Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
Hummmm.... what can I say... this wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't like some of the characters, story is kind of boring. I just give it 2 stars because the ending was ok....
This book definitely was worth the read. It was slow to start, but once it picked up, I couldn't put it down. The characters all are different but similar in their acts. When you get to the right part, you will not put this book down due to a warped and emotional situation that occurs in the dreaded (as the characters called it) Siracusa. Truly amazing. Would definitely recommend it.
fast-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Well, darn. This was a miss for me. I couldn't get invested in the characters and that was likely because I had issues remembering who was who and who was with who. To top it off, I read this two weeks ago and I could not for the life of me remember what happened in the story. I read the reviews and it came back to me, but it is obvious to me that this was not a winner in my book.
I love you dearly, Delia Ephron. But I’m re-naming your novel “White People Problems.”
I’ll be honest. Initially, I wasn’t sure what this book was going to be like. I’ve just finished two books where all the characters are objectively horrible people. I know this is more realistic and very hip and in right now, but aye-yai-yai, can we get a little more sunshine, please? Because really that’s the main draw to this book – everyone is more and more awful as the book progresses. But much like the proverbial train-wreck, you can’t look away. So while this is sometimes problematic for me (see: I can’t stand Game of Thrones because everyone is far worse than the last, and I need one person – just one individual – to be decent for fuck’s sake)giphy
I loved hating these characters. Much like an over-the-top reality show, the privileged people’s antics and seeing them learn their lessons is one of the most satisfying things I can think of. Think of your favorite reality show or TV drama, and this is it: sexy, scandalous, and ominous.
Siracusa is a story of a couples’ vacation – Lizzie & Michael are writers from New York, Lizzie is a journalist who is trying to find her writing voice again, and Michael, her husband, is a Pulitzer winning playwright who is trying and failing to write a novel. Lizzie invites her old boyfriend, now married and living in Maine, Finn, his high-maintenance wife Taylor, and their creepy ten-year-old daughter Snow. Lizzie suggests Rome, then Siracusa. Siracusa, as you might expect, is much less of a tourist destination than Rome is – a bit off the beaten path. For some, that’s part of its charm. For others… 😬 Not So Much. (It’s worth noting that I’d never want to spend any amount of time with any of these people, except for Lizzie who seems ‘ight.) Well… the thing about couples vacations – as my Mom always said, you can only stay with someone who isn’t your family for up to 3 days. Any longer and the charm wears thin.
Each chapter is narrated by a different adult, Round-Robin style, and… let’s just say everyone’s wrapped up tight in their own shit and call it a day, shall we? The kinda interesting thing about this story is that, because we have everyone’s mixed point of view, we get the perspective and the justifications for their behavior. Even if they are jerks, creeps, narcissists, and entitled control freaks, you may not like them, but you can at least understand where they’re coming from.
Lizzie is not only struggling to reignite her writing voice again, she’s trying to reignite her husband’s interest in her. Michael, similarly, is trying to finish (start?) his much-anticipated novel, but he’s distracted by a secret he’s hedging on telling his wife – trapped like a rat over it. Finn is a restauranteur and is using this trip to Italy as an excuse to imbibe in some of his vices, namely wine and smoking and ignoring his wife and daughter. Finn is, honestly, a shmuck – relatively harmless, but as I like to say “I’m so glad I’m not the one married to him.” His wife, Taylor, is equally as harmless but somehow a much worse person: entitled, controlling, and despicably shallow – she’s exactly the type of woman who does end up married to men like Finn in real life. She hates Lizzie; is probably jealous of the relationship she & Finn once had decades before. Taylor is devoted to her daughter Snow – Snow is her twin, except that she’s “painfully shy”… or manipulative? Snow is creepy. SHE’S obsessed with Michael – Taylor, who thinks Snow can do nothing wrong, is just charmed by Michael because he’s so great with her.
Honestly, this novel is a thrill – it starts off innocent enough, but goes from like a kiddie ride to a 20-storey cardiac arrest roller coaster. Y’all, I was not prepared. You grow up with Delia Ephron’s movies: You’ve Got Mail, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, fucking Micheal – you think you understand her. You only think she’s a sweet lady who makes these quaint stories come to life, and you’ll rent them from Blockbuster to watch at a sleepover party with your friends from your softball team. You think she’s incapable of going dark. You guessed wrong. Delia, who are you? Who are you really? I understand artistic license, and that a good writer thrills at putting their characters through the wringer – but Delia? MY Delia?
So this book was way more soapy than my usual taste. Still really excellent, but not my usual preference. It wasn’t what I expected, and it’s a quick read with a lot happening. If you’re looking for something to read on vacation or while at the pool this summer, you might pick this one up. Just… don’t go on any couple vacations. You don’t know what will turn up.
review originally posted on my book blog found here
I’ll be honest. Initially, I wasn’t sure what this book was going to be like. I’ve just finished two books where all the characters are objectively horrible people. I know this is more realistic and very hip and in right now, but aye-yai-yai, can we get a little more sunshine, please? Because really that’s the main draw to this book – everyone is more and more awful as the book progresses. But much like the proverbial train-wreck, you can’t look away. So while this is sometimes problematic for me (see: I can’t stand Game of Thrones because everyone is far worse than the last, and I need one person – just one individual – to be decent for fuck’s sake)giphy
I loved hating these characters. Much like an over-the-top reality show, the privileged people’s antics and seeing them learn their lessons is one of the most satisfying things I can think of. Think of your favorite reality show or TV drama, and this is it: sexy, scandalous, and ominous.
