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The Correspondent
Virginia Evans
291 pages
Crown Publishing
This book is not for everyone. While I ended up liking it more than I originally expected after starting it, I was not as enthralled by it as some. In fact, at first, I felt like I was in The Emperor’s New Clothes; I could not figure out why everyone seemed to be talking about this book as if it was the best thing since sliced bread. At that moment, about 20% in, I was considering not finishing it.
The most important thing to know about The Correspondent is that it is an epistolary novel. I did not really think about this going in and should have thought about this. I have read few epistolary novels and even fewer that I enjoyed.
Generally, it is not my cup of tea.
Right after I thought about not finishing, I learned that the narrator, an elderly lady, had been adopted and had been given a DNA kit to use. Given that I am also adopted and took a DNA test in my late 50’s, that one thing was enough to interest me and keep me reading. I had also been a lawyer, albeit in an entirely different time period. I truly believe that had this not been the situation, I would have given up on the book.
Because of these commonalities, I was interested enough to finish the book. I won’t say that I didn’t enjoy it at all but it is not something I would read again or to convince me to read more epistolary novels.
Except that this was an older woman who expressed herself better in letters than verbally (even though this may be thought of by many as strange because lawyers often make a living by their spoken language skills; I could understand because I was that way too, as an attorney), I wasn’t really sure why this was an epistolary novel. I think for this kind of format, there should be a good reason why. One such book where this format worked and was necessary was Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The narrator was a young woman who had been raped and that, of course, was very traumatic. It affected her ability to interact verbally with others, which gives an excellent reason for this format. The narrator had to tell her story in a way that was more protective of herself and her heart. Letters and diary entries made perfect sense. In other words, it feels a bit gimmicky here.
I think that often, letters are limiting as they create distance between the reader and the narrator. In Speak, that distance was necessary because of the trauma. Here, this distance heightened the distance from the narrator. I wanted to understand her more which meant being close but the format created a distance that prevented that.
I also felt like there was not a real structure to the book because the letters went all over the place. It has been ages since I read Speak, but I felt like there was more of a flow in events that the letters referenced. I think that is something that may be more likely in epistolary novels.
That said, some readers may enjoy this book greatly. It just wasn’t for me. Three stars because of the language in the book which was beautiful at times.
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