Scan barcode
lgoldfish's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It's not a five star "can't put down the book, seamless plot, fully developed character and setting shebang, Time Traveler's Wife meets The Bible" but it is a great story. It's not just a great story, but Cohen has a very unique and detailed way of describing *everything* - a real gift for depicting social and emotional reality in a way I've never seen done before.
I might be biased. The book is about a young student with issues, and a single Math teacher with issues, and a Father/hero figure that loves to help. I also think it's regional- a city read more than a country read. Think city snark/emotional microcosm realm. A world is created. No grand generalizations about human existence here.
Or are there? :)
I might be biased. The book is about a young student with issues, and a single Math teacher with issues, and a Father/hero figure that loves to help. I also think it's regional- a city read more than a country read. Think city snark/emotional microcosm realm. A world is created. No grand generalizations about human existence here.
Or are there? :)
kimharper's review
challenging
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
azsunsetsy's review
4.0
This language is so beautifully complex. I'm not sure I've ever seen the normal complications of navigating ordinary life and relationships in such poetic form and syntax. It is a read to be sipped, not devoured too quickly. I related much to Esker's internal conflicts as a single woman, like a Woodland creature, wearing my camouflage.
maureenwk's review
3.0
Like many reviewers, I picked this up after seeing it mentioned by a character in American Dirt. I don't need a perfect, happy ending, but the ending of Heart, You Bully, You Punk seemed especially unfulfilling.
shelbymarie516's review
3.0
2.5 but rounded up
I can sort of see why the main character in American Dirt claims this as a favorite. But! I was so bored and trying to push through. It seemed mundane. Honestly at the end of the story I was just as confused and unfeeling.
I can sort of see why the main character in American Dirt claims this as a favorite. But! I was so bored and trying to push through. It seemed mundane. Honestly at the end of the story I was just as confused and unfeeling.
rleibrock's review
3.0
I picked up this book simply because I liked the title and walked away with a read that was overwhelmingly lovely and sad and rich with emotional nuance and all those literary nooks and crannies that can make a book so satisfying.
So why only three stars then? The ending. While I'm a big fan and supporter of unresolved and even unhappy endings this book's close made me feel as though I'd been cheated. Unresolved and unhappy endings work because they feel realistic--true to a character's form. Here, I felt as though our protagonist Esker simply made a loop--from point A at the beginning of the novel, around a circle of thought and action and right back to point A.
Maybe that is realistic but it left me feeling as though I'd gone on a journey with a character who, over the course of 200-plus pages, teased me with the idea of change but then never did.
The Esker we see at the beginning of the novel is the same Esker we see at the end--there was no internal change, there was no external display of movement.
Esker was simply Esker. Perhaps that is life, perhaps this is a moment where I should be more cynical and more accepting of such a reality. But when I got to the last paragraph of this book I felt unsatisfied--even as a person who is usually wary of contrived, sappy endings. As I read the last words of "Heart, You Bully, You Punk" I made a face and said, "Oh--boo, too bad."
So why only three stars then? The ending. While I'm a big fan and supporter of unresolved and even unhappy endings this book's close made me feel as though I'd been cheated. Unresolved and unhappy endings work because they feel realistic--true to a character's form. Here, I felt as though our protagonist Esker simply made a loop--from point A at the beginning of the novel, around a circle of thought and action and right back to point A.
Maybe that is realistic but it left me feeling as though I'd gone on a journey with a character who, over the course of 200-plus pages, teased me with the idea of change but then never did.
The Esker we see at the beginning of the novel is the same Esker we see at the end--there was no internal change, there was no external display of movement.
Esker was simply Esker. Perhaps that is life, perhaps this is a moment where I should be more cynical and more accepting of such a reality. But when I got to the last paragraph of this book I felt unsatisfied--even as a person who is usually wary of contrived, sappy endings. As I read the last words of "Heart, You Bully, You Punk" I made a face and said, "Oh--boo, too bad."