Tom Rachman

Enduring life in an isolated bookstore on the Welsh countryside, young American woman Tooly reflects on her bizarre childhood under the care of bandits before a long-lost boyfriend offers clues to help her with unanswered questions. By the best-selling author of The Imperfectionists.

A Novel

The Rise & Fall of Great Powers

Will Vunderink

An incoherent, directionless, ultimately pointless book... not only an utterly disappointing follow-up to The Imperfectionists -- one of the most impressive debuts in recent memory -- but a failure as a novel in its own right. The awkward interwoven structure that depicts Tooly & Co. in three distinct periods spanning about twenty years adds little to the story and eventually reveals itself as a half-baked attempt to mask the lack of a convincing plot. The novel's big reveals all feel trivial, its characters do not resonate, and the writing lacks vitality. I stuck it out hoping that Rachman was purposely withholding the meat of his story until the end, but I was sorely mistaken.

The Rise & Fall of Great Powers A Novel

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