Will's review
A Death in the Family
by James Agee
Will's review
A Death in the Family by James Agee
Will's review
rating:
This book was at its best when it was describing the environment and when it was in the head of Jay's child, Rufus. The opening section was magnificently beautiful. The main problem, I think, was with the editing. The editor called this novel a "near perfect work of art," implying that even in its relatively unfinished state, it was already as good as it could be. I disagree. There are some major structural issues here, and the editor, through his glowing admiration, seems to ignore them and simply to cobble Agee's notes and chapters together in a sort of haphazard way.
This book explored emotion and environment very thoroughly and beautifully (if a little slowly at times), but the pacing was off, the tone felt disjointed and inconsistent, and, above all, the book became really tedious after a while.
There's a lot of beauty here, but a lot of sadness, too. This is not a feel-good read, but an interesting example of a novel in progress.
This book explored emotion and environment very thoroughly and beautifully (if a little slowly at times), but the pacing was off, the tone felt disjointed and inconsistent, and, above all, the book became really tedious after a while.
There's a lot of beauty here, but a lot of sadness, too. This is not a feel-good read, but an interesting example of a novel in progress.
