Dept. of Speculation is the story of a relationship between an unnamed man and woman told from the perspective of the woman. They meet, they date, they get married, they have a kid, etc.
Jenny Offill writes the book in a fragmentary style - a few sentences here to form a paragraph, space before the next paragraph; new scene, couple of sentences, then break again; repeat throughout - that reads a bit like a cross between poetry and prose. And, though unusual, it’s actually quite effective in putting across a significant amount of years in a short space of time. You get a decent idea and understanding of their life together, a hinted-at depth and complexity of their relationship, through these snapshots.
There is one chapter though towards the end that is written traditionally - no breaks, staying in one scene from beginning to end - and it’s the best part of the book. It made me wish that Offill had written the whole thing that way because she’s clearly capable and talented enough to do that, and the novel might’ve been better.
Because as it is, though well-written, it just isn’t that interesting a story. I was never that taken with any of the characters or what was happening. It was all so very ordinary and unremarkable. I will almost certainly forget most of this very soon because nothing memorable or unique happens in the book and everything is merely touched upon in this fleeting style of storytelling to little or no impression.
The mental health episodes were somewhat striking in their intensity, the ghost-writing of the wannabe-astronaut’s book was slightly amusing, and the moments of conflict in the marriage were momentarily engaging. But I was waiting for more and didn’t get the desired substance at any point in the book. Dept. of Speculation (the title is an in-joke between the couple) is very much a slice-of-life story in that you get but a slice of these lives - and it’s not enough to satisfy.
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