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Title: The author could do much much better
Review: There are some very clever turns of phrase in "Welcome to My Planet" and the choice and handling of narrative structure was interesting and masterful. The open-endedness of the 'conclusion' was not completely bad either, insofar as that seemed to be one of the themes of the book (getting Shannon to the point of recognizing all the possibilities ahead of her). Overall, however, despite some flashes of real character, the book feels shallow. The insights to which the psychologist leads Shannon are not earth-shattering, and even though the inescapable banality of Shannon's life seems to be another of the book's themes, the book's presentation of this life never really rises above triteness itself. With a richer subject, this author would certainly be capable of writing a much better book. The journey of self-discovery in this one, though, was too obligatory, predictable, and, ultimately, indistinguishable from so many other 'autobiographical' narratives.
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