An Un-Calibrated Centrifuge

I read this book in one day in about three big chunks (~100 pages each). As I started it, I was reading the blurbs on the book. Augusten Burroughs wrote that "it will help to complete you" which... melodramatic much, Burroughs? But the story is good and will make you turn the pages. I don't know how well it would hold up with rereading. There were several times Julia felt the weight of her emotions and the term ironically is used several times throughout the book (always incorrectly). I have a sneaking suspicion more repetitions and other mistakes will be more apparent if I ever reread Sarah's Key.

I did enjoy the book. It covers some history I had no idea about. The ending feels like a bit of a let down and having read the author's notes in the back of the book I wish she had written the whole thing as historical fiction. I'm a huge sucker for novels with parallel storylines - one historical, one contemporary, but Sarah's Key might have worked better if the story had simply concentrated on Sarah. And that would have also gotten rid of the whole "are these flashbacks strictly necessary?" question I kept asking myself as I was reading them. I think the flashbacks are probably the best part of the book but they feel a little Coral's Death-y* to me.

*Finding Nemo directory's commentary reference: basically if you're going to use flashbacks those flashbacks should end with a twist of some sort rather than just telling the audience something they already know/figured out.