jenknox's Reviews (494)

I like the idea and movement of the story. I love that the narrator is not a great beauty, nor is she annoyingly smart. Tris is at odds with herself and trying to self-define, which is nothing new. The empty vessel of a character that needs filled, that is kept down by societal constraints that keep her from being whole is all over the place in stories, but Roth manages to make her feel a little bit new. Simple, fast-paced writing that has moments worthy of a literary thumbs up. The rest is fun.

This book was well written and useful. All the useful tricks and background are frontloaded and the latter half is full of meanderings and perspectives on education techniques in general (which felt like a different book).

The book inspired me to test my memory and exercise it more often. Now I just need help with ... recall.

So, if space time folded us into an event or place, why not a diner with a nice breakfast menu? Just as anyone working a long-hour cubicle or factory job that requires repetition and, therefore, the ability to find stories and humor and purpose despite lack of diversity and minimal setting change, so this novel finds depth despite somewhat limited dimension. As fun and innovative as this book is, it is also fiction that examines what we don’t have time to think about.

Here, we have the Village Inn, which I imagine two parts Waffle House, one part White Castle. And our characters are seemingly indefinitely at this diner, so there’s the problem how to adapt and what to do? The narrator and her two friends begin their theosophical journey with philosophy and the breakfast menu. They define and analyze food and its worth in relation to other food. Then, they make table sculptures. Then, they play games, grow bored, wonder at the whys and hows. Their own stories are revealed in pieces, which add dimension that the reader so craves. We are what we’ve done, where we’ve been, what we think as much as where we are. We are also imagination. Time no longer matters and stories spiral outward and in, and the whole thing is damn interesting.