The Gold Bug Variations

This was not for me. I found it to be too long, too intricate, too coy. If it hadn't been recommended to me by someone who loved it, it might have been one of my rare DNFs, but I persevered to see if it would eventually grow on me. But although I eventually gained a little interest in the faith of the characters after two-thirds or so, it was still somewhat of a slog to the very end.

I actually didn't finish this book. I got 1/3 of the way through it, when I suddenly realized that I didn't like any of the characters. This is a book about socially awkward and introverted people for whom mundane occurrences are wrought with brooding revelation and significance. It is well written, with prose that at times can be as disjointed and cryptic--yet feelingly flowing--as its subject matter. But this is a problem I have had with some other of the author's books (which I finished)--it's like he's trying a little too hard, thinking a little too much. I have a reading policy with works of fiction which states that if I have to keep forcing myself to read something, then it isn't worth the effort (unless it's [b: Gravity's Rainbow|415|Gravity's Rainbow|Thomas Pynchon|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1414969925s/415.jpg|866393]). I think the moment of epiphany, when I realized that I didn't care to read this book anymore, came last night when I suddenly recognized that the Jan O'Deigh character in the novel acts and thinks, in spirit, just like a former sort-of girlfriend of mine. And I don't like her. So that kind of nixed my continuing enjoyment of the book, as we are supposed to (I infer) empathize with her, as she is pretty much the one telling most of it. Next.