Generation Loss

Elizabeth Hand
Generation Loss Cover

Generation Loss

DrNefario
2/24/2014
Email

I found it difficult to know what to make of Generation Loss. It doesn't feel very much like it belongs on Worlds Without End at all. It's certainly the only book I'm reading for the RYO Challenges which also counts towards my crime challenge. And it's not even particularly satisfying as a mystery, but somehow I liked it anyway, and I'm quite likely to pick up its sequel.

Cass Neary's an unusual protagonist. A failure, still living a marginal life decades after her time has passed. A drinker. A drug-taker. A petty thief. Self-destructive. Damaged. But somehow not beyond redemption.

Neary was once, briefly, a renowned photographer, and an old acquaintance sets her up to interview another legendary and reclusive photographer in a remote part of Maine. Things don't go well, and other problems start to accumulate. A teenager disappears.

The sense of place is great. The detail on photography, and what makes it art, is interesting. The characters feel fleshed out. It's a readable tale, with some darkness. 3.5/5.