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Dept. of Speculation
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Dept. of Speculation is a portrait of a marriage. It is also a beguiling rumination on the mysteries of intimacy, trust, faith, knowledge, and the condition of universal shipwreck that unites us all.
Jenny Offill's heroine, referred to in these pages as simply "the wife," once exchanged love letters with her husband postmarked Dept. of Speculation, their code name for all ...more
Jenny Offill's heroine, referred to in these pages as simply "the wife," once exchanged love letters with her husband postmarked Dept. of Speculation, their code name for all ...more
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Hardcover, 179 pages
Published
January 28th 2014
by Knopf
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6 stars.
I'm doing my inarticulate book-clutching thing. ...more
I'm doing my inarticulate book-clutching thing. ...more

‘If you are tired of everything you possess, imagine that you have lost all these things.’
John Berryman once wrote ‘let all flowers wither like a party.’ Nothing lasts, even the things we love most and nurture and care for must pass, but this is not cause for sadness but merely a reason to look into each moment and let ourselves feel the emotion coursing through them. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill, writer of the marvelous children’s book (and staple of my daughter’s bedtime routine) Spark ...more
John Berryman once wrote ‘let all flowers wither like a party.’ Nothing lasts, even the things we love most and nurture and care for must pass, but this is not cause for sadness but merely a reason to look into each moment and let ourselves feel the emotion coursing through them. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill, writer of the marvelous children’s book (and staple of my daughter’s bedtime routine) Spark ...more

"But what if I`m special? What if I`m in the minority?"
As stated in the blurb I did not find this book to be a "portrait of marriage", but instead it was more like being in someone's mind (and heart) and getting an unfiltered, raw and original account of everything being thought of!
Each chapter, in fact even most of the paragraphs within the chapters, in Dept. of Speculation are unrelated and kind of disjointed. And, this way of narration made this book interesting!
As stated in the blurb I did not find this book to be a "portrait of marriage", but instead it was more like being in someone's mind (and heart) and getting an unfiltered, raw and original account of everything being thought of!
Each chapter, in fact even most of the paragraphs within the chapters, in Dept. of Speculation are unrelated and kind of disjointed. And, this way of narration made this book interesting!
In some, God is portrayed a...more

The subject of this book is the same as Elena Ferrante's The Days of Abandonment - the husband strays - yet the writing couldn't have been handled more differently.
To write like Ferrante you need a grasp of literature.
To write like Offill you need an American education and access to the internet.
Ferrante wears her education lightly - there are little, if any references to great writers.
Offill doesn't let you forget who she's in touch with.
Offill talks a lot about art.
Ferrante asks you to judge ...more
To write like Ferrante you need a grasp of literature.
To write like Offill you need an American education and access to the internet.
Ferrante wears her education lightly - there are little, if any references to great writers.
Offill doesn't let you forget who she's in touch with.
Offill talks a lot about art.
Ferrante asks you to judge ...more

Essentially, Offill carries out a kind of emotional autopsy on a young woman trying to divide her energies between bringing up a young child and keeping a husband happy without sacrificing her commitment to succeeding as a writer.
The original format of this novel – it’s written as a kind of literary scrapbook of musings, quotes and insights - reminded me at times of Fellini’s brilliant film about the fount of inspiration, 8 ½. Like the film director in Fellini’s film, Offill’s writer is bereft ...more
The original format of this novel – it’s written as a kind of literary scrapbook of musings, quotes and insights - reminded me at times of Fellini’s brilliant film about the fount of inspiration, 8 ½. Like the film director in Fellini’s film, Offill’s writer is bereft ...more

Indulging in my love of audio books has become more challenging since I quit my job, and no longer have a two and a half hour commute to get lost in a dreamy book. I've taken to having a special ME day once a week. The ritual revolves around my complicated and needy hair. The process of pre-shampooing, washing, deep conditioning, detangling, and finally braiding my hair into tiny segments occupies about 3-4 hours sometimes. I used to put it off until I absolutely had a knotted mess on my hands.
...more

