Reviews

Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley

book_chimpmunk's review

3.0

Felt that this book was hard to get through and I'm a huge Jane Smiley fan.

kimdeitzler's review

1.0

I'm not too far into this, and already it is becomming tiresome. I usually love Jane Smiley (A Thousand Acres is one of my favorite books) but this one just isn't grabbing me. The characters are shallow and cliche, and the sex scenes are numerous and uninteresting. I don't think I'll go much further...

marie_gg's review

I've tried twice to get into this book and am now giving up! The reviews don't encourage me...

enelvee's review

1.0

Oh my good lord. The reviews I'd read on this book were, um, unglowing. I forged on, undaunted because of my love of Jane Smiley and my even bigger love of the Decameron.

Oh my good lord. What an unreadable book. Pages and pages and pages and pages and pages and pages of a middle aged couple in bed. Graphic pages.

Now, I am no prude, and I understand plot development, but oh my good lord. This is just crap, and a disservice to the Decameron.

Jane Smiley owes me money and an apology.

robynryle's review

3.0

I read a review of this long before I read the book that criticized Jane Smiley's discussion of sex. I agree in the sense that there's nothing very realistic (from my experiences, at least) about the sex in this book. And it's somewhat weird reading about sex in a Jane Smily book. That aside, the book grew on me. It felt in the end like an Indian novel, like A Suitable Boy, in that it's long, not a whole lot happens, but you become very cozy with the characters. And I liked the backdrop of the Iraq War. I don't remember enough about the Decameron to say how it compares, but overall, an enjoyable experience.

dcmr's review

1.0

Too long, too wandering, too much effort.

valerief's review

3.0

Funny satire of modern-day Hollywood. At times keeping track of all characters is a challenge, but interesting plot.

robgreig's review against another edition

medium-paced

1.75

stenaros's review

4.0

Unlike Celebutantes, this is an enjoyable novel of the Hollywood world. I enjoyed the plot device Smiley used to keep nine people in the same house for ten days, as well as the various characters. There is a lot of sex in this book and I found the scenes well written, much better than your average romance novel. The book is nice and thick, it makes fabulous beach read material.

anatomydetective's review against another edition

3.0

I probably should have read the Decameron before I read this so I had a point of reference. I feel like I will have to return and write a real review after I do so, but I didn't hate this novel as much as most people did.