The Eighth Day of the Week

Rating:
Summary: EIGHTH DAY WORTH THE WAIT
Review: THE EIGHTH DAY OF THE WEEK is an extraordinary first novel. Both my wife and I were mesmerized by its dark, barroom moodiness, its many poetic passages, and, of course, the mystery and intrique. The narrator, a doctor, tells his story, which we gradually realize is a confession,to a young woman in a bar. In a booth nearby, another woman watches and waits. We slowly gather clues about who this woman is, and what her relationship is to the younger woman who looks like her, or as she might have looked years ago. The story the doctor tells, in what has become a ritualized retelling, involves his wife, his troubled children, eventually his wife's lover, her child by him, and, as we slowly and painfully discover, an unimaginable, almost unpardonable sin. The air of mystery, and growing tension, between the story he tells and the barroom frame story in which the story/confession is told -- this is what kept us hooked from page one. In fact, it's almost impossible not to read the novel straight through. I recommend it to anyone who's interested in clear, expressive writing, and in the strange workings of memory, guilt, and loss -- and also love, how it weaves its delicate web to catch and hold us.

Rating:
Summary: A captivating mystery
Review: This book is really a captivating mystery disguised as an artful novel. The main character, a doctor, has a mystery (or really, several), hidden in his past. As his story unfolds, we are riveted by the plot -- what is in his past? How did the action happen? I would call this book a "reverse mystery" -- the events happened in the past and are only now being revealed by the main player.

The very fine writing makes unravelling this mystery a pleasure. I had to read the book all in one sitting because I couldn't wait to find out what had happened. I would recommend this most highly to anyone interested in an artfully told story.