Hiag Akmakjian

Clearly a case in which a male author attempts to write a novel from the first-person perspective of a woman -- and not all all successfully. There are two ways to make a novel interesting: through plot development or through character development. This book fails on both counts. Not only did I feel zero affinity for any of the characters, the plot itself was nearly nonexistent. And the conflict set up in the first chapters is never resolved (nor do any of the characters change or learn anything).

This is the sort of book I think Lena Dunham would like and maybe allude to reading in an episode of Girls. I do not mention this as a positive thing. At best, it's a shallow account of overprivileged and slightly nihilistic yet hedonistic life in turn-of-the-century Manhattan.

All in all, if I hadn't gotten this for 48¢ at the Strand I'd feel really ripped off. As it is, I still think I paid 23¢ too much.… (meer)