First Line: The Woman Who Lost Her Soul

The first line of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacohis is

During the final days of the occupation, there was an American woman in Haiti, a photojournalist -- blonde, young, infuriating -- and she became Thomas Harrington's obsession.

This book is a big book, a long book and I enjoyed it.  Anthony Burgess once wrote that the novelist can not resist the temptation to try and play God by writing a big book. If that is true, then the God who created this novel is neither benign not omnipotent. Having said that, I do recommend the book to fans of serious books.

A word about long books. Emily Temple created a listicle in 2020 in which she suggested what might be the 50 best contemporary novels over 500 pages. In her introduction, she wrote:

Personally, I find solace in long novels. The good ones always seem to create space for the reader: space to sink and settle, and time to really learn what you’re dealing with, both in terms of character and in terms of author. You have to build something, reading a really long book. It’s almost a collaborative experience. So if you’re looking for a long-term relationship with a book right now, you couldn’t do much better than the books below.

Temple's list can be found here.