The Living by Annie Dillard
Way too long. The first third was interesting and then it slowly started dragging on and on until I wasn’t too interested in reading it anymore. Someone unexpectedly died at every turn in the first part of the book which left me jumpy and starting to look for clues for those about to meet their untimely death. This was an unfortunate and ironic side effect for a book whose theme matches the title: The Living; those who survived and thrived.
But, I was reminded over and over how lucky I am to live in an age where children don’t die of ear infections and in general people aren’t so exhausted by daily living that they are ready to give up on living before they are middle-aged. I don’t think I would’ve made a very good pioneer.
