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A review by abbie_bryant
The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
The Anniversary follows a novelist, whose book has just been nominated for a prominent literary award. Her husband, Patrick, is a semi-important director. Their marriage is not perfect, but they decide to go on a cruise for their Anniversary to reconnect. Patrick falls overboard.
The book is largely following the novelist (called J.B.) in the aftermath of the tragedy. Her grief is complicated and messy, and she struggles working through it in her new found spotlight in the literary landscape.
The prose is gentle and considered, but sometimes felt a little too self indulgent. I really liked the plot structure though - near the beginning there's a strong pull back, then a gentle growth and gathering, before a big crash at the end. The whole book is one big wave.
Some quotes:
The book is largely following the novelist (called J.B.) in the aftermath of the tragedy. Her grief is complicated and messy, and she struggles working through it in her new found spotlight in the literary landscape.
The prose is gentle and considered, but sometimes felt a little too self indulgent. I really liked the plot structure though - near the beginning there's a strong pull back, then a gentle growth and gathering, before a big crash at the end. The whole book is one big wave.
Some quotes:
I knew he was much older than me, but at the same time he seemed somehow ageless as all new gods appear in the eyes of those who worship them.
On the footage your face is blurred, pixelated, made unrecognisable. A series of tiny moving squares. It is more than one man, normally. You see one man on either side of the faceless woman.
Back in my room, I waited for the ice to melt pressed the cold glass against my forehead, the ice softly popping a little and cracking in the water. For a moment my body registered this sound as its own; as if the bones in my skull were hinging open a little, coming adrift by small increments. This error brought its own relief - a momentary conviction that the dark matter of my brain was giving up its tension, that the bones of my skull were widening a fraction so as to give my thoughts more room.