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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
Maybe I'll try reading this again when I'm 50.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m not really too sure what I thought about this book. It was basically about a woman having a mid life crisis and blowing up her life with her husband and daughter by moving out. Other than that there was just stuff going on and I don’t really think there was a proper story there. Maybe I just didn’t get what the book was trying to do. But I just didn’t feel there was much point in a lot of what was going on.
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After finishing this book, I was reading through some of the reviews, as one is wont to do, and it’s clearly very divisive. In a nutshell it’s about a woman named Sam who is in her early 50s, approaching menopause, having a mid-life crisis of sorts. This crisis is instigated by the election of Trump, but you can tell that Sam’s dissatisfaction with life has been brewing for a while. There’s a lot of political and social commentary woven into Sam’s own story as a mother, daughter, wife. What makes the book interesting and clearly divisive is the fact that Sam is an affluent, white, privileged woman. She clearly holds liberal viewpoints, but a lot of her actions contradict her beliefs. She’s also quite judgmental and has no character development throughout the whole novel. I think the reason why I enjoyed the book though was firstly because the writing is impeccable, but also I think the author is fully aware of what she’s doing. She’s not trying to make you sympathize with Sam—instead, she’s painted an accurate portrait.
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
All the reviews that also give this one star usually refer to the protagonist as unlikable as a reason the rating is correct. Awful take. The narrator is a mess. Oh well. Criticize the cringey dialogue. Criticize the architectural descriptions that barely work beyond the surface-level symbolic understanding of what literally constitutes homes and how does one build a new space in middle age. Criticize the lifelessness of Spiotta's focus on a bogus structure.
This is an emblematic work of white bourgeois fiction that seems to tackle everything going on in the world today but has nothing interesting, new, or innovative to say. Why is a fictional police killing of a black boy included here? Why is it treated like development for white characters? Why is it only in the last third? Boring and trite to the point that the George Saunders blurb on the cover about Spiotta's genius aggravates me. This is bad fiction. That this is a New York Times notable for the year is ridiculous. Does no one in the white literati have taste???
This is an emblematic work of white bourgeois fiction that seems to tackle everything going on in the world today but has nothing interesting, new, or innovative to say. Why is a fictional police killing of a black boy included here? Why is it treated like development for white characters? Why is it only in the last third? Boring and trite to the point that the George Saunders blurb on the cover about Spiotta's genius aggravates me. This is bad fiction. That this is a New York Times notable for the year is ridiculous. Does no one in the white literati have taste???
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
One of the best mother/daughter portrayals I’ve read in a long time. While it details a lot about Trump era resistance politics immediately post election, the general themes and reflections on identity continue to be relevant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality
Barely a likable character. The main character was so thinly written and vapid and idiotic.
I don't entirely understand what the fuss is, regarding this book.
Being from NNY, I greatly enjoyed the setting and the descriptions of Syracuse. The author has a beautiful eye for detail. And the conflicting views of the state fair were also well drawn.
But the main character? I did not like her. I found her selfish and inward-focused and, despite the glorious reviews, lacking in humor. About herself, about the contradictions in her life.
I will say the book is well written, but just not for me. I don't think the knowledge she gained at the end of the book answered the questions she struggled with at the beginning of the book.
Being from NNY, I greatly enjoyed the setting and the descriptions of Syracuse. The author has a beautiful eye for detail. And the conflicting views of the state fair were also well drawn.
But the main character? I did not like her. I found her selfish and inward-focused and, despite the glorious reviews, lacking in humor. About herself, about the contradictions in her life.
I will say the book is well written, but just not for me. I don't think the knowledge she gained at the end of the book answered the questions she struggled with at the beginning of the book.