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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was so hard for me to rate this book. I settled on using the CAWPILE method just to take the subjectivity out of it. I loved the writing (unsurprised - I had already read The Great Believers) and I adore Makkai's ability to write human insight, experience, and just her craft - she can write a GREAT paragraph. But the absurdity of the story, my inability to buy this 26 yr old female and her ability to be duped by everyone, and at the same time her inability to connect with anyone beyond a 10 yr old boy who's story she is writing herself rather than asking him...well...
My final takeaway - a favorite writer of mine (brilliant if you ask me) and not their best work. Or at least, not for me.
The paragraph on books, though, is worth the price of admission!!!!!!
My final takeaway - a favorite writer of mine (brilliant if you ask me) and not their best work. Or at least, not for me.
The paragraph on books, though, is worth the price of admission!!!!!!
I really wanted to like this book. But in the end.. I didn't.. at least not as much as I expected.
My main problem with it is its length. It could have been way shorter. The author kept describing things, kept narrating random information about the protagonist, about her father, about locations and I just couldn't care that much.
The resolution to the whole thing was fine and acceptable. It fit with the whole narrative and the stakes applied.
In the end, the idea was interesting and felt it could give me a unique reading experience but unfortunately didn't. Don't know if I would recommend it.
My main problem with it is its length. It could have been way shorter. The author kept describing things, kept narrating random information about the protagonist, about her father, about locations and I just couldn't care that much.
The resolution to the whole thing was fine and acceptable. It fit with the whole narrative and the stakes applied.
In the end, the idea was interesting and felt it could give me a unique reading experience but unfortunately didn't. Don't know if I would recommend it.
I really didn’t get this book… Lucy’s motive for “kidnapping” one of the young patrons at her library was interesting (she wants to “save” him from his ultra-conservative parents who send him to a conversion camp because she feels like she could have prevented her gay friend from high school from committing suicide , but didn’t feel well developed or addressed and certainly got fewer pages than her father’s shady connections .
Should have DNFed.
Sourced: library list of bookish books
Should have DNFed.
Sourced: library list of bookish books
Forget that that the book is decidedly liberal. Forget that it's anti-George Dubya Bush. Forget that it's pretty much anti-evangelical. A librarian should not be so obsessed with a 10-year-old boy and her infatuation with the boy starts the book out on the creepy foot.
Everyone has decided from the get-go that poor 10-year-old Ian Drake is bound to become some kind of homosexual including his parents. So Ian goes to anti-gay classes and Russian-American librarian Lucy Hull (Hulkinov) wants to SAVE Ian!
Problem is, Lucy's not a very interesting character. She tries to convince us she is, but she's really not. (I finished the book only because it was a book club selection.) Lucy's obsession with Ian, however, hits a high point when she and Ian hit the road from Hannibal, Missouri and drive across the country to Vermont with stops in Chicago and Pittsburgh. They somehow kidnap each other except what happens along the way isn't really all that interesting. Somewhat interesting characters like Glenn, Lucy's sort-of boyfriend, and Rocky Walters (readers are unsure of Lucy's romantic status with him) are dropped in, only to be disposed of thoughtlessly by the end of the book. To be honest, I wasn't sure what Glenn added to the story except for a twist during one scene.
Lucy makes it all the way to Vermont with Ian and how will she and Ian get back to Missouri? Well, she put him on a Greyhound bus with some reliable, former ex-KGB operative. Lucy, however, decides to hightail it back to Chicago where her parents live and loaf around for a while, leaving her job in Hannibal as a children's librarian. Lucy learns she can't change Ian, and I think the road trip was a symbolic journey that was supposed to change her, and it somewhat does, but as a reader, I don't care. I am not invested in Lucy. Her father is an interesting character, but Lucy herself is not as interesting.
I guess this is a long enough review. There were some good parts to the book (I'd give it 2.5 stars), but the ending was disappointing to me, especially since Lucy technically didn't have to own up to anything or face any consequences for her actions. (The beginning didn't capture me either.) It might have made for a more interesting book if she'd confronted Ian's parents, but that's just me.
Everyone has decided from the get-go that poor 10-year-old Ian Drake is bound to become some kind of homosexual including his parents. So Ian goes to anti-gay classes and Russian-American librarian Lucy Hull (Hulkinov) wants to SAVE Ian!
Problem is, Lucy's not a very interesting character. She tries to convince us she is, but she's really not. (I finished the book only because it was a book club selection.) Lucy's obsession with Ian, however, hits a high point when she and Ian hit the road from Hannibal, Missouri and drive across the country to Vermont with stops in Chicago and Pittsburgh. They somehow kidnap each other except what happens along the way isn't really all that interesting. Somewhat interesting characters like Glenn, Lucy's sort-of boyfriend, and Rocky Walters (readers are unsure of Lucy's romantic status with him) are dropped in, only to be disposed of thoughtlessly by the end of the book. To be honest, I wasn't sure what Glenn added to the story except for a twist during one scene.
Lucy makes it all the way to Vermont with Ian and how will she and Ian get back to Missouri? Well, she put him on a Greyhound bus with some reliable, former ex-KGB operative. Lucy, however, decides to hightail it back to Chicago where her parents live and loaf around for a while, leaving her job in Hannibal as a children's librarian. Lucy learns she can't change Ian, and I think the road trip was a symbolic journey that was supposed to change her, and it somewhat does, but as a reader, I don't care. I am not invested in Lucy. Her father is an interesting character, but Lucy herself is not as interesting.
I guess this is a long enough review. There were some good parts to the book (I'd give it 2.5 stars), but the ending was disappointing to me, especially since Lucy technically didn't have to own up to anything or face any consequences for her actions. (The beginning didn't capture me either.) It might have made for a more interesting book if she'd confronted Ian's parents, but that's just me.
loved this so much
the whole time i was just like HOW is she possibly gonna get out of this
the ending made me really sad for her though, to basically have no one in her life. do we really believe rocky wasn't really her friend at all? and of course, i do like to believe ian will turn out alright, especially with what she gave him, but boy is it bleak with a family like that
ALSO does anyone know she references a few book endings (pride and prejudice, great gatsby) and one of them was "we went and watched a girl ride the merry-go-round in central park" and i didn't know what book that was
the whole time i was just like HOW is she possibly gonna get out of this
the ending made me really sad for her though, to basically have no one in her life. do we really believe rocky wasn't really her friend at all? and of course, i do like to believe ian will turn out alright, especially with what she gave him, but boy is it bleak with a family like that
ALSO does anyone know she references a few book endings (pride and prejudice, great gatsby) and one of them was "we went and watched a girl ride the merry-go-round in central park" and i didn't know what book that was