With Gates of Eden, Ethan Coen has proven himself a true wordsmith. His prose is witty, starkly realistic, and often beautiful. His plots, on the other hand, are quite lacking. This is more a matter of personal taste, but I prefer stories in which something actually happens. Too many of the stories merely stopped after assorted description, rather than providing an actual ending or at least a feeling of purpose to the story (often I was left thinking, “So why did he think that story was worth retelling?” or “Where was he going with that?”). I also got tired of feeling like I was hearing everything secondhand. Even the stories that were not in first person left me feeling like somebody was telling me the story, rather than truly experiencing the events or connecting at all with the characters. I’m glad I read this, but I think I’ll stick to Coen films from now on.
Originally posted on Bookcrossing.