"Frog Music"......Ribbit, Ribbit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       "Frog Music," Emma Donoghue's latest novel, was not at all what I had hoped for, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  After "Room" being so compelling, and her earlier "Slammerkin" so haunting, I expected "Frog Music" to sweep me off my feet!  With its 19th Century San Francisco setting, prostitution, and the whole basis for it being a real life unsolved murder, there was much for me to anticipate.  I was hardly expecting the Novel Of The Year, but maybe the Novel Of The Season.  Alas, alas.

                                          Because she insists on writing in a non-linear style, going back and forth in time, randomly, it takes awhile for the reader to establish the situation Donoghue is trying to set up.  This is one reason why "Frog Music" did not grab me, until the last third of the book, when I had everything in place, and could get a handle on where it all was going.  But it should not take that long to get there, and the novel is not that long, at well under 500 pages.

                                             Consequently, I was kept at a distance--from story and characters.  There are any number of gorgeous passages and historical detail that demonstrates Donoghue has not lost her skill as a writer; what she seems to have lost here is a way of structuring her work that would draw the reader in quicker--as need be.  As a follower of Donoghue's work, I could afford to be patient and understanding--that, and the fact that there is hardly a book I do NOT finish---but others out there may not be as patient as I.

                                                 "Frog Music" is strictly for Donoghue devotees, who will even come away slightly disappointed. Her next work had better catch fire, otherwise she might find herself in the position of being a written who has been written out, or written off--by readers refusing to read any more of her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!