Let me begin this by saying that I bought this book many years ago from London, but it took me multiple attempts to actually finish it. Because I imagine one's appreciation of
‘ Until I Find You’ will depend on large part an ability to get through the first couple hundred pages, which mainly consist of a mother and Jack, her four-year-old son, traveling to various Scandinavian churches and tattoo parlors in search of the boy's father. The true story of Jack's father, and how the man's absence ultimately contributed to flaws in the son's character, is the main focus of the book, but oh gosh does it take a long time to get there.
In the meantime we're treated to an exhaustive account of Jack's childhood and schooling consisting of, in no particular order, humiliation, wrestling, molestation, and sex with much older women, continuing through to his career as an actor and his odd relationship with an older girl who in many ways is the love of his life. While the story took awhile to get moving, I love the direction it finally took. I really appreciated how we, as readers, are nearly as blind as Jack is until he finally discovers the truth.
Finally, there is a satisfaction with the novel when we finally step away and view the completed puzzle. “Until I Find You” has a good puzzle, playing with the perspective of youth versus maturity. But my final thought of this book is that at 822 pages, it simply ran on too long. I can only handle about 500-600 pages of sharp wit and irony and overly clever people and/or in their dialog.
