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The Keep

By Jennifer Egan

(14)

| Hardcover | 9781400043927

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Book Description

From National Book Award finalist Jennifer Egan, author of Look at Me (“Brilliantly unnerving . . . A haunting, sharp, splendidly articulate novel” —The New York Times), a spellbinding work of literary suspense enacted in a chilling psychological landscape—a Continue

Critics

Into the Labyrinth

Jennifer Egan is a refreshingly unclassifiable novelist; she deploys most of the arsenal developed by the metafiction writers of the 1960’s and refined by more recent authors like William T. Vollmann and David Foster Wallace — but she can’t exactly b ... (read full critics)

nytimes published on Sat, 18 Sep 2010

The Keep By Jennifer Egan

Egan's third novel is a chilling modern-gothic story set in Manhattan and Europe. The story's narrator, a convict named Ray, is spinning the tale for his prison creative writing class, in hopes of getting close to his teacher. The story he conjures u ... (read full critics)

bookpage published on Tue, 14 Sep 2010

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2 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

Leaves you wanting more, but not in a good way

I was really intrigued by the concept of 'The Keep' when I read reviews. Was it a mystery set in a medeval castle? A story of redemption for a former meth-addict writing teacher and/or the convicted murderer inmate?
As it turned out it's none of the above. Ms Egan starts with a tempting story ... (continue)

I was really intrigued by the concept of 'The Keep' when I read reviews. Was it a mystery set in a medeval castle? A story of redemption for a former meth-addict writing teacher and/or the convicted murderer inmate?
As it turned out it's none of the above. Ms Egan starts with a tempting storyline, and lets it drift away. The reader leaves the E. Europe setting with a story far from complete - that we've spent most of the book building up. As we enter the parallel confines of the prison (which, itself, has an insubstantial - almost irrelevant - subplot), we aren't given enough time/pages to appropriately transition the well-earned suspense to the new setting/characters. One track ends before its ready - the other is never really allowed to begin. It would be one thing to leave the reader dangling if the story pointed back to us - daring us to self-reflect - but it doesn't.
All said, the story has unrealized promise. I'm left wanting more - wishing Ms Egan had finished the thought she started, rather than abandoning it in favor of a story she has no intention of taking to a satisfying conclusion.

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Andyberschauer said on Mar 11, 2009 | 1 feedback

twist upon twist a gothic novel you will actually like

If even last week you had told me I would be writng a favorable review about a castle and its cast of characters including a crazy dutchess, a goth party boy from New York and an excentric former fund manager with a dark past (not forgetting the parallel story of a prisoner in a modern jail), I neve ... (continue)

If even last week you had told me I would be writng a favorable review about a castle and its cast of characters including a crazy dutchess, a goth party boy from New York and an excentric former fund manager with a dark past (not forgetting the parallel story of a prisoner in a modern jail), I never would have believed you. Jennifer Egan does it again -a story that surprises you and makes you reflect on life choices at the same time. For once I love two books from the same author (don't miss Look at Me).

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Gail Paris said on Oct 8, 2009 | Add your feedback