Emily Vance Brown

by Lydia Millet

3/5? I think?

I read Oh Pure and Radiant Heart back in February and managed to put off writing the review for several months. I’m glad I did—this was one of the most perplexing things I’ve ever read, and I feel like six months was the minimum amount of time I needed to stew on it. When I first finished it, it left a sour taste in my mouth, but the further out I get, the more I seem to remember it with fondness. I still don’t know whether I would say I actually liked it, but I do think it’s a good book.

Let’s started with the positives: I loved the surrealist style, and the way Millet chose not to answer many of the story’s pressing questions. The unexplained time travel and magical interactions with animals added to the mystical tone of the story, and these things alone made me want to read more of her work. The satirical elements also hit home for me, particularly the overtaking of the scientists’ mission by Christian militants.

Unfortunately, there were more things I disliked than that I liked. I hated, truly HATED, the dialogue. I found almost every line clunky and awkward, and it was hard to picture real people ever talking like how they did in this book. The formatting of the dialogue alone was exhausting and detracted from the story. It was by far one of my least favorite methods for styling dialogue I’ve ever come across. 
The length of the novel was extreme for what it contained. Everything, and I mean truly, everything, went on for far too long. If this book have been half the length, the message would have been more effective. I never want to get to the end of a book and have my primary thought be, “well, thank God that’s finally over.” I suspect the length would have been less of an issue if the novel had wrapped up in any kind of resolving or thoughtful way, but the ending was purely despondent and left me feeling bleak about the nature of humanity. Although I’d still love to find someone else who’s read Oh Pure and Radiant Heart to discuss it with, I certainly won’t be recommending it to anyone anytime soon.