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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
slow-paced
As someone whose family has also been in Kentucky for hundreds of years and also had to/needed to/loved to/hated to leave, this book spoke to my soul.
An aimless young man drifts back to his native Kentucky after not succeeding at living elsewhere. He gets a job at the university trimming trees and takes a strange writing class and starts a relationship with a writer. There's some good class stuff in here, rednecks v college elites, but the novel drifts like its character does and though the writing is good I didn't care all that much.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Did not love this book. It was somewhat draggy but the overall message was intriguing. Glad I read it!
Actual rating 2.5. Perhaps because I am not an American, this book failed to fully capture me. This book is quiet and character-driven, and sometimes reads at a slower pace than I would like. I liked the range of characters in this book but found it hard to become invested in them. In part because of Owen’s unreliable narration and egocentrism, the characters often felt underdeveloped, and the relationships between them felt shallower than the story claimed. I enjoyed the book but it will likely be one I think about more than I enjoyed.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Perhaps because I am not an American, this book failed to fully capture me. This book is quiet and character-driven, and sometimes reads at a slower pace than I would like. I liked the range of characters in this book but found it hard to become invested in them. In part because of Owen’s unreliable narration and egocentrism, the characters often felt underdeveloped, and the relationships between them felt shallower than the story claimed. I enjoyed the book but it will likely be one I think about more than I enjoyed.
Pretentious and poorly researched. Unlikable characters.
Probably my favorite book of the decade. Stellar writing. Tackles so many of the current day issues while capturing characters beautifully.
This book dragged a lot at some points (hence taking 5 months to finish) and some characters I felt were a little underdeveloped (Casey, Rando, Cort). I would have also liked to see more family interactions from Owen’s side to really understand the nature of his rocky relationship with them. In the middle of the book I can’t really tell where the author is planning on taking the character and it just feels a bit aimless. It picks up a lot at the end. I also did like how naturally flawed Owen and Alma were developed to be, but I do think their relationship could have been more detailed and built out. This book definitely did have some of the most notable quotes and lines I’ve read in a while though, I just wish I hadn’t gotten bored in the middle of it