The absolute last thing I need is more books. I am drowning in books - they are piled up all over my room, and my TBR list is impossibly long. Yet, I am addicted to used bookstores and have a hard time exercising any willpower over used books. Any willpower.
There is a used bookstore downtown that I only visited for the first time about 6 months ago. I think that all of the books are donated, and most of the profits from the store go to charity (maybe homelessness?). Hardcover fiction is about $4 and paperbacks are $3. It's not in a particularly convenient location for me, but I've been having the urge to go there lately, so I stopped in today after a special visit to the downtown Trader Joe's.
I am proud of myself for leaving with only one book: The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits, which I bought in hardcover for $4.33 including tax. From Amazon:
On November 7, 1985, Mary Veal, 16, a not especially distinguished upper-middle-class girl, disappears from New England's Semmering Academy. A month later she reappears at Semmering, claiming amnesia, but hinting at abduction and ravishment. The events in Julavits's third, beautifully executed novel take place on three levels: one, dedicated to "what might have happened," is the story of the supposedly blank interval; another is dedicated to the inevitable therapeutic aftermath, as Mary's therapist, Dr. Hammer, tries to discover whether Mary is lying, either about the abduction or the amnesia; and the present of the novel, which revolves around the funeral of Mary's mother, Paula, in 1999. There, Mary feels not only the hostility of her sisters, Regina (an unsuccessful poet) and Gaby (a disheveled lesbian) but Paula's posthumous hostility. Or is that an illusion? This structure delicately balances between gothic and comic, allowing Julavits to play variations on Mary's life and on the '80s moral panic of repressed memory syndromes and wild fears of child abuse. While Julavits sometimes lets an overheated style distract from her central story, as its various layers coalesce, the mystery of what did happen to Mary Veal will enthrall the reader to the very last page.
But here's the danger of going into a bookstore without a list or having access to the internet: Amazon reviews have turned out to be pretty lukewarm, and I can't seem to find many blog reviews. Was this a bad purchase?
Has anyone out there read The Uses of Enchantment? Worth it?
I read it shortly after it came out. I have virtually no memory of the book but that I thought it was unsatisfactorily inconclusive. Reality can be inconclusive so I hope for more from books.
Good luck with it!
Posted by: Natalie T. | January 10, 2009 at 12:15 AM
I hate to tell you this Gayle, but I checked it out of the library when it was new and tried to read it, but I just could not become engaged and gave up. I didn't like any of the characters, so it was difficult for me to get into the story.
Posted by: Kelly | January 10, 2009 at 07:47 AM
I find Library Thing reviews to be more reliable than amazon reviews. Have you looked there?
Posted by: Kathy | January 10, 2009 at 08:45 AM
Never heard of it but sounds like a very interesting read.
Posted by: Nicole | January 10, 2009 at 09:08 AM
I took this one from the library as it sounded good, but I was one of the disappointed ones >>sorry to say :( I read it whenever it was first released in HC.
Perhaps you will be one of the ones that will enjoy it though :)
Posted by: Diane | January 10, 2009 at 10:33 AM
I despised this book for all the reasons the previous posters said. Inscrutable story line (and not in a good way), unsympathetic characters, distasteful situations. I urge you to bypass it.
Posted by: Nancy West | January 10, 2009 at 10:42 AM
Not as good as I'd hoped, but worth $4 :)
http://superfastreader.com/the-uses-of-enchantment-by-heidi-julavits.htm
Posted by: Annie | January 10, 2009 at 11:21 AM
I liked it. But now that you've mentioned it, I realize that it wasn't a book that really stuck with me -- i.e. I don't think about it a lot; didn't learn a huge amount from it, etc. The NYT review was really intriguing when it came out, so I rushed out to get it. Anyway, I second the comment above me. It's worth $4!
Posted by: Karen | January 11, 2009 at 08:50 PM
I didn't enjoy it. I was annoyed that you never now for sure what occurred.
Posted by: Jennifer | January 13, 2009 at 12:59 PM
I came across a couple of her other titles at www.bookins.com, my favorite book-swapping site but I think I'll pass based on these reviews. As you did, I'll sometimes risk the $4.49 bookins costs to give a new author a try but I've got too many other "knowns" on my TBR list right now!
Posted by: Sara | January 15, 2009 at 11:29 AM
I didn't really like it either. To me, it seemed like it dragged on and on without really saying much. I did read it quite awhile ago, though.
Posted by: Anna | January 30, 2009 at 10:15 AM
what is the deal with putting the back of girl's heads on the cover of books? Scrolling down today 7/12/11, there are about 5 different books with this "idea" on the cover.
Posted by: folly | July 12, 2011 at 10:40 AM