The Lost Empress

What’s it about?
This novel takes in the world of professional football, Rikers Island, the medical world, and everything in-between.  Nina Gill is the main protagonist.  She is the daughter of the aging owner of the Dallas Cowboys- and Nina is a football whiz.  Her brother outmaneuvers her for control of the team and her response is to beat him at his own game.  She launches her indoor arena team as an alternative to the NFL.  So begins the action.

What did it make me think about?
This is a partial review because I only made it to page 200.  Mr. De La Pava is a fine writer and this book got mixed reviews.  People seemed to either love it or hate it.  Maybe it was the mood I was in but I just couldn’t read more than 10 pages read without being annoyed with this book.  After 200 pages I felt like the author was SO pretentious…  This book seemed intent on showing the reader how smart, sophisticated, and glib he was.    How many paragraphs can you read like this-“For four years he impressed no one; but while that failure to impress certainly impressed him, evidence of sound ambient judgement is at least mildly impressive, the fact that his failure to impress made no lasting impression only served to impress upon him how wildly unimpressive the whole enterprise was.”I couldn’t take it anymore.

Should I read it?
I kept thinking if I continued I could have liked this one- but I was so annoyed I quit anyway.  This may have been a good one to read with a group and discuss.  I could still be convinced this book has merit- but on my own I just did not like it.  I finally decided the pain of reading it wasn’t worth any type of reward at the end.  I am open to being convinced…..
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Quote–
“Dia has not heretofore been a connoisseur of notes, mostly just listened to whatever the radio deemed worthy of audition.  Only now is it beginning to dauyn on her what a greave error this has been.  Not that she’s engaged in a clinical dissection of keys and modes and theory, just her almost reptilian response to visceral pleasure.”