Book 60: The Angel of Forgetfulness, by Steve Stern

This book was the fall reading pick for the Litblog Co-Op. The book is told in three separate narratives that ultimately find themselves to be quite connected. The first story is that of Saul, tracing his hippy existence in the late '60s and early '70s up to his solitary life of the present day. Nathan's story goes a little further back, as he's a Jewish emigrant living in New York City around 1910. And finally, we have Mocky, an angel who chose to leave his heavenly existence to enjoy a relationship with a woman. We switch between these characters as we see various slices of their tales.

I really enjoyed the first portion of the book and the final section. It was the 200 pages or so in the middle that gave me some trouble. After getting thoroughly attached to the characters early on, both Saul and Nathan find themselves hitting hard times, and this part of the story was exceptionally difficult to read and dragged as far as tempo. I can't wholeheartedly recommend the book for this reason, but am intrigued and engaged by Stern as an author in general.