(The hardbound edition.)[Stopped around page 24. Not the author's fault.]
For many years now, my sister Sue, who resides and reads in Walla Walla, Washington, regularly indulges in a mystery book. Not necessarily in the mystery genre, although it could be, but when she visits her local library she makes a point of grabbing a book that has no book jacket. Even better, a book without any inside cover notes, although those are increasingly rare as librarians weed them out. She does this so that the book, for better or worse, will be a complete surprise. Whether she likes it or not will be up to her and her alone.
Alas, Reading is no longer a solitary endeavor.
Consider these two editions of "The Inhabited World".
Do not read the back of this book.
The back of the hardbound edition has three short reviews by three different authors. These comments center on the quality of Long's writing. I'm assuming they mean lines such as this one found on page 5 of paperback version:
"He's steeped in aftermath, as changed as steam is from water, as water from ice. " Lovely.
Unfortunately, the paperback edition has the ubiquitous promotion plastered on front and back. The front comment by the Los Angeles times is inoffensive but the back comment by the New York Times Book Review is a Spoiler Alert! It certainly spoiled it for me. I don't mind their banal comment that "This is a terrific novel", but I would like to discover the ending on my own. I want to consume a book, I don't need it spoonfed.
So if you want to read this book, get the hardbound or do not read the press on the paperback, but now that I've mentioned it will be hard not to look. Sorry.
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