“She thinks before she acts. Or more properly she thinks instead of acts. A character flaw not a virtue.”
Dept. Of Speculation is a short novel of a marriage. It's told in 46 chapters composed of short paragraphs and almost aphoristic lines and quotes in 160 compact pages. The narrator, the Wife, goes from being a young woman who considers being an Art Monster, a person who lives solely for the creation of their art, to a wife and a mother. It's set mostly in Brooklyn, but that shouldn't be held ...more
Dept. Of Speculation is a short novel of a marriage. It's told in 46 chapters composed of short paragraphs and almost aphoristic lines and quotes in 160 compact pages. The narrator, the Wife, goes from being a young woman who considers being an Art Monster, a person who lives solely for the creation of their art, to a wife and a mother. It's set mostly in Brooklyn, but that shouldn't be held ...more

Ten Reasons Why You Should Read This Extraordinary Book
10. Because it has one of the coolest back-cover endorsements (by Michael Cunningham) you will ever see.
9. Because by reading you will challenge this 1896 advice to wives, quoted in the book:
10. Because it has one of the coolest back-cover endorsements (by Michael Cunningham) you will ever see.
9. Because by reading you will challenge this 1896 advice to wives, quoted in the book:
The indiscriminate reading of novels is one of the most injurious habits to which a married woman can be subject. Besides the false views of human nature it will impart, it produces an indifference to the performance of domestic duties, and contempt f...more

There are so many novels which are really memoirs but are given to us as novels because memoirs are like “oh, what makes you think your life is so interesting I might want to read about it?” and novels are “yay! A new novel!”
I will bet one thousand of my British pounds

that Jenny Offill really did have a bug infestation in her apartment and really did have a daughter who broke both her wrists. (Novels I read recently which are really also memoirs are : A Question of Upbringing, The Wallcreeper, T ...more
I will bet one thousand of my British pounds

that Jenny Offill really did have a bug infestation in her apartment and really did have a daughter who broke both her wrists. (Novels I read recently which are really also memoirs are : A Question of Upbringing, The Wallcreeper, T ...more

The plot depiction is disjointed and resembles the ramblings of a bi-polar patient off his/her meds. Typically it sounds like the ramblings of a person in couples' therapy when only one partner shows up. I would like to talk about the redeeming graces of this novelette, but I could find none, It was like picking up someone's private daily journal -- and finding that it's really only meaningful to the person writing it. Unfortunately, this material just did not engage me. (The text that explains ...more

Jul 19, 2015
·Karen·
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone who is sick of hearing about "Elena Ferrante"
There are blowsy baroque behemoths that spill the entire contents of the fridge onto your reading table (and let you do the cooking, and the clearing up afterwards too sometimes), and then there are the delicate offerings, the distilled essence from the alembic, an extract that carries, within a tiny drop, sweetness, tartness, acidity, all at once. Potent. Searing. Jewel-like droplets that set the mouth ablaze and the mind reeling.
This is sensational.
Offill dispenses with all the conventional tr ...more

True confession: I will probably never press a copy of Jenny Offill’s “Dept. of Speculation” into anyone’s hot little hands. It doesn’t matter anyway. The thing landed on, like, every Best Of 2014 list in the universe, probably even half-assedly scribbled onto fast food napkins. But here’s the thing: I didn’t just love this book, I fucking loved it. I felt passionate and heart-beaty about it. I touched words on pages and sighed like they were images in a yearbook or whatever. I turned my copy in
...more

Apr 23, 2014
Tim
added it
When I first pulled a copy of Renata Adler's Pitch Dark off the dollar remainder shelves at the Strand sometime in the early 90s, I was intrigued, mystified. ¿Que es esto? I was slaloming between the poles of philosophy and literature at the time and trying to get them to merge in some elegant way or at least not crash into a tree. I was grabbed there on 12th Street by how she alluded to Wittgenstein and Nabokov back-to-back, insisting that they belonged together, not to mention Scheherazade and
...more

Jul 18, 2017
Hugh
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-2017,
modern-lit
This is an intriguing book, but quite a difficult one to assess and review. At first it seemed like an almost random stream of disconnected short paragraphs, but it soon becomes clear that the book has a core narrative that tells what would otherwise be a fairly humdrum and universal story of a failing marriage. The plot is the least important thing in this book - it is full of memorable observations and thoughts on a wide variety of subjects.
It falls loosely into two halves - the first is told ...more
It falls loosely into two halves - the first is told ...more

