Transatlantic

So far I'm on track to read four books each month this year. Today I finished the book club selection for March, even though we won't be able to make the meeting. I thought that I would write a few paragraphs to send along to the book club hosts to share in our absence.

I have not yet written those paragraphs, because I am still thinking about the book - Transatlantic by Colum McCann. When I read Amazon reviews, I was little concerned that I wouldn't be able to follow the plot, but even with the various characters throughout 140-some years, it wasn't too difficult to keep stories straight. The novel's construction weaves the lives of unknown (and fictional) women throughout various non-fiction events that connect America and Ireland. In that way, it kept my interest.

Although some of the language is beautiful, it also calls attention to itself, and I found the paragraphs of details bogged me down. Because there are many characters, the development of said characters had to be minimized, if there was development at all.

My questions I would ask book club would be - what is the meaning of all that soggy ground? That is a detail that came back in various places. Also, why didn't anyone ever open that letter until the end? (This is not really a spoiler, I don't think.)