The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt
Grade: B+
I just finished my fourth book of 2016, The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt. The main character is Louisa, who works as a maid in a New York hotel where an aging Nikola Tesla is living out his last days.
I wanted to like this book, and though I did admire its surreal quality, I struggled to stay focused on the narrative. It took three tries before I could get through it, and only sheer stubbornness kept me going. Why wasn’t this novel about Tesla, New York City, and time travel more engaging? Was the problem with me or the book?
I’m not sure. I haven’t been in much of a mood for reading, but maybe had the book been really good it would have pulled me out of my bad mood. Who knows?
So I’ve given this book a B+, the safest grade. The B+ grade says, “I don’t want to read this again, but it’s not necessarily a bad book.”