The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern is primarily the story of Zachary Rawlins who stumbles across a strange book hidden in his university library that leads him into an amazing adventure. There are tales of lost cities, lovelorn prisoners and, remarkably, a memory from his own childhood. Following the clues contained both on and in the book, he ends up at a masquerade ball, then a secret club and finally into a subterranean labyrinth where there are many, many stories being held behind many doors. (Doors are a theme - how opening them can lead you to a different world, or shut you out from another.) We encounter various characters and their narratives appear and disappear from chapter to chapter. Zachary meets the love of his life in the process and it feels like his quest is to save... something ... the stories ... the labyrinth ... himself? The book is beautifully written and I loved certain passages, but then, just as I was relaxing into it and felt like I knew what was going on, we'd shift to other characters or other times and places. Very disconcerting. It interrupted the fluidity and mood and I found it really hard to get into the book for quite some time. I'm glad I persisted though, but maybe this is a book that would merit from a second reading as I expect I missed quite a lot of hints and clues on first read. And what is it with the owls? I don't feel like this was explained ... or if it was, it went over my head. I really wanted to love this book, but I didn't, and the ending left me a little on the discombobulated side. I have found it very hard to write this post because I am still not sure what was going on. So, a book to enjoy for the beautiful passages of writing, but be warned, it may leave you scratching your head.
My STAR rating: THREE.
Length: 498 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from my husband.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment