THE KEEP is more than one story. Because I am always so careful not to listen to a possible spoilers before I read a novel, I wasn’t expecting this, and I had to reread some paragraphs to understand it at first. But once I got it, I enjoyed it so much! It is such a different book from any other I’ve read.

There’s the story of Danny, who has come to a castle in an unnamed country in Europe at the request of its owner, his cousin Howard. So much about his presence there is unknown to Danny, and he is paranoid and afraid of Howard's plans for him.

There’s an old woman living on the castle grounds, in the keep. Danny meets her at one point but has trouble deciding whether she was just a dream.

Suddenly another story begins in first person. This is the story of Ray, a prisoner, and his writing teacher, Holly. Danny’s story is Ray’s creation.

I never did understand the usefulness of the style that Jennifer Egan uses: no quotation marks. Why? When authors do that, write with no quotation marks so the reader can’t tell where a quotation begins and where it ends, I resent it. The author is being rude and hindering readability. Heck, why not go all the way and get rid of periods?

But could she have left out quotation marks to differentiate her style from the fictional Ray's? Maybe Ray writes that way.

Then there is the story of Holly. Now Egan uses quotation marks. Because now it her style, not Ray's? Maybe someone smarter than I am understands why she didn’t and now she does.

In the end I felt like I was left hanging with unresolved issues. Yet, I still rate this book highly for its originality and for making me anxious to read it.