Mars Room

Sometimes, I just don't get it.

Sometimes, a book is critically acclaimed and widely praised and, in the case of The Mars Room, a finalist for the Mann Booker Prize - and for me, it falls completely flat.

I had such high hopes for this book after reading review after review about its characters and social commentary. I put it on my library holds list and waited anxiously for it to show up. I even raced through the first couple of chapters, knowing it was going to be transformative and enthralling.

Then, I ended up slogging through, waiting for some turn or twist or something that would show me why this book is being so celebrated. For me, it never came.

The Mars Room has a bit of an Orange is the New Black quality, in that it's set inside a womens prison and explores the backstory of the women who ended up there. The author did extensive research about our prison system today and the poverty and drug abuse that provides a common thread of the women who end up there. But, for me, there wasn't enough character development to really feel for any of the women - or the men that are featured as well.

It feels like the author tried to do too much. Is it social commentary? Is it narrative? Is it the problematic themes set forth by unreliable narrators? Is it black comedy? What does the Unabomber have to do with anything?

I do feel like a novel can accomplish all those things at once (except maybe the Unabomber part), but I don't think this book did it.

Looking at the Good Reads reviews, I'm not alone in thinking this. Yet, there are also plenty of people who got it and understand the critical acclaim. For me, I don't feel like I missed anything. I feel like The Mars Room truly failed to deliver.