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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
I enjoyed this book tremendously. It felt like sort of a throwback, a family saga set mostly in America over the 20th century. What distinguished the book for me was the humor. A lot of serious American issues and problems were dealt with, but there was always a sense of humor about them. I am not sure I would put this in the category of literary fiction, the writing is not beautiful or high reaching, but it is a delightful story, well-told.
Had I spent a lot of time on this, I'd be much more disappointed. It wasn't a great story, the characters weren't particularly compelling, and plot resolutions were far too neat and tidy far too many times for my liking. Meh.
3.5/5
This was a TBR for years! It's a sweet book, definitely, and there are some hilarious moments and exchanges between the many, many characters. Ultimately, though, it almost become a litany of Major Life Milestones: weddings, births, deaths, punctuated throughout by wars and other historical points of reference. I get the intent of this being a story about an immigrant family and their legacy, but parts of it did feel contrived, or at least predictable.
Still, I enjoyed spending time with this book. It was an easy read, and has an honest warmth and appreciation for human foibles that comes across without cynicism or judgment.
This was a TBR for years! It's a sweet book, definitely, and there are some hilarious moments and exchanges between the many, many characters. Ultimately, though, it almost become a litany of Major Life Milestones: weddings, births, deaths, punctuated throughout by wars and other historical points of reference. I get the intent of this being a story about an immigrant family and their legacy, but parts of it did feel contrived, or at least predictable.
Still, I enjoyed spending time with this book. It was an easy read, and has an honest warmth and appreciation for human foibles that comes across without cynicism or judgment.
I had a really hard time getting into this book, although there was nothing discernibly wrong with it. The writing is solid, the story is interesting. So why was I struggling with it? And then it hit me. There are huge sections without dialogue. In fact, most of the story is written in narrative form, which makes sense from the POV of a grandson who wasn't even born for the beginning of the story. It's told with the familiarity of a lifetime's listening to the stories of parents and grandparents. The problem with this is that there is an almost lack of connection with the characters. Even when someone dies, it is mentioned cursorily, moving on to the next chapter without giving the reader a chance to feel grief. Life and death chatted casually over a cup of coffee.
In a more positive spin, I loved the feel of Missouri. I've never traveled there myself, but I was still able to conjure a vivid image from the book's descriptions. By the time the narrator's story arrives at his own childhood, I was able to become a little more entrenched in the story, and for this reason, was a little disappointed by the way it wrapped up at the end. It was all tied up nice and tight, no loose threads, but I felt that the story closed with a sigh.
In a more positive spin, I loved the feel of Missouri. I've never traveled there myself, but I was still able to conjure a vivid image from the book's descriptions. By the time the narrator's story arrives at his own childhood, I was able to become a little more entrenched in the story, and for this reason, was a little disappointed by the way it wrapped up at the end. It was all tied up nice and tight, no loose threads, but I felt that the story closed with a sigh.
Three-and-a-half stars. This is one of those books you can read even when there's a lot of distraction. It's an uncomplicated tale of three or so generations told from the perspective of one of the grandsons and starts with his grandparents' emigration from Germany to America. It's not an over-the-top story but there are enough surprising moments to keep one enchanted plus more than a little sense of serendipity. I have to admit, the final reveal in the story was totally unexpected on my part. At the end of the day, it's a feel-good book and great for some escapism.
A family saga covering four generations beginning in 1904 when Frederick Meisenheimer and Jette Furste leave thier homeland and flee to New York, but end up in New Orleans and then up the Mississippi to Missouri, where Frederick hopes to find work. They sheer ordinariness of their lives is the hallmark of this book. We see the immigrant experience as the family traverses history: World War I; Prohibition; the Great Depression and World War II. Beatrice, MO is populated by unforgettable characters who serve as archetypes for the American experience. At its core, this is a novel about being an outsider and the universal search for home.
I'm kind of torn about this book. I liked many of the characters; Rosa and Lomax were my favorite, but I also liked Jette and Frederick. On the other hand, George tried to tell too many stories. All these stories ended up being kind of surface-y instead of deep and meaningful. Much of the book felt like an afterword of the "And this is what happened to every character in 50 words or less" variety. I liked where the beginning was going with Jette and Frederick, and then their part of the story abruptly ended and we were trying to follow too many people at once. Another beef I had with this book was how time passed. One minute Joseph is ten years old and falling in love with the neighbor girl, and about five pages later, he's old enough to propose to her. It just felt like a summary of lives instead of anything meaningful. Also, there are way too many crazy characters for one small town. I realize that it takes place over about 100 years, but it still made it hard for me to suspend my disbelief. But despite the things I didn't like, the book was fun to read because of the writing. I think if George had an idea that wasn't quite so sprawling, I would read another book of his.
A genealogist's dream read. A sort of ultra-American epic story traveling through generations a la Isabel Allende minus the supernatural stuff. Very much appealed to my obsession with family history. Wish a past relative wrote something like this about my family.
Quick synopsis: James Meisenheimer recounts the story of his family, starting with immigrant grandparents from Germany, and tales of his small Missouri town.
SPOILERS AHOY
The reason I only gave this book three stars is because I saw behind the curtain. At times, I was very aware that I was reading the author's first novel. (CORRECTION: Not his first novel...which actually makes me like the book a little less.) I felt like the chapters adopted a predictable structure:
Narrator introduces an (interesting) character.
Narrator tells a few (very interesting) anecdotes about said character. Anecdote ties character into the main story of the family in some way.
Narrator tells the story of how said character leaves the plot arc.
Chapter ends with something like "And he would never know how he had affected the family."
To me, some of the character's ends were a little predictable as well. But the big twist of James's mother was a pretty big shock to me. I wish the story had built up to more, but the author chose a quieter route, and gave the drama to the twins.
Alex George's talent lies most definitely in character development, but in this sweeping format I didn't feel like enough time was spent with any one character. Especially since, as I mention above, we got a character's life story in the span of one or two chapters. For his next book, I hope the author chooses two or three grabber-characters and flushes them out really well.
I also enjoyed the author's folksy style of writing, which reads a little like Mark Twain's work. That's probably the author's intent since two of the main characters actually travel up the Mississippi by steamboat. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for Alex George's next work!
Quick synopsis: James Meisenheimer recounts the story of his family, starting with immigrant grandparents from Germany, and tales of his small Missouri town.
SPOILERS AHOY
The reason I only gave this book three stars is because I saw behind the curtain. At times, I was very aware that I was reading the author's first novel. (CORRECTION: Not his first novel...which actually makes me like the book a little less.) I felt like the chapters adopted a predictable structure:
Narrator introduces an (interesting) character.
Narrator tells a few (very interesting) anecdotes about said character. Anecdote ties character into the main story of the family in some way.
Narrator tells the story of how said character leaves the plot arc.
Chapter ends with something like "And he would never know how he had affected the family."
To me, some of the character's ends were a little predictable as well. But the big twist of James's mother was a pretty big shock to me. I wish the story had built up to more, but the author chose a quieter route, and gave the drama to the twins.
Alex George's talent lies most definitely in character development, but in this sweeping format I didn't feel like enough time was spent with any one character. Especially since, as I mention above, we got a character's life story in the span of one or two chapters. For his next book, I hope the author chooses two or three grabber-characters and flushes them out really well.
I also enjoyed the author's folksy style of writing, which reads a little like Mark Twain's work. That's probably the author's intent since two of the main characters actually travel up the Mississippi by steamboat. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for Alex George's next work!