It surely says something about me that I enjoy books whose protagonists struggle to keep their regrets and disappointments at bay. I like to think of myself as having a fairly optimistic outlook, but my literary tastes suggest an undercurrent of dissatisfaction.
You Remind Me of Me alternates between three characters who suspect their lives could have been better. The relationship between them is revealed gradually: a young mother and her two sons, one of whom she gave up for adoption. The most interesting character is Jonah, the son who stayed with his mother. As a young adult, he tracks down his adopted half-brother in the hopes of learning how his life might have turned out.
I discovered the author Dan Chaon a couple of years ago when Evelyn gave me his most recent novel, Await Your Reply, for Christmas. Like You Remind Me of Me, Await Your Reply is concerned with questions of personal identity. The books are similarly constructed too, with separate stories that slowly come together. (Chaon started as a story writer.)
Chaon's writing style is quietly vivid and his characterizations nicely subtle. His books will stand up to re-reading, because the complexity of the characters is more important than the surprises of the plot.
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