My rating oscillates between 3 and 4 stars.
Thin slices of married life as viewed through a microscope, agitated cells of a wife's emotional life swirling on the page. A mix of memories and inner thoughts, striking moments and philosophical quotes, the whole should have risen as a symphony yet it didn't quite do that in the end for me. The book felt a little bit rushed and disjointed and coming apart at the seams.
Jenny Offill jumped ahead through the years a little abruptly at times and I often ...more
Thin slices of married life as viewed through a microscope, agitated cells of a wife's emotional life swirling on the page. A mix of memories and inner thoughts, striking moments and philosophical quotes, the whole should have risen as a symphony yet it didn't quite do that in the end for me. The book felt a little bit rushed and disjointed and coming apart at the seams.
Jenny Offill jumped ahead through the years a little abruptly at times and I often ...more

I want to review this book for a number of reasons, partly because it's so small and slight that I fear readers will ignore it. But, like Thomas Paine's Common Sense, its resemblance to a modest pamphlet belies the size of its punch.
This book is an excellent character study and an example of what greatness can be achieved when an author trusts her reader and thus avoids the sin of overwriting.
These days, many movies seem longer and sloppier and less craftily edited to me. Likewise, it seems lik ...more
This book is an excellent character study and an example of what greatness can be achieved when an author trusts her reader and thus avoids the sin of overwriting.
These days, many movies seem longer and sloppier and less craftily edited to me. Likewise, it seems lik ...more

This short story reminds me of the first big hill on a wooden roller coaster. That ominous,“click-click-clack... click-click -clack” as the chain slowly pulls the cars up the steep hill. The suspense builds, but be prepared for that fast, drop, straight down.
The main characters have no names; they are only referred to as The Husband and The Wife. A woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown as her marriage is imploding. Her story is told in rapid-fire, quick-cut scenes. This gives the reader sma ...more
The main characters have no names; they are only referred to as The Husband and The Wife. A woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown as her marriage is imploding. Her story is told in rapid-fire, quick-cut scenes. This gives the reader sma ...more

Dec 30, 2014
Barry Pierce
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
21st-century,
read-in-2014
Very nice, subtle novel. The prose is clear, stripped-back and easy to follow, it's very incidental and smooth. I don't know, reading this novel feels like that moment when you slip into a hot bath and suddenly everything is alright. The words swash around you with their calming violence, constantly bobbling and trickling along with their nonchalant rhythm. This is a wonderful piece. I'm saddend that more people haven't read this. I truly recommend it.
...more

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets something like Tully meets a Modern Love essay in The New York Times. We are so used to seeing our own lives and the lives of others as stories with a beginning and an ending, but a series of fragments and random thoughts with many beginnings and many endings is far more accurate. Not that there isn't a story here--it's simply presented like one of those fancy deconstructed desserts, and I found it refreshing given the low page count. Had it been a 300
...more

1 star - I really hated it.
DNF'd at 10% (a whopping 15 minutes of reading, maybe). Turns out it is a collection of random gibberish. Here are two excerpts that speak for themselves:
To live in a city is to be forever flinching. The Buddhists say there are 121 states of consciousness. Of these, only three involve misery or suffering. Most of us spend our time moving back and forth between these three.
Blue jays spend every Friday with the devil, the old lady at the park told me.
“You need to get o ...more
DNF'd at 10% (a whopping 15 minutes of reading, maybe). Turns out it is a collection of random gibberish. Here are two excerpts that speak for themselves:
To live in a city is to be forever flinching. The Buddhists say there are 121 states of consciousness. Of these, only three involve misery or suffering. Most of us spend our time moving back and forth between these three.
Blue jays spend every Friday with the devil, the old lady at the park told me.
“You need to get o ...more

