Glen's review
The Ministry of Special Cases
by Nathan Englander
Glen's review
The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander
Glen's review
rating:
Let me start off by acknowledging that the book deals with subject matter which deserves special reverence (Argentina’s Dirty War) and also acknowledge that the story itself is well conceptualized. However, it is not the book that is advertised in its liner-note, to wit, – a book which balances joyfulness and despair, a celebration of our humanity, in all its weakness and hope. It was – for this reader - an unrelentingly cheerless work, a despairing story of things falling apart. As far as craftsmanship, it’s a well rendered story, but the main protagonists (husband and wife) are oft-times too erudite for their own described circumstance, and thus to some extent, the story feels somewhat invaded by the author’s (heavy) hand. With the subject matter as weighty as it is, the author might have approached the characters' despairing voices with a lighter touch.
