The Cannibal Galaxy, by Cynthia Ozick

Having read and delighted in Cynthia Ozick's Heir to the Glimmering World, I thought I would pick up another of her books to give a look. Ozick has been fairly prolific both in the realms of fiction and non-fiction, and The Cannibal Galaxy, published in 1983, was her first full-scale novel in 17 years. It's an exceptionally erudite book (as was Heir to the Glimmering World), but I really didn't find myself connecting with it until the final 30 or so pages. I was ready to give the book a C until that point, frankly.

It's certainly not that Ozick isn't a skilled and thoughtful writer. Her ideas and concepts can be daunting, in fact. Still, I appreciate her sharp wit. The problem is that this time around, it feels like Ozick is poking fun at her very readers, and not in a nice way. Perhaps I'm wrong and her real target is faux-intellectuals who have no real desire to grow and develop, but it didn't feel that way. Even so, since I sometimes feel as she does in certain regards, I understood.