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A review by chrissie_whitley
Practice: A Novel by Rosalind Brown
3.0
Practice follows Annabel, a student at Oxford in 2009, over the course of one day as she alternates between discipline and distraction while trying to complete an essay on Shakespeare’s sonnets in her dorm room.
What starts as an interesting, witty, and sexy stream of consciousness loses momentum as this short novel unfolds. The gap between where the story begins and where it ends feels wider than I’d hoped, and the opportunity for deeper character growth through Annabel’s observations fell away.
And, not for nothing, I found myself wanting more direct connections to Shakespeare’s sonnets or a clearer tie-in to Annabel’s assignment and ultimate goal. While the writing style and characterization are excellent, the novel ultimately felt more like a writing exercise than an intentional circadian novella.
What starts as an interesting, witty, and sexy stream of consciousness loses momentum as this short novel unfolds. The gap between where the story begins and where it ends feels wider than I’d hoped, and the opportunity for deeper character growth through Annabel’s observations fell away.
And, not for nothing, I found myself wanting more direct connections to Shakespeare’s sonnets or a clearer tie-in to Annabel’s assignment and ultimate goal. While the writing style and characterization are excellent, the novel ultimately felt more like a writing exercise than an intentional circadian novella.