Weather

2.5 stars. This was very meh. I am a cringey White liberal woman, but I don’t really want to read about one.

I loved this because it was one of those books that makes me feel like I could write a book. But this was a great follow up to Why Fish Don’t Exist and a bridge back to All We Can Save and this is where I’m at right now. Cha cha.

I really wanted to like it — so many of my friends have — but it just didn't work for me. The writing is tight, terse yet rich and really quite enjoyable, the kind I would normally devour... but the story itself felt flat. Affectless. Is that a thing now? It reminded me of [b:lost Children Archive|40245130|Lost Children Archive|Valeria Luiselli|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547386427l/40245130.SY75.jpg|62525285]: an ever-so-detached first-person narrator moving through the world but without really being part of it. A complete lack of connection. The whole book is bleakness, resignation. Not the fog of medication or apathy — her observations are too sharp at every level — just ... I don't know. I don't get it. A kind of going-through-the-motions thing, with exquisite awareness yet no spirit.

 [a:Jenny Offill|33794|Jenny Offill|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1566942988p2/33794.jpg]'s [b:Weather|37506228|Weather|Jenny Offill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566942482l/37506228.SY75.jpg|59116540] is a novella with large spaces between brief segments and you might feel a little cheated if you paid full price for it, like I did. (I swallow that sort of thing because I like supporting the small independent bookstore in my area.) But don't. It's got great depth for something so small, and even a few good jokes, though not of Offill's making.
And timely? Oh yeah. Now's the time to read it. It doesn't name names or give specific dates, but it's clear when it takes place.
 My only regret is that I didn't set aside a rainy day and read this whole book that day. It'd be easy to do, even with someone with a gnat-like attention span like my own. I'm sure others will read it in one sitting, and that'd be a great way to read it.

Jenny Offil won’t be for everyone — her books are more like poetry, and don’t have much of a plot — but her writing style is a beautiful collection of perfectly-chosen words that manages to be both comforting and clever. Her books feel like my best friend telling me about her day, but with unexpected insights about life and the nature of relationships.