Review 60: Doxology

Doxology by Nell Zink
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a generational book, that covers the late 1980's to today. Pam is the main focus, for the first part, a young rebellion who leaves her hometown of Washington DC as a senior in high school to do "art" in New York City. Along the way she stumbles into a coding job and two life-long male friends for life. One, Daniel, becomes the father of her child. It's years before she reunites with her parents, but they end up being important . The child Flora becomes the focus of the later part of the novel.

A lot of ideas are pumped into this novel, and symbolism as well. Look at the title of the book; Doxology: a liturgical formula of praise to God. Then you have Daniel's last name of Svoboda which is a political party in the Ukrainian and also means "freedom". Anyway, undertones abound in this book. At first the art project is music, then it shifts and perhaps the daughter is the ultimate project. Yet she doesn't live her life like theirs.

There's a lot to like and enjoy in this book, the focus on music then on climate change and resting on politics, particularly the Greens. Yet...I think it's the writing style that gets me, makes me reluctant to wholeheartedly embrace this book. I'm not a fan of the writing style. The sentences are short and clipped, and somehow it reminds me of Neal Stephenson. It feels more like a bunch telling and not much showing. I think there's a lot missing, that could have made it better.



Thanks to the publisher Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers. I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own. Somehow I also got a copy on NetGalley, so double thanks to the publisher.