The Likeness

by Tana French

Reviewed by Suzann Kale

This is one of those special books that draw you in and take over your life.

You can read it to fulfill any number of personal issues: the feeling of family, the concept of "home," the possibility of feeling safe in your life, what's visceral and what's intellectual, how much the present is dictated by the past, politics, class wars, personal damage...

Not to mention the stylistic brilliance of Tana French's writing. Her lyricism, her poetry, her ability to describe things that may or may not even be there. She nails what intuition feels like, what unspoken communications feel like.

One of Tana French's many talents is her ability to maintain many levels of storyline at once. Not chronologically, mind you - all at once. As if linear time didn't exist!

In "The Likeness", what was unspoken was as complex and alive as what was spoken. Innuendo, subtext, and gut feelings made up an entire storyline just under the "normal" plotline. The two - the subtext and the text - would deviate and go down separate paths, and then slide back together at some unexpected point. It took my breath away.