Having really enjoyed Specimen Days I was greatly looking forward to reading Michael Cunningham's The Snow Queen. I find myself sadly disappointed.
The book revolves around two brothers, Barrett and Tyler, and Beth, the dying girlfriend of older sibling Tyler (don't worry, mentioning Beth's ill-health is not a spoiler, it is the only real plot device). The three central characters share a small apartment but there is no sense of claustrophobia as they are all very separate entities.
Barrett is the younger brother, a loner who is constantly pining for men that he cannot have whilst living a strange kind of half-life working his friend Liz in her vintage clothes shop.
Tyler is equally directionless and is struggling with Beth's illness, his failing songwriting career and his attempts to keep his drug addiction hidden. His whole existence revolves around caring for Beth and the determination to write the perfect song for their wedding.
There are strangely random political thoughts from Tyler thrown into the book at odd moments presumably to give some sense of a timeline though, for me at least, this simply did not work. The circle of friends that appear throughout are too one-dimensional with even Liz, the best friend, confidante and boss being strangely vague. Beth is too ethereal a presence despite being the central figure that all the characters and threads connect to.
With Barrett's experience of the strange light in the night sky being so prominent in the book - he spends a lot of time in church after this event, questioning his life - along with Beth's illness, I was expecting a book that explored the human condition, our constant search for meaning and how we deal with mortality. This was not the case and when these things were looked at it was in a quite random and superficial way.
One good thing I can say is that the use of language throughout is beautifully done. At times poignant, observational and incredibly prosaic.
Ultimately a disappointing read certainly not helped by an ending that was far too abrupt and, frankly, left me wondering what the point had been.
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