The Whole World by Emily Winslow
As Americans studying abroad at Oxford, Polly and Liv drifted naturally together. Shared experiences will do that to you, after all. Even so, they are quite different. Polly is often overly serious, Liv has a tendency to read things she shouldn’t on her employers computer. One thing they do have in common is Nick, a handsome grad student. When Nick disappears, though, everything the girls have begins to fall apart, and painful secrets from Polly’s past are brought to light.
I must say, I think that Emily Winslow is a highly talented debut novelist. She takes things that would come off as overly dramatic and eye-roll-inducing in most books – like Polly’s past – and makes them real and tragic instead of ridiculous.
The most interesting thing about “The Whole World” was the somewhat ambitious narrative style. Four separate characters from a range of ages and cultural backgrounds each were allowed to narrate one section. Their stories didn’t follow exactly from one another, but did fall roughly in line so that there remained a good narrative flow. What was impressive about this was not only the way that the story was plotted to make sure that each character got an interesting piece of their own story, but also Winslow’s ability to give each character a distinct and authentic voice.
Although “The Whole World” is a mystery or suspense novel, I wasn’t racing through it to find out the solution to the mystery. Instead, I was savoring the lovely language, the story Winslow created for me, and the competing ideas of just what exactly constitutes ‘the whole world.’ Highly recommended.
Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2010
I’m reading such good things about this book. I’m looking forward to getting to it myself. Thanks for sharing.
When it’s done well, having distinct narrators can really make for a unique reading experience. Not many people can pull it off though (Wilkie Collins did it perfectly in The Moonstone in my opinion) but it sounds like Winslow did a great job with it.
I definitely can’t wait to read this one. Thanks for the review!
I love suspense…very well written suspense is an added delight.
This novel sounds ambitious for a first time novelist, but I am glad to see that she delievered. I will be looking for this one to read!
You’re right, it was ambitious and could have ended up being really mediocre. Luckily, Emily Winslow did a fantastic job with it!
I quite like that style of writing and suspense is my fav genre so I will add this one to my TBR list for sure.
Great review.
I’m so glad to see this is so well written – I’ll be reading it soon.
I like the idea of 4 narratives and that she wove them together to keep it flowing. Definitely one that I would pick up from the library!
Thanks for a great review
This definitely sounds like a winner — adding it my list!