Fiction Book Reviews

Book Review: Wit's End

By Sandy Amazeen May 12, 2009, 0:33 GMT

“[A] delightful and eccentric new tale”(The Boston Globe) from the author of the runaway bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club In Karen Joy Fowler’s newest novel, the bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club once again delivers top-notch storytelling, creating characters both oddball and endearing in a voice that is utterly and memorably her own. Wit’s End is a clever, playful novel about finally allowing oneself to grow up—with ...more

Shortly after her father’s death, Rima Lannisell moved from Ohio to Santa Cruz, California at her godmother’s invitation. A charming three-story home, Addison Early’s residence is filled with miniature dioramas that set the opening scenes of her popular mystery series. With the theft of a tiny character from one of the dioramas, Rima begins an investigation that will lead into her father’s murky past including a white supremacist cult. Meanwhile, Addison appears to be suffering a major case of writer’s block that have her fans wondering if her creative well has run dry.

The line between fact and fiction blur as Rima sorts through boxes of old correspondence generated by Addison’s books and realizes the character named after her father may not be purely fictional. Fowler’s characters including her whiny main protagonist Rima and a pair of dachshunds are finely nuanced, drawn with an eye for detail and dry humor. The satisfying storyline makes up for the slow pace while the conclusion neatly ties a number of subplots together.