Tuesday, May 8, 2012

{read: non-linear fiction} Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru

This story follows two different paths that kind of merge for a short time. One, told chronologically, is the story of a couple with a young autistic boy. His disease has pretty much taken over their lives. On a vacation trip to the Mohave Desert, he disappears. The other story skips back and forth through time and focuses on other people who have lived in the same area where boy disappears. I had trouble following this thread because it took me a while to figure out that the stories were connected. I would be two-thirds done with a chapter until I realized that one of the characters was a character from a different chapter. Part of this is because they were called by different names (Native American names vs. English names), but part of it may have been because I wasn't paying close enough attention. I was hoping for some sort of ending that would provide resolution or at least guidance so that I could look back and tie things together, but I didn't find it. I finished the book just as confused as I had been while reading it. This book would probably appeal to those who loved Day for Night by Frederick Reiken, another novel that left me confused.

Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru (Knopf, 2012)
My rating: 3 stars

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