An unnamed Brooklyn writer and teacher meets a man, has a child with him and then discovers he’s cheating on her.
Sounds familiar, right? What makes this slim novel so memorable is the way the story unfolds in a series of vignettes that can be anything from a quote from a poem to an odd historical fact to haiku-like observations about life. Reading the book takes work. Images recur, characters known by their titles (“the philosopher,” “the almost astronaut”) come and go, and we’re left to connect ...more
Sounds familiar, right? What makes this slim novel so memorable is the way the story unfolds in a series of vignettes that can be anything from a quote from a poem to an odd historical fact to haiku-like observations about life. Reading the book takes work. Images recur, characters known by their titles (“the philosopher,” “the almost astronaut”) come and go, and we’re left to connect ...more

Written in a blog diary style, these are bittersweet dispatches from life on the frontline of a failing marriage. All the agonies and joys of motherhood are here too, condensed into unforgettable moments that any woman who has ever been ‘on the edge’ will empathise with, even if you have never had to walk a baby to sleep for hours.
Extract
And that phrase – 'sleeping like a baby'. Some blonde said it blithely on the subway the other day. I wanted to lie down next to her and scream for five hours i ...more

Jenny Offill's DEPT. OF SPECULATION is a smorgasbord of delightfully mindful appetizers that all come together as one infinitely satisfying meal. At times hilarious, other times sad, though sometimes both, this slim novel defies much of the trope stylings of a modern doomed marriage story, instead providing the reader with an endless supply of little food for thought nuggets of wisdom and whimsey mixed among the narrative of a marriage crumbling before our eyes.
Offill has weaved plenty of specu ...more
Offill has weaved plenty of specu ...more

Dept. Of Speculation is a modern, contemporary novel told from the perspective of a thirty something-year-old American woman, a writer, who lives in New York with her sound engineer husband and young daughter. A seemingly perfect husband and a good marriage face a huge hurdle when the husband falls in love/lust with a much younger woman - the ultimate cliche.
The vignettes and thought fragments made for a very interesting read. Despite its brevity, it's a compelling analysis of long term relatio ...more
The vignettes and thought fragments made for a very interesting read. Despite its brevity, it's a compelling analysis of long term relatio ...more

Well this book broke me into pieces. I just felt super connected to the main character and even though I am not married and I don't have any children I was still able to put myself in that characters shoes. The author did a great job at this.
This was a fast, short, easy read that was super interesting and made you think and feel greatly! ...more
This was a fast, short, easy read that was super interesting and made you think and feel greatly! ...more

Advise for wives circa 1896: The indiscriminate reading of novels is one of the most injurious habits to which a married woman can be subject. Besides the false view of human nature it will impart … it produces an indifference to the performance of domestic duties, and contempt for ordinary realities.
As discussed on the Radio 4 Book Club discussion of Jenny Offill's second novel
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00...
A discussion which includes a guest appearance by me asking about the space th ...more
As discussed on the Radio 4 Book Club discussion of Jenny Offill's second novel
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00...
A discussion which includes a guest appearance by me asking about the space th ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Play Book Tag: {Poll Ballot} Dept of Speculation by Jenny Offill 4 Stars | 1 | 5 | Nov 02, 2020 06:54PM | |
Play Book Tag: Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill (4 out of 5 Stars) (Decathlon) | 4 | 16 | Jun 13, 2018 10:33AM | |
To Be Renamed... ...: April 2018 - Dept. of Speculation | 1 | 7 | Apr 02, 2018 05:53AM | |
21st Century Lite...: Dept. of Speculation - General (no spoilers) (July 2017) | 20 | 52 | Aug 23, 2017 03:06PM | |
21st Century Lite...: Dept. of Speculation - Whole Book Discussion (July 2017) | 20 | 56 | Jul 31, 2017 09:42AM | |
Play Book Tag: The Department of Speculation by Jenny Offill, 2 stars | 7 | 31 | Jan 08, 2017 01:27PM |
Jenny Offill is an American author born in Massachusetts. Her first novel Last Things was published in 1999 was a New York Times Notable book and a finalist for the L.A Times First Book Award.
She is also the co-editor with Elissa Schappell of two anthologies of essays and the author of several children's books She teaches in the MFA programs at Brooklyn College, Columbia University and Queens Univ ...more
She is also the co-editor with Elissa Schappell of two anthologies of essays and the author of several children's books She teaches in the MFA programs at Brooklyn College, Columbia University and Queens Univ ...more
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