I picked this up as it was on my TBR list, though I don't have a record of how it go there; a book group perhaps.
It's a story of a 99 year old woman who has been in an asylum for over 60 years. She is secretly recording her life history while a psychiatrist struggles to determine her suitability for release, as the hospital they have shared is to be demolished.
I felt the book went on and on with too many adjectives and flowery phrases that the author just enjoyed putting together. This style of writing is described as "lyrical" and "poetic prose" that I can only take in small doses and only when it moves the story along. It was a powerful story of lives lost unnecessarily, to misjudgments with drastic consequences.
Some quotes:
"We have neglected the tiny sentences of life and now the big ones are beyond our reach."
"Like many a man in authority, he was sublimely happy as long as he was presenting his ideas, and as long as his ideas were meeting with agreement."
"It is one of the graces of married life that for some magical reason we always look the same to each other. Even our friends never seem to grow old."
I was really annoyed that the author presented a twist at the end that required very careful reading to "catch" the impact; he could have had the same twist without expecting the reader to remember the details required. An "okay" read, but not my cup of tea.
Published: 2008 Read: July 2018 Genre: Fiction
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