Booker Dozen 2010: February by Lisa Moore
The backstory: February, Lisa Moore's second novel (she also has a book of short stories), is on the 2010 Man Booker Prize longlist. The basics: The novel is written in short vignettes that jump back and forth through time. Each vignette has a descriptive title and year to guide the reader. The center of the story is Helen, who lost her husband Cal in the 1982 sinking of the Ocean Ranger . Most of the events happen between 1982 and 2008, but Moore also jumps to the early days of Helen and Cal's relationship. My thoughts: I have rather ambivalent thoughts on this novel. Moore's writing is lovely. I tend to enjoy character-driven novels, but this one never fully captured me as a reader. When I was reading it, I was engaged in both the writing and the characters, but it wasn't a novel I pondered much when I wasn't actively reading it. The pacing was slightly off for me. I'm curious how much thought Moore put into the ordering of the vignettes. At times, the n...