Siracusa is a story of a couples’ vacation – Lizzie & Michael are writers from New York, Lizzie is a journalist who is trying to find her writing voice again, and Michael, her husband, is a Pulitzer winning playwright who is trying and failing to write a novel. Lizzie invites her old boyfriend, now married and living in Maine, Finn, his high-maintenance wife Taylor, and their creepy ten-year-old daughter Snow. Lizzie suggests Rome, then Siracusa. Siracusa, as you might expect, is much less of a tourist destination than Rome is – a bit off the beaten path. For some, that’s part of its charm. For others… 😬 Not So Much. (It’s worth noting that I’d never want to spend any amount of time with any of these people, except for Lizzie who seems ‘ight.) Well… the thing about couples vacations – as my Mom always said, you can only stay with someone who isn’t your family for up to 3 days. Any longer and the charm wears thin.
Each chapter is narrated by a different adult, Round-Robin style, and… let’s just say everyone’s wrapped up tight in their own shit and call it a day, shall we? The kinda interesting thing about this story is that, because we have everyone’s mixed point of view, we get the perspective and the justifications for their behavior. Even if they are jerks, creeps, narcissists, and entitled control freaks, you may not like them, but you can at least understand where they’re coming from.
Lizzie is not only struggling to reignite her writing voice again, she’s trying to reignite her husband’s interest in her. Michael, similarly, is trying to finish (start?) his much-anticipated novel, but he’s distracted by a secret he’s hedging on telling his wife – trapped like a rat over it. Finn is a restauranteur and is using this trip to Italy as an excuse to imbibe in some of his vices, namely wine and smoking and ignoring his wife and daughter. Finn is, honestly, a shmuck – relatively harmless, but as I like to say “I’m so glad I’m not the one married to him.” His wife, Taylor, is equally as harmless but somehow a much worse person: entitled, controlling, and despicably shallow – she’s exactly the type of woman who does end up married to men like Finn in real life. She hates Lizzie; is probably jealous of the relationship she & Finn once had decades before. Taylor is devoted to her daughter Snow – Snow is her twin, except that she’s “painfully shy”… or manipulative? Snow is creepy. SHE’S obsessed with Michael – Taylor, who thinks Snow can do nothing wrong, is just charmed by Michael because he’s so great with her.
Honestly, this novel is a thrill – it starts off innocent enough, but goes from like a kiddie ride to a 20-storey cardiac arrest roller coaster. Y’all, I was not prepared. You grow up with Delia Ephron’s movies: You’ve Got Mail, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, fucking Micheal – you think you understand her. You only think she’s a sweet lady who makes these quaint stories come to life, and you’ll rent them from Blockbuster to watch at a sleepover party with your friends from your softball team. You think she’s incapable of going dark. You guessed wrong. Delia, who are you? Who are you really? I understand artistic license, and that a good writer thrills at putting their characters through the wringer – but Delia? MY Delia?
So this book was way more soapy than my usual taste. Still really excellent, but not my usual preference. It wasn’t what I expected, and it’s a quick read with a lot happening. If you’re looking for something to read on vacation or while at the pool this summer, you might pick this one up. Just… don’t go on any couple vacations. You don’t know what will turn up.
review originally posted on my book blog found here
I spent first quarter or so of this novel wondering if it was worth persevering with four irritatingly self-involved narrators. But I’m pretty sure the self-absorption of the four main characters is the point, and the extremity of their smug egotism is by turns funny and tragic. They all narrate the same events from their different viewpoints – which if they were less self-absorbed would mean they actually noticed the same things at least some of time, rather than these wildly different accounts.
The story is simple: a small group of Americans travelling abroad don’t get on very well. Two married couples, Michael and Lizzie, and Finn and Taylor – plus Finn and Taylor’s 10-year-old daughter Snow – travel to Rome and then Siracusa in Sicily for a week’s holiday together. Lizzie and Finn are old friends – former lovers, in fact – but otherwise the group aren’t close at all. The holiday was suggested on a whim while having dinner together, the kind of suggestion that usually wouldn’t be followed up on by mere acquaintances.
It’s made clear from the start that something bad happened on this holiday. The four adults are looking back from a future point, trying to identify where it began to go wrong. They have of course brought more baggage with them to the trip than suitcases of clothes. There are infidelities, but also their attitudes to each other, which are painfully out of sync.
Read my full review: https://www.noseinabook.co.uk/2021/08/19/piece-by-piece-we-put-the-shells-back-together-reencasing-ourselves/
The story is simple: a small group of Americans travelling abroad don’t get on very well. Two married couples, Michael and Lizzie, and Finn and Taylor – plus Finn and Taylor’s 10-year-old daughter Snow – travel to Rome and then Siracusa in Sicily for a week’s holiday together. Lizzie and Finn are old friends – former lovers, in fact – but otherwise the group aren’t close at all. The holiday was suggested on a whim while having dinner together, the kind of suggestion that usually wouldn’t be followed up on by mere acquaintances.
It’s made clear from the start that something bad happened on this holiday. The four adults are looking back from a future point, trying to identify where it began to go wrong. They have of course brought more baggage with them to the trip than suitcases of clothes. There are infidelities, but also their attitudes to each other, which are painfully out of sync.
Read my full review: https://www.noseinabook.co.uk/2021/08/19/piece-by-piece-we-put-the-shells-back-together-reencasing-ourselves/
This is the first multi-perspective book I’ve read in which the characters were different enough that I could continue to tell them apart even in the middle of a passage. Even so, only maybe one character is likable, and I found myself rolling my eyes over and over. The ending was predictable for me, and I am TERRIBLE at predicting endings. Overall, an engaging story with well-written but morally awful characters and an exciting but predictable ending.