Joan Silber Writes Triumphantly In "Improvemet!" But Her Narrative Structure Is Off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                "Improvement" is about the lives and relationships of two women--Reyna, a single mother, raising her son, Oliver, in New York, and her aunt, Kiki, living there now, but who had a wild past in Istanbul and Turkey.

                                  Joan Silber tries to bring these two times together.  Her prose is stunning as always, but the blending is not too successful.  This is one of those novels where it cannot be decided if it is novel or a series of short stories strung together.

                                    My feeling is it was the latter.  Characters come and go too quickly for readers to connect, and it seems like the author is in a rush to finish the novel itself.

                                    There is nothing wrong with a book being short.  But there has to be some kind of structure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      Joan Silber's "Improvement" almost makes it!  But it is a very near miss!!!!!!!!