Anyone read The Names?

[wherethewildthingis]

Has anyone read this one. Really enjoyed it and keen to talk about it!

I definitely did not read the author's intentions here vis a vis the VS as "... a bit trivialising and a bit of a cheap way to get attention."

Goodness that's a stretch and I also think unfair.

She obviously included some details but stepped back in places too and very obviously left it to the reader to fill in the blanks in an effective way.

Every book doesn't have to do all things, from my POV. It just needs to do what the author has set out to do well, and I think those of us who enjoyed it 'get' what Knapp was trying to do.

I completely agree with this post. I lost my mum to DV and thought the book handled it with compassion and depth.

Chick lit?!?!

I think the criticism of it being chick lit is a bit badly expressed. The Names is not chick lit, but it's not literary fiction either.

I listened to The Names on Audible and although I did really enjoy it and I found it interesting but it lacked the depth of other novels I have read and really really enjoyed. For example, I have also just finished The Story of A New Name by Elena Ferrante which is also written by a woman, covers similar ground: DV, women's lives, relationship and feelings. To me Ferrante's characters were more multi-dimensional, the range of issues covered were wider & richer, the writing was more beautiful.

It doesn't mean I didn't enjoy The Names. It's just I think what I would call literary fiction has another level to it and that's why I enjoy it more.

@malwarethat’s a good summary. It’s not literary fiction, but it’s a good read.