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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
The story itself is a little plain, yet the characters are relatively vividly written.
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A slog to get through. I really wanted to care about the characters but I found it extremely difficult.
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
3.5 stars.
Kind of a cross between Celeste Ng and Kevin Kwan, with more emotional and character depth than Crazy Rich Asians but more broad dramatics than Everything I Never Told You. Compelling plotting but largely unsympathetic characters.
Kind of a cross between Celeste Ng and Kevin Kwan, with more emotional and character depth than Crazy Rich Asians but more broad dramatics than Everything I Never Told You. Compelling plotting but largely unsympathetic characters.
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Stanley is dying. Stanley has not been a good man. He has a bad temper. He was a bad father and a bad husband.
As he learns he is dying, his ex wife Linda tries to get him to update his will. She doesn’t see Stanley as particularly smart and she is afraid that he will fail at this too and that his second wife Mary will get everything.
Ironically, Linda is the reason Stanley became wealthy. She was smart and savvy enough with investing Stanley’s money. And when she finally left him, he was rich because of it.
Linda and Stanley’s children have their own (believable) dramas. Kate is in a bad marriage. Fred is in a dead end job and dead end relationship.
And then there’s Mary, the second wife. She felt lucky when she married Stanley because he had his own home and could provide for her. She is much younger and she cares for him in her way.
I had a lot of trouble sticking with this book. I won an early edition from a Goodreads giveaway so I didn’t want it to be a DNF. I found that all the characters other than Stanley were likable and somewhat relatable. But the story just wasn’t that exciting. At a certain point I wondered what I was waiting for. Was the whole book going to wrap up with Stanley dying? Was there a morale to this story.
At the end, I decided that the moral must be that all of the characters could take care of themselves just fine whether Stanley left them nothing or a fortune.
So, self sufficiency?
I respected that but it didn’t make more the most intriguing of stories, for my personal taste of course.
As he learns he is dying, his ex wife Linda tries to get him to update his will. She doesn’t see Stanley as particularly smart and she is afraid that he will fail at this too and that his second wife Mary will get everything.
Ironically, Linda is the reason Stanley became wealthy. She was smart and savvy enough with investing Stanley’s money. And when she finally left him, he was rich because of it.
Linda and Stanley’s children have their own (believable) dramas. Kate is in a bad marriage. Fred is in a dead end job and dead end relationship.
And then there’s Mary, the second wife. She felt lucky when she married Stanley because he had his own home and could provide for her. She is much younger and she cares for him in her way.
I had a lot of trouble sticking with this book. I won an early edition from a Goodreads giveaway so I didn’t want it to be a DNF. I found that all the characters other than Stanley were likable and somewhat relatable. But the story just wasn’t that exciting. At a certain point I wondered what I was waiting for. Was the whole book going to wrap up with Stanley dying? Was there a morale to this story.
At the end, I decided that the moral must be that all of the characters could take care of themselves just fine whether Stanley left them nothing or a fortune.
So, self sufficiency?
I respected that but it didn’t make more the most intriguing of stories, for my personal taste of course.