divine angst

The Mineral Palace by Heidi Julavits

I admit it, I bought this because the cover looked interesting, the backblurb was well-written and, oh yes, it was $5.

So, it was OK. The story is of Bena, a housewife in the Depression, whose husband relocates them to Pueblo, Colorado, where they don’t know anyone. They have a new baby and Bena has a thing for numbers.

That part of it seemed really interesting to me—numbers! Depression! anomie and displacement!

What it became, though, was a familiar story. Marital discord, an intriguing stranger or two, a scandal to be investigated and to insert oneself into. As that story goes, it was OK. Nothing about it, though, really gripped me. In fact, the last quarter or so, I practically skimmed, trying to get through the damn thing and figure out what happens in the end.

I think at least part of my problem with the book was the author’s tendency to play with the language a little too much. At times, I wasn’t sure if the paragraph I was reading was in the present or a flashback to an earlier event. Her cues were not strong. I appreciate innovation in writing, but the reader always has to come first. I don’t think I’m an unsophisticated reader, but I do get impatient, and her style wasn’t very appealing to me because of that.

So, it was an OK book. I might read it again, maybe on vacation sometime, when I have hours to spend sitting in the sun and relaxing. Reading it now, when I have too much going on in my own life, was probably the biggest problem with this book. My brain is moving too fast lately to be willing to slow down and pore through an inexpensive novel.