Any Jonathan Letham fans here? If so, help me out with something.

Cafe Society
1

Ever since I read Gun, With Occasional Music, which was his debut novel, I’ve been a fan of Jonathan Lethem’s work.

I’ve got just about all of his books. Motherless Brooklyn was terrific. As She Climbed Across the Table was great. Amnesia Moon…fantastic. His short story collection The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye was hit or miss for me, but I liked it overall.

But for the life of me I cannot get a handle on his book Girl in Landscape. I’ve read it twice, and recently I tried reading it a third time before losing interest and moving on to the latest Chuck Palahniuk novel.

If anyone has read it, and understood it, can they explain to me what is going on in Girl in Landscape? I find it baffling that I can like so much of this guy’s work, but this one just makes me eyes glaze over.

2

I haven’t read it, but here’s a review that might help you out:

http://www.sfsite.com/04a/girl30.htm

Great website for SF fans.

3

Big Lethem fan myself. I had the same reaction to Amnesia Moon that you did to Girl in Landscape. I’m not sure if I can explain the appeal, though, or why Moon didn’t work for me but all his other stuff is so great. I guess it comes down to how much you liked the main character: it’s so much her story that if you don’t identify with her to some extent, the book just isn’t going to work for you. There’s nothing else to really hook on to.