I’ll Let You Go by Bruce Wagner

[2007-03-01]
Another “Friends of the Library” book. Upon just starting it, I feel as if I’ve been dumped rather abruptly into a strange strange world. I don’t really know what in the world is going on, and the language is somewhat difficult to understand at times. Currently there are just some children doing random things in modern Los Angeles (more specifically Hollywood)

[2007-03-15]
Well at least I can understand the book a little bit better. The crazy language has either subsided a little bit, or I’m more immersed into the book so I can follow the thoughts of the author. In either case, it’s definitely more interesting as I’m starting to be able to differentiate the characters a little bit. I do wonder if it’s going to be a good book because thus far there have only been some super rich kids and then a poor sad homeless girl (with a tragic story). Interesting. We’ll see what Mr. Wagner can do with this.

[2007-04-10]
Okay now that I’ve been reading this book for a much longer time, I can safely say that it’s getting better. I’m starting to understand the book a little bit more. Basically it seems like it’s going to play out to be a book about the fabulously wealthy and the bitterly poor in Los Angeles. It’s a weird book because the writing reminds me a little bit of my own when I start to really get deep into thought. However, I don’t think that’s a good thing because it’s very hard to understand if you’re reading it. For example, Wagner will use lots and lots of American colloquial sayings like “suffice to say”, “such is the case”, “for argument’s sake” which make complete sense but give an impression of being over-the-top. On top of that, Wagner enjoys using pretty advanced vocabulary such as dilettantism and crenelated (go ahead a look them up, I had to!).

The main threads right now include a poor (literally) girl who lost her mother and is trying to find her place after being given over to the welfare system. Of course she was then molested and ran away from the foster home. It wasn’t graphic, but it was still infuriating to read.

Another thread is a very rich boy who is searching for his father who ran away the day after he wed the mother. This is part of the rich family so this is one of the big controversies that has occurred to them over the years.

Of course there are other side threads such as the rich wife who is campaigning to bury the bodies of dead abandoned babies as well as a thread about a large seemingly crazy homeless man who thinks that he is from 16th century Europe.

All of this in one book. It’s a little overwhelming. But I will continue on because I feel like I’m too far to turn back now!

[2007-05-28]
Well I finally finished this book. My my, that took a couple of months! I guess that is what happens when you only read 1 chapter a day. I think that by the end of those book, I appreciated how Wagner was writing. I also think that it was a good book because of the fact that it concluding all of the different story threads that it had started. The main couples come together and end up with each other. Some characters pass away, but that ends up alright. All in all, it was a story that ranged all over the place, but it managed to end up and close it out in a clean fashion.

I don’t think that this book is the best that I have read, though. It didn’t really make me stop and think all that much. However, the main thing that it brought up is how I view the poor. In the novel, it tells tales of some poor and how they are living. Granted this book is fiction. Nevertheless I still stop and think more now when I do see a homeless person. I wonder what their story is. I think about the novel that I just finished.

All in all, this is a good book for those that enjoy something different. If you’re interested, go read the first few chapters and see if you like the writing style. I think that the writing style is the biggest hindrance to reading this book. There are a large amount of advanced and little-used words, idioms, and Los Angeles-specific locations. The story is just fine, and I think that most people would find it to be interesting. So check it out for a little bit, and see how it works for you.

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