A Touch of Jen

I’m so let down by this book. I have been so excited to read it and it was nothing like I expected. It started off pretty decent but as soon as one of the bigger events in the book happened, the book completely changed into underwhelming nonsense

I want to read this book in the reality where Remy dies and Alicia continues her absurd journey to become Jen.

All that for maybe like 7% of the book to be good? Brutal.

Very Donny Darko esque but more cyclical and anxiety inducing. The big reveals were not as dramatic or world shattering as I expected but I didn't want to put it down and it was definitely unexpected.

that was a book, sure

This book starts out as a well executed, unapologetic examination of a 30ish year old couple, whose lives are stalled, and their unhealthy one-sided relationship with a woman from their past. At about the 170 page mark it slowly becomes something else. The talk of “our lives are occurring in parallel dimensions” and “self actualizations” and that type of circular metaphysical talk actually manifests. At that point, I was reading a totally different book. This is where the book slid into a different genre. Horror. Perhaps Sci-Fi. It was interesting. I wanted to know what would happen to all of these people but man did I not expect those last hundred pages. I can't help but not love the horror/sci-fi genre- it's just not me. I like my fiction to be based in reality, but hey now- this woman write.

“‘I think it's a waste of time to try to achieve perfection, because if you look at all the versions of the world everywhere, overlaid one over the other, then that is perfection. It's nice to keep in mind that if something doesn't work out for me in this life, it does in another.'”

pros

- really interesting and unique premise
- attention grabbing despite the insufferable characters
- very unsettling and suspenseful when the supernatural stuff first begins
- my favorite tropes of rude/odd/offputting women and a somewhat weird plot slowly devolving into complete insanity

cons

- characters sort of disjointed, abstract, and unrealistic (despite it being purposeful)
- little to no rationale or motivation behind any of the characters actions, and the most integral of their feelings/values didn't feel convincing or supported by any of their choices (are they even obsessed w jen?)
- explicit inspiration taken from The Fly but not as striking or meaningful
- i know the writing is meant to be very stylized and somewhat detached/clinical but this detracted from the warm prose and groundedness that i usually look for in books, no matter how disturbing the subject matter (ex. earthlings)
- killed off my favorite characters (alicia and jake) to further a plot thats outcome didn't even feel conclusive or satisfying

?????

a lot of people compare this book to bunny...... but let's not insult mona awod like that. this book is trying way too hard to say something that's already been said a million different ways. the convoluted metaphors didn't do much for me and when the only 2 likable characters were killed off i almost DNFd. i usually love weird books but this one just feels way too pretentious for my taste. 

2.5 stars ⭐️⭐️