Darryl
by Jackie Ess
A wild ride and not the kind of thing usually go for but I loved it but also have no idea what to make of it??
I don't usually enjoy books about people in not-so-great relationships making not-so-great decisions, and this is all about that. Maybe it's Darryl's desire to see the best in everyone and understand their perspective, which I relate to a lot? Also the short chapters and the wide ranging references and the general experimental vibe, which I very much fuck with. I love when you see the plot in little glimpses and have to put them together and connect details from one to the other. The tight first person perspective also means that sometimes something happens that makes you reconsider previous events - not an unreliable narrator except in the way that we're all unreliable narrators of our own lives. I'm thinking about Greg(?)'s last scene in the book which upends his earlier scenes and gives away more about his emotions/internal life, and also makes Darryl suddenly have to recontextualize himself as desirable and important to what's going on around him?