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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
This is a quiet little novel with a lot of heart. I was emotionally invested in the protagonist from the start. Loved every page.
emotional
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
Endings are hard to nail—Cole managed it.
This book was trying to be a lot of things, and mostly succeeded. It focused on our protagonist, Owen, as he navigated his groundskeeping job, his familial relations (stressful), his relationship with Alma and and his own journey.
All the characters all felt very intentional, as in they all had a role to fill and a message to get across. It seemed like the author was really trying to provide lots of commentary on our country's political and social system, highlighting problems between the right and the left and urban and rural- which once again, mostly worked. It was a little too grounded in the first Trump presidency, which at this point in time feels dated and almost quaint. But what can be done.
All the characters all felt very intentional, as in they all had a role to fill and a message to get across. It seemed like the author was really trying to provide lots of commentary on our country's political and social system, highlighting problems between the right and the left and urban and rural- which once again, mostly worked. It was a little too grounded in the first Trump presidency, which at this point in time feels dated and almost quaint. But what can be done.
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rarely have I read a book where I felt so disconnected from the relationships of the main characters.
Cole expertly crafted novel blew me away. I particularly loved the exploration of class, home, and family. The ending left me stunned.
My only criticism is the novel’s pace. There was a slight lag in the middle, but it didn’t take away from the overall experience.
My only criticism is the novel’s pace. There was a slight lag in the middle, but it didn’t take away from the overall experience.
A beautifully written and very modern love story (which is not to say a romance) between two people who identify themselves by their craft, writing. Alma identifies that way because academic accomplishment is the pathway to love in her progressive upper middle-class Bosnian immigrant family. She writes therefore she is. Owen identifies as a writer because otherwise despite his degree he is a groundskeeper, a minimum wage job, less economically successful than his fundamentalist, uneducated redneck family members whom he wishes to be superior to (for good reason.) Owen has aspirations and talent but no ability to rub elbows with the "right" people. Alma, Princeton educated, published (short stories) and recipient of residencies and fellowships knows how to interact with the "East Coast elites" (that phrase is used in the book to express the fear of Owen's parents that he will wander off into the heathen intelligentsia) but is kind of stuck in finishing her novel and in figuring out how to find a stable life as a literary darling whose only skill is teaching when the US no longer values higher education in the liberal arts. The central relationship also bows under the weight of the roadblocks to love that come in the form of dueling professional ambitions and from the art and craft of writing itself (is everything that happens in a relationship fair fodder for literary treatment?)
This is also a love (or really a love/hate) story between a man and his home state of Kentucky. That part of the story provides a framework to look at different kinds of Americans. Alma's DC suburb dwelling family prizes knowledge and intelligence, sometimes at the cost of offering unconditional love. Owen's deeply rural family thrives on willful ignorance, sort of hating the fact that Owen thinks about things rather than just forming opinions or simply doing. They don't understand his objection to a life of going to church and watching old movies. They think they are nice. They choose not to see that their blindered world view and support of a loathsome administration that grinds groups (Black people, immigrants, etc.) under their bootheels to appease the other ignorant people who are not nice but who vote is destroying everything good.
I enjoyed this quiet, smart, beautifully crafted novel. I found myself savoring the language, rereading passages that seemed to break more than a few rules in a way I imagine is uncomfortable for an Iowa Writers' Program guy.
This is also a love (or really a love/hate) story between a man and his home state of Kentucky. That part of the story provides a framework to look at different kinds of Americans. Alma's DC suburb dwelling family prizes knowledge and intelligence, sometimes at the cost of offering unconditional love. Owen's deeply rural family thrives on willful ignorance, sort of hating the fact that Owen thinks about things rather than just forming opinions or simply doing. They don't understand his objection to a life of going to church and watching old movies. They think they are nice. They choose not to see that their blindered world view and support of a loathsome administration that grinds groups (Black people, immigrants, etc.) under their bootheels to appease the other ignorant people who are not nice but who vote is destroying everything good.
I enjoyed this quiet, smart, beautifully crafted novel. I found myself savoring the language, rereading passages that seemed to break more than a few rules in a way I imagine is uncomfortable for an Iowa Writers' Program guy.
I received an ARC of Groundskeeping a few months ago in my inbox unexpectedly. It wasn't a book I'd seen much press for but the description kept coming back to me even when I put off reading it for a few weeks. Seeing the publication date approaching, I decided to read it, and I'm so glad I did.
Groundskeeping is a love story between Owen, a twenty-something Kentucky native back in town, working as a groundskeeper for a college and trying to get his life together, and Alma, a young novelist turned fellow at said university who finds herself in a place completely unlike her upper-middle-class upbringing. But the story covers so much more than that. It's told in the run-up to the 2016 election and the tensions of Louisville--politics, race, class are all undercurrents in Owen's life and his relationships.
The book is more interesting than many of the struggling MFA student narratives out there even when both Owen and Alma play to type a little too much. I'm really glad this one found its way to my inbox.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this book.
Groundskeeping is a love story between Owen, a twenty-something Kentucky native back in town, working as a groundskeeper for a college and trying to get his life together, and Alma, a young novelist turned fellow at said university who finds herself in a place completely unlike her upper-middle-class upbringing. But the story covers so much more than that. It's told in the run-up to the 2016 election and the tensions of Louisville--politics, race, class are all undercurrents in Owen's life and his relationships.
The book is more interesting than many of the struggling MFA student narratives out there even when both Owen and Alma play to type a little too much. I'm really glad this one found its way to my inbox.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this book.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated