PositiveThe RumpusThe scenes shift fluidly over and over again from the current timeline to adolescent memories and reflections on koans (Zen Buddhist riddles). Nicole’s answers to her New York friend’s questions take the story back in time to a cross-country road trip, teenaged fumbling on a basement couch, or the temple room of an Asian art exhibit. They’re admissions, confessions, and Hurley has a remarkably deft manner of overlapping different points in Nicole’s life from one paragraph to another. By the end of the book, you’ll have gone through several crucial events in the lead character’s life without feeling disoriented by the speed at which it happens ... Hurley breathes life into winter nights in the Common, into the run-down apartment buildings near Boston University, into the kitschy streets of central Waltham ... each sidewalk in her childhood home resonates with her memories ... Her struggle could not be simpler and more complicated at once: what do you do when you meet the Buddha on the road? ... The Devoted is a personal journey ... Hurley leaves you thinking and sorting through feelings long after her final page.
