Scan barcode
outoftheblue14's review against another edition
3.0
It's the summer of 2001 in New York City. Sixteen-year-old Heller works for Soft Tidings, a messenger service whose employees visit the recipient of each message and tell them the news in person, rather than just delivering a note. Soft Tiding's motto is "news with a personal touch". Heller drives his bycicle recklessly aroud the city instead of using rollerblades like his colleagues, and gets away with it because he is the best at delivering bad news.
One day, Heller delivers a Turkish man the news that his beloved got married to another man. He later discovers this man is an irregular immigrant who sells books on a stand. This is the start of their friendship, as well as the beginning of a memorable summer in which Heller will learn to relate to people in a new way.
There were very good parts in this book. There were also some thing which felt overused, or barely believable but put there to keep the plot going. For example, wouldn't Sylvia recognize a boy to whom she has served coffee every day for some weeks? The whole result is good, but not the most original story ever.
I basically liked this book. It included excerpts of poems by Nazim Hikmet, who was a pleasant discovery and whom I will be checking out later.
One day, Heller delivers a Turkish man the news that his beloved got married to another man. He later discovers this man is an irregular immigrant who sells books on a stand. This is the start of their friendship, as well as the beginning of a memorable summer in which Heller will learn to relate to people in a new way.
There were very good parts in this book. There were also some thing which felt overused, or barely believable but put there to keep the plot going. For example, wouldn't Sylvia recognize a boy to whom she has served coffee every day for some weeks? The whole result is good, but not the most original story ever.
I basically liked this book. It included excerpts of poems by Nazim Hikmet, who was a pleasant discovery and whom I will be checking out later.
mon_ique's review
Here's some quotes that kept me reading.
"Airplane lights traveled past, left and right, fireflies of the twentieth century."
"...he was already sweating; the sun wasn't planning on saying uncle."
"Heller let out a deafening scream and pedaled directly into oncoming traffic."
"'COME ON!' Heller yelled at the driver. 'You can do better'n this!'"(He's riding his bike holding onto a car)
"You writers are all the same! Nobody understands you until you put pen to paper!"
"The city remembering it was summer, heat blasting through the air, up from the subways and sewers."
But about 3/4 of the way through, it just wasn't worth it to continue, to be exposed to some pretty immoral things that randomly popped up.
Reading this book was like listening to a really weird awesome indie rock album.
"Airplane lights traveled past, left and right, fireflies of the twentieth century."
"...he was already sweating; the sun wasn't planning on saying uncle."
"Heller let out a deafening scream and pedaled directly into oncoming traffic."
"'COME ON!' Heller yelled at the driver. 'You can do better'n this!'"(He's riding his bike holding onto a car)
"You writers are all the same! Nobody understands you until you put pen to paper!"
"The city remembering it was summer, heat blasting through the air, up from the subways and sewers."
But about 3/4 of the way through, it just wasn't worth it to continue, to be exposed to some pretty immoral things that randomly popped up.
Reading this book was like listening to a really weird awesome indie rock album.
library_lurker's review
4.0
i'm only halfway through, but i feel compelled to laud this book as a sweet wacky valentine to pre-9/11 new york city, and also an ode to the time-honored tradition of riding yr bike down the street really fast. super!
***okay, i finished it. man, what a good fucking book! why doesn't it get more credit?
***okay, i finished it. man, what a good fucking book! why doesn't it get more credit?
rebkahn's review
3.0
If I had to pick a word to describe this book I would say comfortable. In every sense of the word.
More...