The BPYC Book Club met tonight to discuss my pick, 'Origin of the Species' by Nino Ricci. Literary critics love this book and Google results bring eloquent praise for Ricci's craft. At the same time, the buyers of books that post comments at online forums aren't as consistently generous.
It wasn't particularly well-liked at the discussion tonight. Those of us that finished the book admitted we found it a tough slog. But that didn't stop us from having a great conversation about the novel, its settings, characters and themes.
We shared a general dislike for the main character and found there were many details that seemed extraneous. Most of the readers reacted the same way to the timeline as I did, finding it disjointed and hard to follow.
Funny thing, though, by the end of the meeting the discussion had given me a better appreciation of the book overall. I am certain if I were to read it again I would discover more and deeper connections between plot details and characters... but there are other books calling to me on my shelf.
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