Changes

I really quite liked this novel, and so did many others judging by the effusive quotes and blurbs given by the author's fellow wordsmiths. For a get-go I like anything with the tinge of the Kafkaesque about it, and it's quite pointed that Joseph(ine) is only one letter away from all his 'K's. There is the touch of Kafka (and David Lynch perhaps) in the ugly walls of her office, the constant thrum of typewriters in her department, the fact half the floors are inaccessible to her, and that you're forced to eat at your desk, by circumstance just as much as by rules.

Yes, I was initially thinking of giving this book four stars – nothing to be sniffed at, and that seemed the right response when finishing it. But I think it's worth more. There is a lot here to stick in your mind, however you visualise the goings-on and characters. It's definitely a clever read too – even the one thing about it I was regretting, a style the narrative has of playing with words, making up its own anagrams and corruptions of phrases, in the middle third – is there for a reason. Yes, some times pretention creeps in (I'm looking at a certain page late on in chapter 11), but this is generally sparkling writing. The chapters are very short, averaging four sides at times, and things speed by, forming a most memorable visual image of the whole scenario. There's a high proportion of this work that will stay with you, and for that I have to recommend it quite strongly.