Reading as a Writer: Private Rites

Private Rites is the third Julia Armfield book I've read. While I don't think it was bad, it also was not my favorite of what she's written. The pacing seemed quite slow, and as usual with Armfield I luxuriated in the lovely prose. Every line seemed packed with meaning, and like there couldn't have been another sentence in its place.

As the same time, I was also never really sure what the point was. It was the flip side of what I've loved most about all of her other work: the prose meanders, and spirals, and not until the very end does it coil into a neat little box of meaning, leaving you stunned and reflective. Even by the end of this one I was not quite sure I grasped that end.

Because I love the effect of that aspect of her writing in all other instances experienced to date, I will probably read her next as well! This could easily have been an instance of me not being in the right headspace to enjoy a slow book when I attempted to read it, and if I read it again in a few years it might land exactly right.

Time will tell!

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Audely Bensen Writes

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