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zellm's review
5.0
This was so unique and actually way more emotional and significant than I expected from the format. Absolutely personal and a beautiful portrait of a failed relationship.
mayasreadings's review against another edition
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
dogtrax's review
4.0
Interesting and intriguing -- this book follows a relationship entirely through items in a public auction.
thishannah's review
This book was an interesting concept, but I didn't love it. The prices were distracting, especially when they were wildly unbelievable, like the notion that a handwritten note on a receipt would sell for more than a high quality blender or interesting vintage handkerchiefs. Also, who writes notes on a playbill in the middle of a play? Watch the damn show! I feel silly grumbling about the plausibility of an art book like this, because obviously the contents would never be put up at an actual auction unless these two people were very famous and important, so I guess the point is to treat the everyday objects of everyday people with the same reverence, but still. I would have enjoyed a collection of objects more if I didn't have to pretend someone might be interested in buying things like email printouts. Also, these people are pack rats if they actually kept all these assorted papers and items....
Oh, but I'd definitely go to Rekha and Paulo's Halloween parties. They seem fun.
Oh, but I'd definitely go to Rekha and Paulo's Halloween parties. They seem fun.
konigsburg's review
5.0
A really innovative book, in the form of an auction catalogue, filled with hundreds of items from a now-split couple, with item descriptions that allow the reader to piece together their meeting, their infatuation, their falling in love, and their slow recognition that they were perhaps not meant to be. Nothing about their relationship is described directly, but everything is laid bare if you’re paying attention: her eating disorder, visible in her obsessive lists of food eaten; his affairs when traveling for work, visible in his receipts for meals abroad; big fights and hurts, the evidence of which is seen in apologetic notes, and gifts that say ‘I’m sorry.’ The relationship is nostalgically pre-internet, and is filled with kind of loving back and forth - gifts and tokens of love, and markers of the years’ passing - Valentine’s Day dinners, Halloween parties, Thanksgiving dinners. The book is also a slice of early 2000s New York culturati: Robert Lowell and Richard Ford books, London Fog jackets, old sun hats, brassieres, dresses, umbrellas, snowshoes, Smythson of Bond Street day-to-a-page diaries. The book reminds you of Rachel Cusk’s Outline, which has a similar way of giving you a window into a person or a relationship without describing anything directly. It’s brilliant in its own original way, and I have read nothing quite like it.
sarahannkateri's review
3.0
The story of the rise and fall of a relationship as documented through an auction listing of the (former) couple's belongings.
Since I read [b:Chopsticks|10710392|Chopsticks|Jessica Anthony|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1364073067s/10710392.jpg|15620818] several years ago, this wasn't a unique concept to me. Unfortunately, when you take away the unique format, what you get are a total asshole (Hal) and someone who could do way better (Lenore) being pretentious about stuff, and staying in a relationship that is obviously terrible. Every time the relationship approached relatability, the author threw in something to remind us that the couple was Ever So New York and Terribly Arty. And when the situations started getting real, the reader was reminded that the characters barely seemed to like each other, let alone love another. A bit too up-its-own-ass for me.
Since I read [b:Chopsticks|10710392|Chopsticks|Jessica Anthony|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1364073067s/10710392.jpg|15620818] several years ago, this wasn't a unique concept to me. Unfortunately, when you take away the unique format, what you get are a total asshole (Hal) and someone who could do way better (Lenore) being pretentious about stuff, and staying in a relationship that is obviously terrible. Every time the relationship approached relatability, the author threw in something to remind us that the couple was Ever So New York and Terribly Arty. And when the situations started getting real, the reader was reminded that the characters barely seemed to like each other, let alone love another. A bit too up-its-own-ass for me.
annieb123's review
4.0
Interesting book. I was impressed that the author (artist?) managed to create as much story tension as she did. I finished this book in two sittings because I really wanted to know what happened.
Definitely not a re-read for me, but a perfect lazy-sunday-in-bed read!
Definitely not a re-read for me, but a perfect lazy-sunday-in-bed read!
kassiani's review
Love this type of stoytelling - the memory of objects. What someone keeps - especially within a relationship - dictates what they find important and therefore helps defining them.
What things would define me and my relationships?
What things would define me and my relationships?
katiers01's review
3.0
i wanted to like this book more than i actually did - the concept was good and i thought it was interesting but there was just something off for me about it :(