Go Gentle, the latest from Maria Semple, bestselling author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette, is hard to classify. It’s a true genre bender, part literary fiction, part romance, and part mystery caper.
Our leading lady, Adora Hazzard, is a comedy writer turned philosopher living in New York City with her teenage daughter. She works for an ultra rich family at their home and museum. She has things pretty well figured out until she meets a handsome and mysterious man and finds herself caught in the middle of what appears to be an art heist.
There is a lot going on in this book. The plot was hard for me to follow at times, but that didn’t necessarily bother me. Some readers have described it as a “fever dream,” and I think that’s spot on. I decided to just go along for the ride. I’m not sure it all worked for me, but the story is unusual and quirky. It would be a good fit for an iconoclastic reader looking for something unlike anything they’ve encountered before.
Note: Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me with an Advanced Reading Copy.
