The Keep by Jennifer Egan -- Book Review

How do you measure a book's success? Does an engaged audience equal a good book?
The Keep definitely engaged me:

• I groaned at the intentionally horrible writing on page 1 (It didn't improve from there).
• I scoffed at the ending when some of the loose ends find themselves tied up in neat little bows and some are never explained.
• I yelled WTF when Ray, the narrator, started butting in at random and when the baroness aged backward and forward and then backward again and when Danny started talking about "the worm" or "alto" or how he can just sense when there's a Wi-Fi connection nearby and...well, I don't want to reveal too much, but there were several WTF moments.
• Yet...I couldn't stop reading it.
  

So what can I tell you about Jennifer Egan's The Keep? I've stewed over this book and read other reviews, but I just don't know what to say about it. It's a modern-day Gothic romance written by a man in a maximum security prison. It's a story about how the past haunts us. It's a juxtaposition of modern technology with the supernatural. It's simultaneously intriguing and frustrating.

If you're looking for something immensely original to read, and you don't mind a few loose ends, you might enjoy The Keep. If you want to have your questions answered by the end of the book, I'm telling you, you won't. You have been warned.

I'm not sure whether or not The Keep was a good book, but I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it. If you would like to take a look at the first two chapters, they are posted online here.

Buy The Keep at amazon.com