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mcearl12's review against another edition
4.0
I really don't understand what caused people to give this book subpar reviews. Perhaps it's a generational bias. I loved it, it felt real and true and honest and complicated...like life. It spoke to me, plain and simple, and I empathized with husband, wife, daughter, parents, and author. This being the first of Mr. Russo's books that I've read, I'm excited to read others. Just a great read!
anniewill's review against another edition
4.0
Another novel by Russo that I adored. I find myself, once again, thinking about the characters after I read the final page. I would have loved to have the perspective of Joy, the main character's wife as well---just to understand Jack Griffin a bit more.
mschrock8's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of chuckles as Griff too some mis-steps and figured out his life.
Listening length nine hr, 10 min
Listening length nine hr, 10 min
babyruth510's review against another edition
4.0
This was not my favorite Russo novel but its still a good one. While the story of a middle-age professor in the midst of a mid-life crisis is not necessarily the most compelling read, Russo's characters are well-developed and realistic that this makes for a good read. I read that this was originally intended as a short story which would explain the uncharateristic short length (257 pages). There could have been more, especially at the end.
sparklethenpop's review against another edition
3.0
It pains me to give a Richard Russo book 3 stars but it took me forever to get through this one. This book was a love story and a story about family, the plot moved along but the characters weren't like the characters that I've come to love from Russo. I'm used to seeing towns and families through many different and well developed eyes. In this story, the plot was shown just through the eyes of Griffin. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great.
krobart's review against another edition
2.0
I found this novel disappointing compared to other Russo books I have read. Griffin isn't very likeable, nor are his parents, although we have some evidence to believe that Griffin is an unreliable narrator. Griffin seems to be clueless about many things about his own life, including that he has turned into the parents he so despised.
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/that-old-cape-magic/
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/that-old-cape-magic/
erincataldi's review against another edition
1.0
I picked up this book after one of the ladies in my book club said (and I quote), "It was the best book I ever read." Wow, I thought, with a glowing recommendation like that, it's got to be good! Not exactly.
Too be fair, Richard Russo has written a lot of other books (none of which I've read) and won a Pulitzer prize, so I know he's a good author. And this book was well written. But.... I still didn't like it. At all. I couldn't relate with the characters, I didn't care about their struggles, I felt nothing.In fact, I kept forgetting that the main character was in his fifties (maybe sixties...), he felt too young to me. But I digress. It was written well, developed well, told well, it just didn't click with me. I really did want to like it. And there were moments when I laughed out loud (the wedding rehearsal dinner at the end is quite hilarious).
To dumb down the plot, it's basically about a husband going through a late midlife crisis who can't decide what he wants out of life. Does he prove his miserable parents right or wrong? Does he leave Joy and go back out to LA to screen-write or stay with her in Maine and keep his teaching position? Whose opinion is more important: his, his wife's, or his parents?
For fans of literature or Richard Russo.
Too be fair, Richard Russo has written a lot of other books (none of which I've read) and won a Pulitzer prize, so I know he's a good author. And this book was well written. But.... I still didn't like it. At all. I couldn't relate with the characters, I didn't care about their struggles, I felt nothing.In fact, I kept forgetting that the main character was in his fifties (maybe sixties...), he felt too young to me. But I digress. It was written well, developed well, told well, it just didn't click with me. I really did want to like it. And there were moments when I laughed out loud (the wedding rehearsal dinner at the end is quite hilarious).
To dumb down the plot, it's basically about a husband going through a late midlife crisis who can't decide what he wants out of life. Does he prove his miserable parents right or wrong? Does he leave Joy and go back out to LA to screen-write or stay with her in Maine and keep his teaching position? Whose opinion is more important: his, his wife's, or his parents?
For fans of literature or Richard Russo.
toniclark's review against another edition
2.0
I finished it. Wouldn't recommend. I know I should read Empire Falls. Have heard so much about Russo. But this one just didn't grab me.
cdale8's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed reading this more for it's navel gazing about relationships with one's parents, and particularly how their world views and attitudes sort of stick with you and chatter at you behind the scenes in your adult life. I want to give another half star for the mysterious interpretations of the Browning summer -- was the narrator remembering the events of those two weeks and the members of the family correctly, or the narrator's mom? Such a small item in the grand scheme of this character's life, really, but it feels so important to understand just whose perspective is being manipulated and why. As readers, we'll just never know...