Book Review: Possession, by AS Byatt
Rating: 3/5 What saved this book from a 2 rating was the last few chapters. They were well done, and there was closure for characters and readers. The author, Byatt, struck out on an ambitious undertaking, and I admired her effort. But I think she over did it by inserting herself into the narrative and laying it on thick with her own descriptive powers. Byatt likes a lot -- and I do mean a lot -- of minute, detailed, useless hyphenated descriptions. For example, one can't just sip a cup of coffee in this novel, one must sip a cup of "walnut-colored Nescafe." I don't know about you, but I have never seen another color of Nescafe other than the walnut-colored kind -- not without adding a lot of creme anyway. But whether there is or there is not, can't we all just sip the coffee and assume it's the color of every other cup of coffee we have ever laid eyes on and get on with the story? Over describing once or twice is a foible; lots of times is a neuros