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Book Review: Wit’s End

Wit’s End
by Karen Joy Fowler

In a change of pace from her best-selling The Jane Austen Book Club, Fowler has written a mystery that’s barely a mystery but is every bit an absorbing and funny novel. Rima, a woman who has mastered the art of losing (including her mother, brother, and father) arrives in Santa Cruz, CA, to stay with her godmother, the famous and reclusive mystery writer Addison Early, whose book titles and plots provide chuckles throughout. Rima wants to learn the truth of the nature of the relationship between Addison and Rima’s father, Bim, who might have been complicit in an old murder, as implied in one of Addison’s novels. Yet the greater mystery turns out to be Addison, who seeks to protect her privacy and her works from her increasingly intrusive fans. One of the most refreshing things about Fowler’s witty novel is its currency. At one point, Addison remarks that today’s novels are unreliable guides to daily life since no one in them watches television. Indeed, Fowler’s own characters write blogs, read message boards, watch YouTube, and consult (and even edit) Wikipedia.

Wit’s End is available at the UGA Libraries and at other University System of Georgia libraries.

This review, written by Amy Watts, was originally published in the March 1, 2008 issue of Library Journal.