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Title: If you've had enough beach books for a while, try this
Review: Is this really her first novel? Matalon is a fine writer. The photographs are not just a device, they're a metaphor, but not a heavy-handed one. This isn't the easiest novel to read, which is a relief after some other recent fiction, even some good stuff. It feels good to have to work at reading sometimes, and it helps me to understand what the deconstructionists are talking about when they say the reader is part of the process. Sometimes you hear people say that they felt like they knew the characters. I don't feel that way about this Levantine family, and that's not a criticism -- I feel like I got as close to them as they would actually have let me (an Ashkenazi) if I had met them -- which isn't very close. I got an oblique look -- like looking at an old photograph, come to think of it. I look forward to more of Matalon's work.
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