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katko123's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most touching, wise and beautifully written books I have had an honour to read. Its a kind of book that should be discussed in classrooms and at family´s dining table.
mishka_espey's review against another edition
1.0
Ordinary Grace. One of the greatest literary cons of our time. You heard it here first. Now, from the outset this book seems to have everything going for it. Tasteful, vintage cover art. The prominent stamp of the Edgar Award. Gushing accolades from the likes of Dennis Lehane. Banner of a New York Times bestseller. Allusions from critics to the likes of To Kill a Mockingbird. Predictions like "destined to be hailed as a classic work of literature." In what has now become my refrain when picking up new books, stubbornly naïve as I am, I found myself thinking, what could go wrong?
Set in small-town New Bremen, Minnesota in the summer of '61, Ordinary Grace is the coming-of-age tale of 13-year-old Frank Drum, the son of a Methodist pastor and a wildly artistic mother with the voice of an angel. Over the span of one summer, Frank and his stuttering kid brother, Jake, experience a crippling wave of deaths and tragedies in their community that force them to discover together the "awful grace of God."
Does the synopsis sounds familiar? There's a reason for that. Do you find yourself recalling titles from your high school reading list like To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Sawyer, East of Eden, or My Antonia? There's a reason for that, too. Ordinary Grace rips pages out of various timeless classics and patches them all together again to create something Krueger hopes readers will mistake as his own. Frank Drum's saintly father looks far too much like Mockingbird's Atticus, and once you realize that, it's easy to see that Frank himself is just Jem Finch in disguise. There's all the southern spunk and tomboy fun of Tom Sawyer, the gritty undertones of Steinbeck's East of Eden, and plot twists I didn't even enjoy when Willa Cather used them. There is scant little about this book that Krueger can in good conscience call original content.
The reason Ordinary Grace feels so much like a classic is because it steals everything that remotely smells like Pulitzer material from those classics that have already been canonized and throws it all together into one giant melting pot of tropes and contrivances. In that sense, I suppose you could in fairness call it an American classic.
And may I quickly just add that the prose itself was positively nauseating? Why am I reading review upon review gushing about how lyrically and breathtakingly Krueger writes? The man doesn't even know how to use a comma. It's almost as if he spent so long daydreaming about the school-kids who would one day be assigned to read Ordinary Grace that he consequently packed each sentence with as many gooey literary turns of phrases he could shake out of his head. It's sickening. There is no change of tone. No break. We are never allowed a breath of tight, clean, normal writing. The book completely lacks humility. Two chapters in and my head was already reeling. And because I know this opinion is bound to be met with skepticism, here's something to give you a glimpse of just how obnoxious we're talking here:
Still don't believe me? Have another:
Not quite convinced? This is one of the last passages in the entire book (and then I'm done, I promise):
Honestly, this book is so condescending it made me itch. And what's so funny and so devastating is that underneath it all, there's nothing original, nothing steadfast, nothing praiseworthy. There's all of the bait, but nothing worthy of an Oscar (or rather, a Pulitzer). Krueger is an excellent con, but a shameful artist. Please, do yourself a favor and pick up To Kill a Mockingbird instead.
Set in small-town New Bremen, Minnesota in the summer of '61, Ordinary Grace is the coming-of-age tale of 13-year-old Frank Drum, the son of a Methodist pastor and a wildly artistic mother with the voice of an angel. Over the span of one summer, Frank and his stuttering kid brother, Jake, experience a crippling wave of deaths and tragedies in their community that force them to discover together the "awful grace of God."
Does the synopsis sounds familiar? There's a reason for that. Do you find yourself recalling titles from your high school reading list like To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Sawyer, East of Eden, or My Antonia? There's a reason for that, too. Ordinary Grace rips pages out of various timeless classics and patches them all together again to create something Krueger hopes readers will mistake as his own. Frank Drum's saintly father looks far too much like Mockingbird's Atticus, and once you realize that, it's easy to see that Frank himself is just Jem Finch in disguise. There's all the southern spunk and tomboy fun of Tom Sawyer, the gritty undertones of Steinbeck's East of Eden, and plot twists I didn't even enjoy when Willa Cather used them. There is scant little about this book that Krueger can in good conscience call original content.
The reason Ordinary Grace feels so much like a classic is because it steals everything that remotely smells like Pulitzer material from those classics that have already been canonized and throws it all together into one giant melting pot of tropes and contrivances. In that sense, I suppose you could in fairness call it an American classic.
And may I quickly just add that the prose itself was positively nauseating? Why am I reading review upon review gushing about how lyrically and breathtakingly Krueger writes? The man doesn't even know how to use a comma. It's almost as if he spent so long daydreaming about the school-kids who would one day be assigned to read Ordinary Grace that he consequently packed each sentence with as many gooey literary turns of phrases he could shake out of his head. It's sickening. There is no change of tone. No break. We are never allowed a breath of tight, clean, normal writing. The book completely lacks humility. Two chapters in and my head was already reeling. And because I know this opinion is bound to be met with skepticism, here's something to give you a glimpse of just how obnoxious we're talking here:
Mrs. Brandt slipped a cigarette free and tapped it on the lid of the gold case and put the case away and brought out a gold lighter with a little sapphire center. She slid the cigarette between her rubied lips and flipped the lighter open and thumbed the striker and touched the flame to the tip of her cigarette and lifted her head high like a wild animal about to howl and below out a flourish of smoke.
Still don't believe me? Have another:
The air was warm and still and the grass of the cemetery which Gus kept watered and clipped was soft green and the river that reflected the sky was a long ribbon of blue silk and I thought that when I died this was the place exactly I would want to lie and this was the scene that forever I would want to look upon.
Not quite convinced? This is one of the last passages in the entire book (and then I'm done, I promise):
We drove north out of the valley and onto rolling farmland. We followed back roads that were a mystery to me and that threaded between fields of corn and soybean and cut alongside farmyards and skipped through towns that were there and gone in less than a breath and finally we dipped into a valley much smaller than the one carved by the Minnesota River and filled with emerald alfalfa fields outlined by clean white fences. We turned off the main road onto a long dirt lane that led to a house with a big barn and several outbuildings all canopied by the leaves of a dozen great elms. A woman stood in the shade near the house watching us come and when Gus pulled up she stepped forward to great us.
Honestly, this book is so condescending it made me itch. And what's so funny and so devastating is that underneath it all, there's nothing original, nothing steadfast, nothing praiseworthy. There's all of the bait, but nothing worthy of an Oscar (or rather, a Pulitzer). Krueger is an excellent con, but a shameful artist. Please, do yourself a favor and pick up To Kill a Mockingbird instead.
jencunn2024's review against another edition
5.0
I loved the feels this book gave me. Krueger has written a coming-of-age novel centered on a Midwestern America slice of life filled with mystery, intrigue, death, simple joys, and love. The protagonist is a 13-year-old son of a minister whose best friends are his siblings and who is exploring his independence, self-realized beliefs, and faith in God as well as his own human relationships and newfound adolescence. Overall, it was uplifting and a fantastic read/listen.
fromsdtonh's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
bookward's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
thatnatiam's review against another edition
4.0
I would rate this 3.5 because the first half was super slow, but once it picked up I really enjoyed it. Very deep and somber book that explores a teenage boy and his experiences leading him to grow up, as well as how we deal with grief and move forward in the face of heartbreak.
angreadsalot's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
megreed20's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5