book someone said this was the funniest book they had ever read. That person needs therapy. This book was not funny. Sure, it had its satirical and sarcastic moments, but overall it was incredibly depressing. But then again, this book was also described as "original."

Um, this book was about two sisters who are completely different from each other. One's a slut, one's completely celibate. Yeah, that's totally original. Obviously that person has never read Cammie McGovern's "The Art of Seeing" or Jennifer Weiner's "In Her Shoes" or any of the other 1,230,493 books out there that deal with this subject. Soooo original. The story revolved around the slutty sister's marriage to a man who was pure evil. Now, Slutty McSlutterton had her own deep issues, but there was nothing redeeming or the least bit slightly humorous about this guy. A total, total jerk. Psuedo-Nun sister had him pegged from day one but eventually came to like him in some strange way. I hated that.

The characterizations in this book were great. There was no neat category that Slutty would fit into, and Pseudo-Nun was annoying enough that she was believable. But it felt so incredibly pretentious and condescending that I have to wonder who the author was writing to! Definitely not the average American. I'm a fairly intelligent person but I felt like I wasn't smart enough to appreciate what this book was trying to do. So basically I'm confused about how to feel after reading this book. It was okay, but it was unenjoyable. A paradox.

Lindsey's Grade: C