Claire Messud: The Emperor's Children

From left to right: Marina, Julius and Danielle,
but the artist, Ray Bartkus, confused the two girls

I am not able to find out why I found this book dull: the characters and character development are exciting. Still I had to reread sentences again and again and eventually the book dragged on for more than two weeks.

But I suffered from the banal dialog. Dialog is what the author cannot do. It is improbable that Claire Messud intended the banal dialog to show how empty the characters are, because they are not. How can people with such rich inner life talk like that?

Murray Thwaite

The 430 pages of the book are divided into 67 easy to handle chapters. Messud's style is not overly complex. Yet my mind is blank and not inspired to write a lengthy comment. Thankfully, Metacritic collects all reviews and I have enough interest left in me to catch there what I missed in the book.

Although Bootie, the nephew of Murray Thwaite, is the least alluring character of the book, I can symphatize with him most. In the beginning he takes upon himself the toil to read Moby Dick, War and Peace, Infinite Jest and Gravity's Rainbow, which he does not finish, like me (except for Moby Dick, the other tomes are constant reminders that there are limits to invest quality time with unsurmountable books). As events evolve, Bootie finds relieve in - of all books - Robert Musil's immense Man Without Qualities, which he finishes. He proves to be a more persistent reader than I am, as I stopped after 10 or 20 pages (I only have the first of two volumes). But there is hope: in Germany the book is available on 6 CDs in MP3 format, lasting 63 hours.

On to the next book!