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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
I gave up after 100 pages of excessive navel gazing. Could NOT get interested in the main character or care what happened next.
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i mean he’s less terrible than in the sportswriter, so that’s nice, but generally he’s still unpleasant. like he’s all ‘i wonder why my kids are insane’ and it’s like take a look in the mirror buddy, jesus h. i know that i’m supposed to feel frustrated by him but it’s just so unpleasant. obviously some merit though bc i keep on reading abt him. ugh
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed this quiet, simple book. Frank Bascombe is a great narrator that I found myself identifying with more often than not.
There were some racial underpinnings that made me uncomfortable at times and that I don't think fit the timeframe of the book very well.
There were some racial underpinnings that made me uncomfortable at times and that I don't think fit the timeframe of the book very well.
This book: yet another Pulitzer begging the question “Why did this earn the Pulitzer?”
What made this book the best? I couldn’t tell you.
The book started to get better toward the end (except the part where, he’s in the ER checking out the doctor who is helping his son). But I’m not sure if the nook got better, I got numb to it, or I just got so excited I was finally going to be done with it.
It’s the second in a series. I didn’t read the first. But the whiny narrator isn’t one I’d care to hear more from.
What made this book the best? I couldn’t tell you.
The book started to get better toward the end (except the part where, he’s in the ER checking out the doctor who is helping his son). But I’m not sure if the nook got better, I got numb to it, or I just got so excited I was finally going to be done with it.
It’s the second in a series. I didn’t read the first. But the whiny narrator isn’t one I’d care to hear more from.
Thank goodness I've finally finished it. It's well written but sooo long! I do not agree with other readers who described it as self indulgent. I think it offers some good perspectives on the human condition. But unlike the reviews, I did not find it at all humorous. So 3 stars because of length.
Read my full review here: http://thepulitzerblog.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/entry-72-independence-day-by-richard-ford-1996/
In some ways, Ford's second Bascombe book picks up the torch of minutae lit in the first sentences of The Sportswriter. Four hundred plus pages are spent on a holiday weekend (Independence Day, of course... The Sportswriter was based around Easter week). The plot is driven by introspection, memory, and Ford's remarkable attention to detail. The monsters are far from enormous or mythical- a small crime spree in a used-to-be-safe town of Haddam, a new and wildly successful husband of Frank's ex-wife Ann (she gets a name in this novel!), the trials of the housing market, the inability to allow oneself to risk romantic relationships, and the troubled adolescence of a (frustratingly) beloved son. A weekend of events in what Frank calls the "Existence Period".
Ford provides a desire to follow the stories of what many writers would pen as tertiary (at best) characters- Phyllis and Joe Markham (flailing ex-Vermonters searching for the right home), Sally (Frank's partner in a romance who must be well past ready for him to decide just what the hell he wants), Ira (a long forgotten step-brother who embodies grace in the face of fear), and Ann (the ex-wife easily shelved if Ford didn't care so much about how the past affects the present).
It is the story of Paul Bascombe, the son last seen as a small and kind boy, now deeply troubled, that turns Independence Day into a true masterpiece. The stories of the father-son road trip to the Basketball and Baseball Hall of Fame, reaching a head at Paul's nonsensical tailspin of a choice, are in my opinion, absolutely brilliant.
Richard Ford won't be in this book (and likely never is) everyone's cup of tea. One has to be very invested in the subtle and the small to claim him as a favorite author. But for a real slice of life amidst a current (2017) tide of fantasy, read on!
Ford provides a desire to follow the stories of what many writers would pen as tertiary (at best) characters- Phyllis and Joe Markham (flailing ex-Vermonters searching for the right home), Sally (Frank's partner in a romance who must be well past ready for him to decide just what the hell he wants), Ira (a long forgotten step-brother who embodies grace in the face of fear), and Ann (the ex-wife easily shelved if Ford didn't care so much about how the past affects the present).
It is the story of Paul Bascombe, the son last seen as a small and kind boy, now deeply troubled, that turns Independence Day into a true masterpiece. The stories of the father-son road trip to the Basketball and Baseball Hall of Fame, reaching a head at Paul's nonsensical tailspin of a choice, are in my opinion, absolutely brilliant.
Richard Ford won't be in this book (and likely never is) everyone's cup of tea. One has to be very invested in the subtle and the small to claim him as a favorite author. But for a real slice of life amidst a current (2017) tide of fantasy, read on!
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes