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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I was disappointed by this book, since I'd heard so much about how it was "the best book of the year" and how it had echoes of The Great Gatsby (which I suppose it did, but only in the most derivative ways). Why do reviewers go into raptures about every middling "literary" book that gets published? I found it to be mediocre, although I might have been more generous if my expectations hadn't been built up by all the hype. Perhaps Alberto Manguel was right and it's all a big back-scratching club of novelists and reviewers. Should I even try Edgar Sawtelle or A Mercy?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Btw, I read both those books at a later point and found them both worth reading, A Mercy in particular.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Btw, I read both those books at a later point and found them both worth reading, A Mercy in particular.
In the aftermath of 9/11, Hans' English wife decides New York is not the best place to raise their son, so she leaves her husband alone to play cricket with some questionable characters and roam about the city. I enjoyed the beginning and the end of this, but found the middle a drag.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book got mixed reviews at tonight's book club, but I really did enjoy it, even if it didn't come together as I thought/hoped it would in the end.
The cover of this novel has a quote from the NYTimes: "Stunning...echoes of The Great Gatsby." Well. That ruined it for me in so many ways, as I read it aligning characters in Netherland with characters in Gatsby. Frankly, it more than echoes. But, it is also distinct enough to be of interest. The Gatsby character is more developed than the actual Gatsby, but for some reason, not as interesting. The Nick character, too, is more developed, though much more interesting than the ole chap.
The descriptions of NY are fabulous, while those of cricket---not so much.
It's a novel that I enjoyed in parts, and found tedious in others. But it might be worth a reread someday because it is beautifully written, and the mood is enticing.
The descriptions of NY are fabulous, while those of cricket---not so much.
It's a novel that I enjoyed in parts, and found tedious in others. But it might be worth a reread someday because it is beautifully written, and the mood is enticing.
O'Neill's a good writer, and I did laugh out loud several times reading this book, but ultimately, it was disappointing. The book takes place over a 8 year period (or so), but the author tells the story in such a disjointed way, that I almost got seasick from the time and place switches. If I hadn't been listening in the car, I think I would have written down a little time line of years and events, just to keep my bearings. That's bad. Sometimes it seemed we switched place and a couple of years inside a single paragraph. Is he with his wife at this time of the book, or not? The end happens at the beginning, so there's not much suspense about where the story is going.
I think the failure of the book resides with our lack of sympathy for the main character. He's not repulsive, but he's one of these people who let life happen to him. He neither attempts to control his own life, or even to analyze the things that happen to him. Why would you want to read a book about him? How could a person with so little interest in controlling his life be so financially successful? Not all the characters are uninteresting, but why would an author kill off his most interesting and colorful character in the first chapter?
Some reviewers seem to think the book is about 9/11. While I think it's interesting that those events are just now starting to work their way into novels, this book only uses 9/11 as part of the backdrop, and really has nothing to say about the event.
Another Goodreads reviewer said the book is NOT about cricket. I'm not so sure. Could it be irony that the failure of the book echoes the failure of one of the main characters to bring cricket to the American public? If it's not about cricket, what is it about?
I think the failure of the book resides with our lack of sympathy for the main character. He's not repulsive, but he's one of these people who let life happen to him. He neither attempts to control his own life, or even to analyze the things that happen to him. Why would you want to read a book about him? How could a person with so little interest in controlling his life be so financially successful? Not all the characters are uninteresting, but why would an author kill off his most interesting and colorful character in the first chapter?
Some reviewers seem to think the book is about 9/11. While I think it's interesting that those events are just now starting to work their way into novels, this book only uses 9/11 as part of the backdrop, and really has nothing to say about the event.
Another Goodreads reviewer said the book is NOT about cricket. I'm not so sure. Could it be irony that the failure of the book echoes the failure of one of the main characters to bring cricket to the American public? If it's not about cricket, what is it about?
An ok read. Not that much depth, kind of trite.It won a lot of awards - I don't see the greatness thats being talking up.
I knew nothing of this book when I picked it up to read on a business trip. Had I not been on a plane with nothing else to do I would have given up 20 pages into it. Several critics are comparing him to F. Scott Fitzgerald. I suppose they are similar in that the main character (the book is in first person) isn't someone you care anymore about on the last page than on the first page. It's also annoying that the author takes 3 pages to describe the grass on a cricket field, yet only a paragraph to explain the reconciliation of a marriage - one of the central themes to the book. I found myself gettting irritated with the book often - nothing was chronological (a pet peeve of mine), there were characters that did not contribute to the story nor did I find entertaining at all, and I've never played nor seen the sport of cricket in my life. Interesting writing style, but I'm not a big fan of run-on sentences that last 4 pages. Half-way through reading this book, I found out that Obama gave it rave reviews, so I felt like I HAD to finish it. Let's just say politics isn't the only thing on which I disagree with him.
O'Neill's book interested me for it's 9/11 milieu, but the events of that day are really not central to the story of a man trying to find himself in the wake of a failing marriage. A compelling and enjoyable story, O'Neill however suffers from love of words that complicate and weigh down his narrative. While the story successfully conflates the past and the present, dancing between different temporal threads, the overall narrative strikes as rather messy, the character threads and the overarching narrative becoming unnecessarily tangled and confused. The digressions on the technical aspects of cricket, likewise, seemed unnecessary to the story, perhaps a case of the author's research/experience gaining too much precedence in the actual story being told -- backing materials necessary for creation, but which should have been edited out in the final drafts.