Reviews for A Week in October

The average rating for A Week in October based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-05-30 00:00:00 Mark Webb Chilean born Subercaseaux has crafted what feels like a delightfully old fashioned novel set in modern times. The formality and reserve of it makes a stark comparison to much of today's writing--and a wonderful change of pace. Clara Griffin is married to a successful but distant man--their marriage has grown stale at the very least. Then she discovers that she has cancer, and she feels the need to say things too long unsaid in the gentlest way possible--she writes a "novel" in a notebook, kept in a drawer where it seems that her husband is most likely to find it. Much of this book shows us the dance between these two people as one reveals veiled truths and the other has to absorb them without admitting he's been reading them. Truth is a fluid thing in this book--there's some "he said-she said", but the rest is indefinable to the very end. I found it to be a very interesting read.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-03-04 00:00:00 Kathy Powers Subercaseaux shows a masterful control of structure in this novel. The chapters alternate between journal entries written by a woman whose marriage has fallen apart and chapters from the point of view of her husband. This structure is integral to the story being told. It's not a trick or superfluous or simply the author showing off; without it there would be no story because there are several mysteries that unspool through this marvellous back-and-forth. It's hard to review this book without giving too much away, but I will say that the only reason I didn't give this book 4 stars was because the subject matter is not one I find all that interesting. If you like stories about dysfunctional urban middle-class people written in the present tense, you will enjoy this novel.