Book Report: The Plot

13. Jean Hanff Korelitz, The Plot (2021) (7/23/23)

I keep trying to read these novels that are touted as "breathtakingly suspenseful," hoping they really will be, but I'm always disappointed. (Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train.) Not only that, but I end up feeling cheap and dirty. This was another of those. Yes, I want a page-turner, and yes, this one was (in part because, finally, I just wanted to get it over with), but I also want something where there's redemption, not merely trickery. In any case, the moment the "bad guy" appeared, I had my suspicions, and there was no one else it could ever have been. Totally predictable. And the plot itself? utterly preposterous. When will I learn my lesson? With this one? Can I hope?

All that said, the writing itself was good (except for the excessive parenthetical asides), and there are moments when it works as literary satire. But that's not enough. As the protagonist of this book would have agreed. 

For the record, I read this because of something I read online—a book review, I think—by the author, and liked what she had to say, so thought I'd check out one of her own works. It got good reviews, and was on the New York Times 100 Notable Books 2021 list. Apparently, this genre just isn't my cuppa.