Oblivion is the story of how a family (namely mother and husband) is coping with the death of a woman. At least, part of the story is. The middle half of this book is actually a play, written by a woman Andrew, the husband of the dead woman, is interviewing. Andrew goes to a reading of this play, which is made up of the monologues of dead people. The premise of the play is that it is not when people die that they disappear, rather that when we stop remembering them is when they slip into oblivion
If any author should have the prose to deal with subjects like death, love and oblivion, it is Josephine Hart. But reading this book is like listening to discordant music that you think you are meant to like - you try to find something in this to enjoy, but realise by the end that it was just annoying, and trying too hard to be clever. The play in the middle of the book simply does not work. There are no characters in this book that you can truly empathise with. The writing is spare, but not elegant, as in other Hart books (Damage is an example that comes to mind). Rather, every sentence feels like a stilted, over-written construction.

I don't expect to enjoy a book to rate it highly (if that makes sense), but when that is the case, I do want what I read to move me. Oblivion, despite the fascinating topic and previously proven skill of the author, did not move me in the slightest. It was simply a very boring book. ( )