2010/11/01

Review: The Widower's Tale


The Widower's TaleThe Widower's Tale by Julia Glass

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Glass weaves together many current political themes: ecoterrorism, illegal immigration, gay rights, and healthcare; throws in some instances of intellectual snobbery and agism; and even takes a stab at the death of hardcopy communication. That's a lot for one book, and yes, it IS too much. Just because a writer is good at writing from multiple perspectives (and Glass is, there's no arguing that, in my opinion) doesn't mean they have to see how far they can take that skill in one book. All of the plot lines are tied to the Darling family: patriarch Percy is the grounding character, and in the end everything does come back to him. However, some of the story threads are stretched pretty thin, while others are cut off and then picked up when it's convenient to tie up the loose ends. Perhaps it's simply a case of too much of a good thing, half of this book would have been better told by itself, either half. Together, it diminishes the whole.



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