The Topeka School
The Topeka School
by
3 Stars
The Topeka School was a mixed bag for me. First, I should
admit that it’s not the kind of book that would ordinarily be my first choice
for reading material. It’s a study of a
young man and his family, each of them dealing with more than their fair share
of personal and emotional troubles. Their
stories are at times compelling and the writing style, jumping repeatedly from
past to present, is an interesting one.
The writing itself is at times wonderful; elegant, flowing prose that’s
a pleasure to read. But at other points
it degenerates into seemingly endless run-on sentences that just simply get
lost.
The book also strives to be a contemporary social and
political commentary, and falls kind of flat for me in that respect. Again, I must admit I don’t particularly agree
with the message, but I also didn’t find that message to be very well
conveyed. It’s a bit of a weak back drop
to the story. Perhaps subtlety was the
author’s goal, but I found it a bit too subtle.
All in all, it’s an interesting work that’s worth your
time. Most of it is very well written,
the characters are interesting (perhaps because they’re all so flawed), and the
writing style keeps you turning pages to finally unravel their entire stories.
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