The Wallcreeper

I had high expectations for this book, based on the description, that were simply not fulfilled. I'd rate this higher if I had the ability to give it 2.5 stars. I usually round up, but I just didn't enjoy it enough to give it 3.

I would describe the protagonist as a grown woman version of The Catcher and the Rye's protagonist Holden Caulfield. She is really the only character in the book that we get an actual dimensional view of, the others' being quick and hardly developed looks from the protagonist's eyes.

The novel begins with a look into a very badly, quickly formed relationship that the plot centers around until the last few pages. What really struck my curiosity when I picked up the book were the topics of birds and eco-terrorism. The conversations around birds did not feel very organic... it made me truly wonder if any birders were involved in the making of the story at all. The beginning pieces of the plot involving the wallcreeper do not make sense, are not advisable (If you hit a bird, take it to a rehabber, not your house), and are dropped early on in the book. Eco-terrorism makes a brief, ultimately uneventful appearance that does very very little for the plot. It is treated as an aimless thing-to-do that does not come to fruition in any kind of action or change of mind. If it does anything at all, it shows the protagonist that she is utterly devoid of her own inner voice that she would follow one man from the next to any kind of enterprise. This is not even stated directly or in introspection from the character, but my (I think generous) interpretation of one paragraph where she chides herself for what occurs in order to stop that plot development in its tracks. (This odd phrasing is my attempt at avoiding spoilers?)

Other than the beginning description of bad, coercive sex (which is also dropped without further mention), is the end. It simply ends, with a rapid-fire description of personal development from the protagonist. What is told in 5 paragraphs could have been an important, introspective chapter to round out this unlikable character as she discovers the importance of her own mind, autonomy, and drive, instead leaves the reader dizzy and confused.

This is a quick read, and the wonderful use of language is worth some of the things I didn't enjoy.

Book Club 2015