THE TESSERACT (Alex Garland) - August 17, 2011

Um. Wow. What a terrible, uninteresting book. Garland offers up a mess of characters and proves unable to transform any of them - with one exception - into interesting, compelling figures. Rosa, the lady with the two kids and ER-loving mother, was kind of engaging, but she was definitely the exception rather than the rule. Garland's decision to consistently shift the perspective is exacerbated by the inclusion of one tedious flashback after another. The final stretch is rendered completely anticlimactic just 'cause I couldn't remember who all these people were supposed to be. I think Garland intends the reader to finish the book in one sitting. What an interminable mess. * out of ****