No one does high society in the 1920s quite like Helen and Benjamin Rask. He’s an introverted and eccentric businessman whose wizardry at the stock market has people praising his acumen and decrying him as a villain preying on people’s misfortune in equal measure. She’s the belle of the ball, a philanthropist whose goal in life seems to be giving away as much money as her husband makes. They are the envy of the social elite, or at least that’s what they appear to be until once-restricted papers are made available to the public and other stories begin to unfold.
Told through multiple points of view, this novel had a chance to really play on the notion of the unreliable narrator and give the reader pause when considering which story to trust for the truth. Unfortunately, I felt this was a missed opportunity by Diaz. While the varying viewpoints teased at this, I think the conflicting narrations could’ve been emphasized quite a bit more than they were.
I enjoyed the book and the picture it painted of that era in history and the people who inhabited it, but I was confused by the layout of the of the stories. Part of this is my own doing, as I listened to most of it as an audiobook and didn’t get a good understanding of what was going on format-wise until I looked at my hard copy. Were you to read the physical book, you might blow by this confusion and the story wouldn’t be quite so muddled. If that’s the case, I would love to know if you still find it confusing or jarring.
The formatting aside, I thought it was a good book but I failed to see what sparked the craze over it when it first came out, let alone its various awards and nominations. The more I write reviews and work in publishing, the more I realize just how subjective reading preferences are, so I always welcome contrary opinions and would love to know if this was a book you loved!
2% Rating: 6/10
Recommend? Meh, maybe
Re-Read? Not likely
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