The Sorrows of An American - Reviews

Reviews

The Sorrows of an American was published to almost unanimously positive reviews. Ron Charles calls it "a radically postmodern novel that wears its po-mo credentials with unusual grace; even at its strangest moments, it never radiates the chilly alienation that marks, say, the work of Hustvedt's husband, Paul Auster." For Sylvia Brownrigg, "the erudite Hustvedt" explores "larger questions of art and madness, mind and spirit, and the construction of the self" through the dialogues of her intellectually minded characters and the interior monologues of her narrator. True, little use is made of the vernacular, which prompts Haley Edwards to state that "Hustvedt writes very well, but her prose has all the flair of your Aunt Olga's dinner rolls. Sometimes Erik says things about the human condition that are wonderfully perceptive and incredibly poignant, but he seems to say them as if he's observing the human condition, rather than experiencing it himself."

What some critics found disappointing is that "the secrets Inga and Erik pursue don't yield the drama or meaning they have hoped for, suffusing the scenes of revelation with an air of anticlimax. This may be intentional—Hustvedt may be warning us of the folly of hoping for neat resolutions in our explorations of past pains—but it means the narrative slackens somewhat toward the end."