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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
informative
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Islamophobia
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent
Minor: War
While reading, I thought the author strident, but in the ending, I find her quite perceptive. She created and showed the complexities of the two main characters, the vast and great pressures on both of them and their valiant attempts to resist those pressures to remain true to themselves. And, she shows the complexity of regret years later—understanding why and how one thought the way one did, acted the way one did, while also looking with the perspective of time and seeing how or why the act/decision was wrong.
I’m much more affected and impressed by this novel than I expected to be. The Epilogue really made the piece powerful and reflective. And, it doesn’t end with simple easy answers, so the reader is left to think that, hopefully, America will end in the Right eventually but the issues and way we get there will never be simple or easy and, perhaps, the complexity and process is just as important as the end result.
I’m much more affected and impressed by this novel than I expected to be. The Epilogue really made the piece powerful and reflective. And, it doesn’t end with simple easy answers, so the reader is left to think that, hopefully, America will end in the Right eventually but the issues and way we get there will never be simple or easy and, perhaps, the complexity and process is just as important as the end result.
Underwhelmed by this one. The premise seemed interesting, but it took me a while to get through.
A little slow, but the last 100 pages were good. I liked the story concept.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this book made me confront the grey areas of my beliefs and very carefully explored the role of public art in society. my only wish is that Waldman fleshed out each of the characters more because each of them had so many more layers to peel back
This deserved more than a single star, but I didn't like it much. An potentially provocative concept was sunk by poor execution. Too many characters to keep track of, and not much depth to any of them. I found myself wondering who I was supposed to root for, as I didn't care for any of them to any great extent.
At every point I usually say what the author was trying to do, but it seemed contrived most of the time, and way too verbose for something trying to address such an important subject.
Slow pace on top of everything.
I understand that the author wants to point out the gray areas of patriotism and Islamaphobia, but in the process she has provided a forgettable cast of characters stuck in a depressing mud that offers little hope for redemption within the universe of the story.
At every point I usually say what the author was trying to do, but it seemed contrived most of the time, and way too verbose for something trying to address such an important subject.
Slow pace on top of everything.
I understand that the author wants to point out the gray areas of patriotism and Islamaphobia, but in the process she has provided a forgettable cast of characters stuck in a depressing mud that offers little hope for redemption within the universe of the story.
I loved this book! There were so many different facets to the issue and none of them were right or wrong. It made me think through and identify with all the sides. It showed how personal every choice is and how much everything is influenced. I gave it four stars because I felt the ending was a little flat and not satisfying enough.
This is a novel of ideas, not language, but WHAT ideas! No angle on the September 11th attacks goes unexplored, which makes reading it uncomfortable. Disappointed in the prose itself, but an impressive undertaking.
The premise of this book is so interesting: a jury votes on a memorial for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. All entries are anonymous, and after a winner is selected, the world learns that the design was submitted by an American Muslim.
Unfortunately, what I thought would be such a compelling book didn't really get any more interesting than the book jacket. The story raised all the issues one would expect; really, you could go ahead and have the book club discussion just based on the book jacket alone. The characters never came to life for me, and the writing reminded me of Tom Perotta's The Abstinence Teacher -- flat and full of caricatures. I actually considered abandoning this about a hundred pages in -- life is short and full of too many wonderful books -- but it read quickly and isn't a long book, so I stuck it out. And the second half was actually much better than the first, with a fairly good ending, but nowhere did it live up to my expectations after reading so many reviews about what a beautifully-written novel this is.
Unfortunately, what I thought would be such a compelling book didn't really get any more interesting than the book jacket. The story raised all the issues one would expect; really, you could go ahead and have the book club discussion just based on the book jacket alone. The characters never came to life for me, and the writing reminded me of Tom Perotta's The Abstinence Teacher -- flat and full of caricatures. I actually considered abandoning this about a hundred pages in -- life is short and full of too many wonderful books -- but it read quickly and isn't a long book, so I stuck it out. And the second half was actually much better than the first, with a fairly good ending, but nowhere did it live up to my expectations after reading so many reviews about what a beautifully-written novel this is.