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Liskasoo t1_iy9os1v wrote

Disagreeing with most people here - I thought it did get better. There were two points where it lifted for me - one is a short while after she's arrived in the library, and the other is toward the end. I found the beginning pretty tedious, and it took me a while to care about her, but I love the book now.

I'd add that I thought there was enough in the beginning that made it clear that Norma's life had been too sad for too long, and she just couldn't take it anymore, not that she'd just had a bad day.

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Jo-sweet t1_iybz65c wrote

Exactly. Her life was slowly crumbling. She didn't have any kind of real anchor, or bigger purpose. People need that to live well. In some of those lives her anchor was an occupation, a person, a relationship...etc. She needed to confront her regrets, and walk in those lives until she understood what her current life was missing, and make the changes she could make to better it. Her life was salvageable, she just needed to see and appreciate that.

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duckshapedpotato OP t1_iy9pc6y wrote

That's promising! I'll keep on waiting for those moments. Some books just need a little patience.

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