Book 18 of my 2022 Reading Challenge
The Ghost Writer
by John Harwood
3 stars
Published in 2004, The Ghost Writer is a mystery. Gerard lives a solitary life with his mom who he knows is keeping secrets about her past. He also has a longterm pen pal named Alice. The book covers his travels to try and solve the mysteries of both women.
As I tried to sum up the book in a few sentences I rediscovered one of the problems I had reading it. There were too many threads to untangle and too many plot points. There was a book within a book plus the storylines of Gerard, Alice, his mom, the painting, the past characters, etc.
I had no idea what was going on. At first I blamed myself because I was reading it very slowly so that could explain some confusion. But then I realized if I was reading daily and just choosing other books over continuing to read this one, doesn't that say something about the book as well?
I rated it neutrally because I can't really make a coherent argument for or against the book and I don't want to try. It wasn't for me but I acknowledge I may not be the audience and I may not have created the most optimal environment for reading it.
