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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
2.5 stars. This book was pretty odd. It felt like the author wrote a short story, then fluffed it up a whole lot by adding a few superfluous subplots. It also felt like the author was trying pretty hard to make this book feel relevant and socially attuned, despite it being about a middle-aged white woman having a midlife crisis. For me, all the elements just didn't work together as well as they should have. I wasn't rooting for the main character. I disliked her, but not viscerally enough to make her interesting to me. The whole thing just felt a little flat.
That said, I didn't find myself tuning out at all. I was engaged the entire time and I listened to this book in a day.
That said, I didn't find myself tuning out at all. I was engaged the entire time and I listened to this book in a day.
I expected to love this book and I did for the first few chapters. But by the time it ended (actually before that) I was ready for it to be over.
3.5 stars. I know she’s a master, but I wanted more from this story. So many elements introduced and never resolved. Is Spiotta trying to teach me something about life?
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I cannot recall how this book came to me yet I thoroughly enjoyed it. On the surface this is a story about a suburban woman’s midlife crisis juxtaposed against her daughter’s coming of age. What readers receive is a story about familial relationships influenced by present-day issues (2016 election, BLM, others). Well written and highly engaging.
Well, this was disappointing. I picked up Wayward after reading a rave in TNYRB. As a resident of Central New York, I was intrigued by the book's setting in Syracuse; the second of my two stars is for Dana Spiotta's moderately deep dive into the architecture and social history of this city. The setting, however, wasn't enough to make up for the tedium of the story, the banality of the characters, and the smugness of the writing. Sam is a cliché whose choices are opaque; she seems to have no relationships with anyone except her elderly mother and a few Facebook friends. There is no context for anything that happens in the book except the election of Trump, which is meant to serve as a metaphor for Sam's spin out of control, but ends up as a weak excuse for her bizarre behavior. The best part of the book is a brief interlude near the end which purports to be the diary of a member of the nineteenth-century Oneida Community; this section is intriguing, but doesn't belong here. I am mystified by the fawning reviews this book has gotten.
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Barely started it. Just more interested in other books. I might pick it up again eventually.
The writing is so good and I loved the beginning chapters. Then I began to really dislike the protagonist, Sam. So whiny and hateful. Some chapters went off on strange tangents. Every hot button issue from the past few years thrown in as well. I just didn't enjoy this at all.