If you say a book is "fun" people are going to think that it is a simple easy read, something to be consumed like so much fast food while turning the pages with fingertips soaked in SPF50. This book is inventive, intelligent, well-written, masterfully created, multi-layered, funny, touching, awkward, rewarding and fun! It tells the story of four generations in reverse - the prologue comes at the end - and is written in a different style for each time period, but they are all so well done that it was a great read. Can't recommend it enough! The author is so good this is one of the few books I even read the acknowledgements, which I don't normally do, and was rewarded by discovering she saved one of her funniest lines as the very last thing she writes. In this brilliantly conceived, ambitious, and deeply rewarding novel, Rebecca Makkai unfolds a generational saga in reverse, leading the reader back in time on a literary scavenger hunt as we seek to uncover the truth about these strange people and this mysterious house. With intelligence and humor, a daring narrative approach, and a lovingly satirical voice, Rebecca Makkai has crafted an unforgettable novel about family, fate and the incredible surprises life can offerI would have liked the book better had it not been all told in flashback. It kept my interest until the end which I thought was a dud.
