Among Others

It has taken me ages to get around to reading Among Others which was one of the first new books I added to my reading list when I joined WWE back in 2011. Upon finishing it, I felt a bit let down by certain aspects of it particularly the fact that the diary format didn't really allow the reader to engage with the secondary characters in the story notably Wim/William the love interest. to me he came over as a cipher and I didn't get what it was that she saw in him. Where Among Others works especially well is invoking the sense of space and time- having visited the geographical location of the story back in the 1970's , the geographical detail seems to be spot on to me. Similarly, the sheer joys to be found in small independent bookshops and libraries back in the late 70s/early 80s brings back very happy memories for me.

As a minor caveat, as a male reader reading the 2013 Corsair edition I kept being asked by my wife why I was reading what was "obviously" a girls' book. The design and blurb on this edition do seem to be aimed at a female readership and does play down the fantasy/science fictional elements accordingly. Whether the marketing as a chick-lit piece is fair is best for others to judge but this book shouldn't be limited to any specific audience- it is overall well worth the time and patience to read it- It's not quite a complete masterpiece like many have suggested here and on Goodreads but, even with some flaws it does engage the reader and makes them want to read more fantasy and science fiction- And there is nohing wrong with that in my eyes!