The Half Life of Stars by Louise Wener

I’ve been working my way through Louise Wener’s novels and I have reached her third “The Half Life of Stars”. It’s been interesting to chart her development as a writer. In many ways her third novel is a more ambitious story than either of her first two books, although there are some thematic similarities; Claire’s search for her missing brother Daniel could almost be an echo of Audrey’s search for her missing father in The Big Blind.

However one of the most striking differences is Wener’s growing confidence with dialogue. The conversational flow in this novel is excellent, and I really enjoyed the voice that Wener gives to Claire, her main protagonist, which is spiky, awkward and belligerent. I loved the character’s ability to deal with the cruel and dismissive put-downs from her dysfunctional family, which made me root for her all the more. The plotting within the novel is also well-handled with a host of seemingly disconnected plot threads becoming slowly intertwined and eventually resolved.

The American section of the novel is particularly powerful and I loved the descriptions of the scenery, the way of life, and the acutely-observed details with which Wener weaves a rich tapestry.

The characterisation is really strong, and despite the reasonably large cast there is a clear differentiation between the various characters. I enjoyed the pace of her writing, and found that I had quickly devoured the book without being aware of the passage of time.

If I have any criticism it’s probably directed towards the epilogue which I simply found too long. Although it’s very cleverly done, my feeling is that it would have been much more powerful at a quarter of the length. Sometimes less can be more.

However overall I found this to be both readable and satisfying, which seems a good balance.