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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
i resisted this book for quite some time - i don't care much for cricket, it was too big (although much larger in my hand than it actually turned out to be), and part of a world i didn't really care to window peep into.
but, as with most of the best things in life, i was totally wrong. (although i pictured every mention of cricket as croquet because i have absolutely no exposure whatsoever to the sport). all of the comparisons to the great gatsby are correct, but there is a fullness to the narrator that was lacking in fitzgerald's book.
i found the choice of time period, the interim between 9/11 and the great northeast blackout, to provide an interesting vantage point as well. i liked it so much more than i thought i would.
but, as with most of the best things in life, i was totally wrong. (although i pictured every mention of cricket as croquet because i have absolutely no exposure whatsoever to the sport). all of the comparisons to the great gatsby are correct, but there is a fullness to the narrator that was lacking in fitzgerald's book.
i found the choice of time period, the interim between 9/11 and the great northeast blackout, to provide an interesting vantage point as well. i liked it so much more than i thought i would.
I tried to enjoy this book. Barack Obama is reading it. Dwight Garner loved it (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/books/review/Garner-t.html?_r=1). I found it so B-O-R-I-N-G that I stopped reading about 2/3 through.
This book is about a few things: New York City, immigrant communities, marriage, and cricket. The main character, Hans, is a bland kind of guy, but he's a good narrator. He moves backwards and forwards in time as he tells the story in a very cool and seamless way--the way, I think, that a lot of people actually tell long stories.
The review I read in the NYT made me think this was going to be about post-9/11 life in New York City, but that's not really what I took away from it. If anything, Hans made me think about the loneliness of being in a foreign city. He has no close friends, a troubled marriage, a detached way of looking at himself and the world. And then he gets drawn into this cricket community and ends up spending a lot of time with this mysterious Trinidadian businessman named Chuck Ramkissoon. When people compare this book to The Great Gatsby, they must be thinking of Chuck as Gatsby, which would make Hans Nick. If I were in college that is totally what I'd write my paper about.
The review I read in the NYT made me think this was going to be about post-9/11 life in New York City, but that's not really what I took away from it. If anything, Hans made me think about the loneliness of being in a foreign city. He has no close friends, a troubled marriage, a detached way of looking at himself and the world. And then he gets drawn into this cricket community and ends up spending a lot of time with this mysterious Trinidadian businessman named Chuck Ramkissoon. When people compare this book to The Great Gatsby, they must be thinking of Chuck as Gatsby, which would make Hans Nick. If I were in college that is totally what I'd write my paper about.
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.
Odd little microcosm of America from a very Other perspective.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't know if it took me 100 pages to get used to O'Neill's writing style or if the first 100 pages are just bad, but the second half of the book made up for it in the best way.
Amazingly depressing, a little light on plot, but O'Neill's writing is excellent.
Found it in the used section at Piece of Mind. While Foer wrote a favorable blurb, I choose to overlook that and read it anyway.