Sad. Tragic. Fearful.

No. Not the book, how I feel about the book.

Maybe it is that I went in with such high hopes. The author, Audrey Niffenegger, did write one of my favorite books of all time. So, understandably I was excited about her second novel. I thought, “if she can create this masterpiece with her first novel, her second is bound to be good”. I was wrong. Sadly wrong.

It isn’t that it was a terrible book or anything, it just wasn’t very good. I wasn’t haunted by it. It won’t stick with me. It didn’t change me in any way. Those things aren’t too much to ask for in a book. Those are the points of books.

Maybe that is going too far. I do love a good crappy mystery novel. The kind that you just fly through, smile, and immediatly forget about. Maybe this book should fall under more of that category. It was entertaining.

To be fair, I really loved the first half. The characters were interesting. They were bizarre and unique. There were interesting twists and developments. The locations were interesting. The book took place in London, which is dear to my heart.

Even the 3rd quarter of the book wasn’t bad. It was getting a little weird and predictable, but ok. I was going with it.

But the end, was… well, it was lame. The “big twist” was not only predictable, but depressing. I didn’t like how the book ended for anyone. It was either way too easy and happy, or simply too gloomy and unsatisfying. I set the book down last night with a feeling of “Huh. Well, that just happened. I guess the book is over now.” I kept flipping through the last pages, scanning the acknowledgement section, looking for the end of the book. Where is it Ms. Niffenegger? Not where I was hoping it would be.

I’m just not sure what the point was.

I’m not sure I will recommend this book to anyone. It was ok. It was entertaining for the most part. But, I think I feel a little betrayed by the book’s mediocrity. I am certainly not going to give up on Ms. Niffenegger as an author, but I will certainly be more subdued next time I begin a new book of hers.