Degrees of Affection

I had no intention of ever reading this book. I know no one who had and the cover reminded me of one of those horror movies that try not to look like they're wanting to scare the pants off you. Having learned my lesson, this went on my Do Not Read shelf. Reveiews here, however, clued me in on the fact that it might not mean what I think it means.

To the library, allons-y!

...And, I loved it. Not completely and the dog picture nearly sent me running but I love how the story was woven through these obviously old photographs. What a wonderful idea and the author executed it amazingly well.

I won't go into the story really, because I feel it's one that is best experienced with the least amount of information known beforehand. The writing was quite good, interesting yet easy to read, and the flow of the story was decent. I felt it dragged a bit in the middle, between the major discovery and the action-oriented ending but not bad enough to set the book aside. What I particularly liked about the writing style was the first person point of view where we discover the answers with Jacob rather then waiting for him to catch up. The information comes piece by piece and even by the end of the book there is clearly more to learn, though the author does bring about a satisfactory ending.

This was a major surprise but a good one. I've already got the next one on my wish list on the site and hope to read it soon.