Loved Joan Silber's writing. The front cover doesn't give much away about the feeling for this excellent novel. I would have liked to have seen a different cover to reflect this fabulous book. Two things that grabbed my attention. The first thing is that a portion of this novel have been printed in magazines. The first chapter of Improvement actually first appeared under the heading About My Aunt in Tin House. Then came a chapter four that appeared under the title Coverage, in the Colorado Review. I think author Joan Silber being truthful where parts of this novel has appeared may of helped someone who hasn't written anything and are thinking of writing a story for a magazine, where it maybe under one title, then you never know it may turn into a novel, under another title.
It just goes to show how good Joan Silber is she was the winner, in 2018 for PEN/Faulkner Award.
The second thing that was brought to my attention was how beautiful Joan Silber writes dialogue, I was hooked into Improvement from page one until the very last word. I can see now how magazines snapped up this unusual story. Reyna has been out with a few boyfriends but she stays faithful to Boyd visiting him in prison. What puzzled me is why did Reyna visit him when she knew that she didn't love Boyd as much as she did the others that had she been with. Well however there was the fact that she did love Boyd, but just how far will she go for him ? When Boyd is finally released from prison, he try's to get Reyna to something that will violate his probation, the question is will Reyna go along with Boyd? I don't know how Joan Silber came up with this page turning novel, but I'm ready to read this authors next book. A story about conviction that I recommend putting Improvement on your to read list.
It just goes to show how good Joan Silber is she was the winner, in 2018 for PEN/Faulkner Award.
The second thing that was brought to my attention was how beautiful Joan Silber writes dialogue, I was hooked into Improvement from page one until the very last word. I can see now how magazines snapped up this unusual story. Reyna has been out with a few boyfriends but she stays faithful to Boyd visiting him in prison. What puzzled me is why did Reyna visit him when she knew that she didn't love Boyd as much as she did the others that had she been with. Well however there was the fact that she did love Boyd, but just how far will she go for him ? When Boyd is finally released from prison, he try's to get Reyna to something that will violate his probation, the question is will Reyna go along with Boyd? I don't know how Joan Silber came up with this page turning novel, but I'm ready to read this authors next book. A story about conviction that I recommend putting Improvement on your to read list.