The Correspondent is literary fiction set primarily in Maryland, USA, and follows the life of main character Sybil Van Antwerp through a series of written correspondence with family, friends, authors, politicians, customer service agents, college professors, etc. This book is done completely in such correspondence, with each chapter being a letter she either sent or received. I really enjoyed piecing together Sybil’s life this way.
I chose this book because so many people have raved about it. I chose to go into it blind so I really didn’t know what to expect. I think I was kind of waiting for a big wow moment or to be blown away since so many people said it is one of the best books of the year and so on. That wasn’t the case though. This was more of a simmering methodical approach to viewing her life. I gotta say, it worked for me. I didn’t want to turn this book off and listened almost straight through with hardly any breaks.
I enjoyed the fact that there was nothing but letters to read in this book. I think the author did a really great job at choosing how to piece the letters together and in what order to reveal different things to really give us a whole picture. I did feel a little emotional toward the end and I did get choked up. I love any book that can make me feel enough and connect enough to get choked up or cry.
There was a full cast narration and each repeating character had their own narrator. It was done very well. This is an excellent audiobook. I think it may have made the book even better since I was hearing the different voices with different accents.
Overall, I am giving this book 4.25 stars. It was great but it didn’t blow me away like I was kind of hoping for, so that’s why I am not giving 5.