If Sestanovich’s thematic ambitions are broad — the meaning of life, the coherence of identity, the possibility of principles — her language is cuttingly precise ... While Sestanovich’s reach sometimes exceeds her grasp, it’s reaching that she’s more curious about anyway.
Each of these elements makes sense intellectually — the novel is insistently concerned with different ways of being "of use" to the world — but the proportions are off ... Sestanovich can be wonderfully observant about sexual dynamics, as in an exactingly described round of post-breakup sexting and a surprising election-night hookup; and, as in her stories, her protagonists’ palpable disappointment with the world is endearing, even if its source isn’t always clear. But on the scale of a novel, the author’s hesitancy becomes unsatisfying. There’s a failure to commit to plotlines and characters, a skittish abandonment of deeper engagement at key moments.
When a novel, like this one, is light on plot or narrative tension, the protagonist’s voice and character must carry the story. That’s what makes Ask Me Again so frustrating ... Sometimes the narrative voice’s simplicity opens the world in a wonderfully fresh way ... Often, however, that simplicity comes across as too juvenile and naïve for Eva’s age and urban upbringing ... If the Eva-Jamie relationship is supposed to be the fulcrum of this coming-of-age story, the reader needs to see a lot more of Jamie ... There are... two other Evas, the perceptive Eva and the infantile Eva. On balance, it’s worth reading Ask Me Again for the flashes of the first Eva.
While readers hungry for plot and resolution may be left unsatisfied, Sestanovich captivates with her distinctive characterizations... and insights into the reverberating consequences of a gap between one's intentions and one's actions. The result is an intelligent exploration of lives in the making.
Part of the pleasure of this novel is the care Sestanovich takes to explore her characters' motivations as their lives take unpredictable turns, such as Eva's post-college internship at a Washington, D.C., newspaper, or the extremes to which Jamie goes in rejecting his family's wealth, extremes that include joining Occupy Wall Street and getting involved with an unconventional church. Further complicating relations are Eli, Eva's boyfriend from college who gets a job with a U.S. senator, and Jess, a rising star in Congress with whom Eva develops a close friendship. Like the novels of Elif Batuman, Ask Me Again follows 20-something urbanites through the vicissitudes of love and career. If not as tightly written as Sestanovich's short stories, the novel is an insightful portrait of the challenges of anxious young lives.
