For what did I know?

“I don’t understand why it seems so fresh in my mind, even now, three years later and a few hundred miles away. I think about it, and I can’t even remember people’s names.”

This was a very different book. I haven’t decided whether it was different good, or just different. I’m leaning towards just different.

The book had an almost overwhelming number of characters, yet not one of these were named. Alright, one of them was named, but not until the very end of the book. The entire book also took place over one day. It was narrated by someone in the “present” and occasionally the narrative would relate details of her present day life, but it was mostly set on that one day, on that one street.

McGregor’s writing style is very unique, and I did enjoy that more than I had initailly expected. The first time I picked up this book, I was turned off my the poetry-like prose that he utilizes, but I actually quite liked it. The narrative flowed really well, and while there are a huge number of characters (none with names for the vast majority of the book) there was never any confusion. The characters are all developed to such a degree that they have distinct personalities. They are extremely different from each other and telling them apart is no big issue.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that I really did enjoy this book.