The Incendiaries

Not your typical campus novel. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Girl joins religious cult. This is a novel about faith, one protagonist grapples with having given up his faith, while the other flees to faith in order to make amends.

The language is poetic and experimental, sometimes I had to reread sentences making sure they were even proper sentences (verdict still out). Of the three perspectives Will's is the strongest, as we're really in his head. While the other two are Will's attempt at reconstructing their voices. John Leal's parts - even though they were short - felt superfluous to me, as they soon turned into religious ramblings disconnected from the narrative.

The introduction of college rape culture into the plot was poignant, as it was somewhat downplayed by us seeing it through Will's eyes. Even though the book makes interesting points about exploitation and radicalisation of believers, I think the offhand “nice guy” turn will stay in my mind a bit longer.

3.5 (rounded up)