![]() ![]() Even most of the unlikeable characters are presented with a complexity that gains the reader’s sympathy, and none of the characters are beyond ethical reproach.įor those of us who are old enough to remember the dawn of email, this book hearkens back to a time when it was just about to transform our working lives. Smiley’s psychological characterizations, however, are more nuanced than Dickens’. (Smiley has also published an excellent short biography of Dickens). Even the characters’ names are reminiscent of his novels. Jane Smiley’s novels have been compared to Charles Dickens’, and Moo is a prime example, with a large number of characters who cross paths in surprising ways, and a mixture of humor and pathos. The university grasps at the offer of research contracts from an unscrupulous billionaire, ultimately involving itself in disappointment and scandal. Set at a large state university in an anonymous Midwestern state, Moo traces the stories of various faculty, students, employees and administrators over the course of an academic year when the university is threatened by large budget cuts. ![]() If there is a better satire on university life than Jane Smiley’s novel Moo, I have yet to find it. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |