I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE

I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE by Julia Glass

From BOOKLIST (Donna Seaman):

In her third exquisite, piercing novel, National Book Award winner Glass juxtaposes the temperamentally opposite Jardine sisters.  Analytical, cautious Louisa is destined to become an art critic and gallery owner.  Reckless, sensual Clem is drawn to the wild and becomes a field biologist dedicated to protecting endangered species.  While Louisa seeks marriage and motherhood, Clem catches and releases a stream of lovers.  As the two women struggle for their place in the world, they embody archetypal struggles between nature and civilization, self and society.  As compelling as the many-faceted Jardine sisters are, so is everyone in their circle, from their foxhound-breeder mother to the men in their lives:  a history teacher, animal tracker, stuntman, and guru.  Glass' episodic, funny, and deeply inquiring novel is inlaid with priceless set pieces involving the sisters' great-aunt Lucy; Titus, their mother's kennel man; and Esteban, a Haitian artist who knits enormous sculptures.  Terrible accidents, epic heartbreak, petty squabbles, and fatal despair are dramatized with Glass' offhand brilliance and charged with her hunger for enlightenment.  Does art matter?  Can we protect nature from ourselves:  Can we ever truly understand each other, let alone other species?  Isn't it our calling as humans to try?  Glass is a wisely questioning, ardent, and artful novelist.

I didn't really care much for this book.  The characters didn't connect with me at all and I had no interest in their lives, especially Louisa.  Maybe it's just me.  I just can't get into deep, insightful novels right now.  I don't want to put forth the effort to have to think too deeply while I'm reading.  At another time, this might have been a good choice.

Time for a light-hearted novel or maybe a good mystery.