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Broken lines, broken thoughts, broken hearts. Grief. A novel in prose poems. Oddball love. Overcute or quirky charm? Captures obsessive energy of new love (“I passed a school on the way and felt sad for all of the children who were penned in there and who wouldn‘t get to see you”). Exposed & forward, tho cloying voice grates. Odd & dear. Breakup omitted. Annapurna‘s “Florence.” 194 “It feels like expecting and remembering all at once.” 2023

A reviewer wrote: “I have rarely read a book that captures so succinctly the way that all lovers must (at least a little bit) believe they are the only people to ever feel this feeling, and the way that that is (at least a little bit) true.” I would add the feeling of heartbreak & depression too. Halfway through, this ‘slim‘ novel kicked into gear for me as this lonely man comments on his life. I enjoyed it, not sure I‘d recommend it though.(cont)

The Hourglass by Keiran Goddard is a jumbled mind strewn out on the page trying to get over the lose of two loves- one of a girlfriend and one of a mother.
Even a week after finishing reading the book I‘m not sure how I feel about it. I feel sadness for the protagonist of the story over the heart wrenching profoundness of his losses, and yet, I feel like so much of his problem is also of his own making by being so desperate for love itself.

Europa‘s newsletter had this to say about Hourglass: “LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE. A short, lyrical debut novel about love, loss, work, time, and the unquenchable desire for connection with others—for fans of Jenny Offill, Mieko Kawakami, David Szalay and Sheila Heti.”

So of course I had to buy it.

#bookmail

A quick read about love found and then love lost but also about work, art, and mental health. The power is in the telling. Our quirky unnamed narrator shares his raw impressions, revealing the beautiful, the painful, and the absurd. I was a bit skeptical at first, thinking it a bit pretentious, but then the narrator won me over. Ultimately it asks how do we live a life? How do we find or make meaning? Questions I am here for. And it's funny.