{"id":11869,"date":"2026-03-17T19:34:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=11869"},"modified":"2026-03-17T19:34:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:34:39","slug":"best-so-funny-clever-continue-reading-below-first-c0mment%f0%9f%91%87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=11869","title":{"rendered":"Best So Funny \u2013 Clever\u2026.Continue Reading Below first c0mment\ud83d\udc47"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"60\" data-end=\"307\">The reviewer was excited to read <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Tessa Hadley<\/span><\/span>\u2019s novel about an ordinary woman, Stella. Told in ten chapters from childhood to middle age, it captures her life and the late 20th century with vivid detail and strong imagery.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"309\" data-end=\"580\">The first page introduces Stella\u2019s childhood in the 1950s and her absent father, but the story often reveals future knowledge early, reducing suspense. Each chapter centers on a man influencing her life, and Stella lacks a clear goal, making the narrative feel unfocused.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"582\" data-end=\"813\">Although themes like fear, shame, and missed potential are realistic, Stella rarely struggles or grows. Obstacles resolve too easily, and her life seems shaped by chance rather than choice, which weakens drama and emotional impact.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"815\" data-end=\"1051\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">While the book has strengths\u2014sharp descriptions, relatable moments, and an interesting structure\u2014it feels like a series of events rather than a cohesive story. Adding stronger purpose and tension could have made it much more compelling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The reviewer was excited to read Tessa Hadley\u2019s novel about an ordinary woman, Stella. Told in ten chapters from childhood to middle age, it captures <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=11869\" title=\"Best So Funny \u2013 Clever\u2026.Continue Reading Below first c0mment\ud83d\udc47\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11871,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11869\/revisions\/11871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}