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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
The book is honest and brave but the storyline is rather unresolved. The easy resolution of the crisis (ie the separation) is devastatingly oversimplified an ending for a book of this supposed caliber.
I had no attachment to Hans, which may be entirely personal. The book was well written with lovely language and heartfelt sentiment, but I was entirely disconnected as a reader. Ultimately this book flatlined for me and I just couldn't see what all the hype was about.
This is a novel about cricket. It draws analogies in the disparity of cricket in the USA to a foreigner in USA...hardly epiphanic. That is not that wily an observation and it hardly makes this book worthy of the praise it has received.
Honestly, sports metaphors are nothing more than cheap methods to wrangle a male audience. You make a character/story analogous to a sport and the male reviewers of the world praise the book to the hilts. It's a tawdry gimmick, it's been done in lit and cinema a thousand times. It's an overused trope.
I am altogether unimpressed--unless you're a serious cricket fan or a sports lit buff, don't waste your time on this novel.
I had no attachment to Hans, which may be entirely personal. The book was well written with lovely language and heartfelt sentiment, but I was entirely disconnected as a reader. Ultimately this book flatlined for me and I just couldn't see what all the hype was about.
This is a novel about cricket. It draws analogies in the disparity of cricket in the USA to a foreigner in USA...hardly epiphanic. That is not that wily an observation and it hardly makes this book worthy of the praise it has received.
Honestly, sports metaphors are nothing more than cheap methods to wrangle a male audience. You make a character/story analogous to a sport and the male reviewers of the world praise the book to the hilts. It's a tawdry gimmick, it's been done in lit and cinema a thousand times. It's an overused trope.
I am altogether unimpressed--unless you're a serious cricket fan or a sports lit buff, don't waste your time on this novel.
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Hans van den Broek is a top-earning financial guru who, untethered from life by the events of 9/11 and the defection of his wife (and son), finds his own guru in criminal/entrepreneur Chuck Ramkissoon. Hans is emotionally adrift in New York City, and finds his anchor in a cricket league, where he meets Chuck. Chuck imparts a joie de vivre, and a sense of history, of connectedness, using cricket as a metaphor, explaining to Hans that cricket was the original American sport of choice, before it was displaced by baseball. Hans is enlisted in Chuck's "Field of Dreams" project: to create a classic cricket field which, Chuck believes, will restore the proper place of cricket in the American soul. Hans learns that life must be responded to on the fly, just as a cricket batter must learn to respond to the unpredictable rolls and bounces of a cricket ball. The story isn't told in a linear fashion, but skips around in time. This is done for a reason, as some events take on their full meaning only in retrospect. I appreciate how O'Neill, like Hemingway, can often express things effectively by what is not said, rather than by what is said.
Post 9/11 in new york reflection with some cricket and girlfriend involved (i think…). Did not understand many words and struggled to see what it was about.
There are some times when our voice is not heard. Oh, this is not about family. Suppose I write a review of James Joyce's 'Ulysses' (never been able to read that), and declare it not worth the trouble, will that change anything? No, I will be considered a stupid lad with not much standard.
This book is such a sad case; it has got good reviews, but I don't like it. Why? Eventually, as in 'Waiting for Godot', nothing happens, 'nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful'. Story (if you think there is one) concerns the situation of New York after the attack on World Trade Center. Novel fails to provide that feeling of loss to one that live far away from the issues connected with it. Like the narrator, Hans, author too seems confused or too reluctant to make a daring statement which might cause some political controversy.
Except for the protagonist, and perhaps Chuck too, all the characters are underdeveloped. No chronological order is followed which makes it really hard to keep with the times. All in all it looks like a verbal play with words we have to look continuously into the dictionary, to make some sense out of it.
This book is such a sad case; it has got good reviews, but I don't like it. Why? Eventually, as in 'Waiting for Godot', nothing happens, 'nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful'. Story (if you think there is one) concerns the situation of New York after the attack on World Trade Center. Novel fails to provide that feeling of loss to one that live far away from the issues connected with it. Like the narrator, Hans, author too seems confused or too reluctant to make a daring statement which might cause some political controversy.
Except for the protagonist, and perhaps Chuck too, all the characters are underdeveloped. No chronological order is followed which makes it really hard to keep with the times. All in all it looks like a verbal play with words we have to look continuously into the dictionary, to make some sense out of it.
Abandoned, at pg90. That's like 40% or whatever. Couldn't stand the language, the writing style. Tone very formal, off-putting for some reason. Failed to get myself interested in the narrative. Maybe it's brilliance has faded in the light of my simultaneous reading of "2666". Should return to it later.
This book was so boring. I genuinely found nothing sympathetic or interesting in Hans' character, and it felt slow-paced and unfocused. There is no real resolution of or attention to the possible main conflicts (Chuck's death, the separation, Hans' overall meh-ness with life). It was impersonal and really hard to get through, with no real redeeming qualities.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I was not a big fan of this one, which I read for book club. I had a hard time getting through it and found it a bit...boring. Perhaps I'm just not the right audience, but I was surprised by how little I liked it.