I like to browse libraries shelves and discover books that way. Nowadays I also like to browse the books-on-cd section of the small branch of the public library I live nearby. That’s where I found Melissa Bank‘s “The Wonder Spot.” I probably would not have picked it anywhere else. But from that limited collection this seemed good enough to listen to and had a Jewish theme. In retrospect I think I should have been more careful as it turned out a bad choice for me. It might work for others though.
Part of my problem was the voice it was read by, the author’s herself. The main character, whose life the book follows from preteen to late 20′s, never really knew what she wanted, she just seemed to be floating by. Her only decisions were non-decision, making sure she does not do something, like her bat-mitzvah or making moves in relationships. Her sanguine nature was well-reflected by the reader’s voice, which was monotone. The intonation of every sentence in the first half of the book went way down and slowed down as well. This created a depressive effect. In a way this reading style fit the character’s ambivalence, but made it less interesting to follow. It was hard to care for the fate of a person, who did not really care for herself. She just bumped from one job to another, from one relationship to another, without having feeling really passionate about either.
The disadvantage of listening to a book and not having great memory is that I forgot the four or five truly great sentences the book contained. I had no chance of marking them in a book or jotting them down, because I listed to the book in the gym in the course of 8 or 9 workouts. I do not remember any of these sentences, but they were revelatory on how to put together phrases that can capture specific moods in a most precise manner. Without these I might have felt that it was a waste of my time to listen to the whole thing. But now I know that this kind of coming of age story is not for my taste.