I had no expectations going into this read and found it complex and multi-layered... and fascinating. In the novel we meet four women (one woman four times?) across four different timelines and geographical locations and it is very complicated. When you have narration by the various Ada's, and also narration by another being who is sometimes a passport, or a door knocker, or a room... you know that this is not your typical novel. In places I felt so lost I wasn't sure how it could become a coherent story. In the end I'm not sure it was truly coherent anyways. The path along the way was so thrilling and interesting that I was willing to just go with it, and I'm glad I read it. Ada's Room is a testimony to identity and its complexity and I blew through it wanting to figure out where it would go next. 3.5 stars rounded up for pure audacity.

A beautifully written story of four women named Ada across many centuries, bound by tragedy and proximity to a bracelet. There is also an undefined entity that acts as witness to each of their lives as a series of inanimate objects. The women's stories are compelling, but ultimately the story doesn't hold together well as the role of the bracelet is never well defined, nor is the role of the entity.