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3.09 AVERAGE
3.09 AVERAGE
This book begins on the evening that three siblings witness a horrible tragedy. As decades pass, we see how their lives move on in some ways, and stay frozen in others. Each of them finds their own way to cope, while always supporting one another.
While this isn't the best story I've read, the author did make me invested in their lives and interested to see how their stories played out. I feel like this book deserves a solid 3.5/5 stars (which I've rounded up to 4).
While this isn't the best story I've read, the author did make me invested in their lives and interested to see how their stories played out. I feel like this book deserves a solid 3.5/5 stars (which I've rounded up to 4).
This didn't seem at all what it promised - I got halfway through and failed to see how the "incident" played through the characters' lives as time moved on. Did I miss something? And since none of the characters jumped off the page (the voice?) for me, I gave up. Disappointing b/c I really liked the idea of this book and I've heard such great things about (and still will read) Room.
This book was horribly depressing. Not one of the characters had anything good happen to them. Wait, one settled in the end into a mediocre relationship. Definitely would not recommend unless you love dark and depressing books.
A haunting novel that throws strangers and family together over one tragic event. Anshaw's language is stunningly beautiful - I found myself re-reading sentences just for the joy in hearing the phrases again in my head. The characters are developed at an even pace so that the reader gets to know them slowly over time and very, very well.
Loved it. But again, i love stories that skip around in time, stories that focus on how one event or series of events can influence future behavior. I love the way Anshaw writes her charaters--they feel like real people, they are perfectly flawed. I also love the way Anshaw navigates love. There is passion and comfort, brief satisfaction, periods of disappointment and unrest. Aquamarine is a book that always stayed with me, was a touchpoint for what I love about fiction and I feel similarly about this book.
Plus, a Rufus Wainwright shout out is always welcome.
Plus, a Rufus Wainwright shout out is always welcome.
I really wanted to like this book because of the back-description. I was told I would read about a group of people whose lives were changed because of an accident they were all in. Throughout the book, the accident was barely mentioned. None of the actions that the characters took seemed they were because they were affected by the accident. I also think I realized that I don't like books that have multiple characters with multiple stories. Sometimes I like certain character's stories more then others, so I get annoyed when the main novel is not focused on the character I like.
I am not liking this book. Do not find the characters engaging...ANY of them. The most interesting is the least involved, from the author's perspective, Olivia. I am getting, only peripherily, how the death of the young girl is being "carried". May not finish this one.
I don't like giving bad reviews but this was utter pants . Totally uninterested in these self obsessed obnoxious characters !
Reading this novel of a mere 253 pages, I felt as though I'd completed a 600 page Jonathan Franzen tome. I can only attribute that reaction to author Carol Anshaw's sublime writing.
Driving away from Carmen's wedding reception in the wee hours of the morning, Carmen's brother Nick and sister Alice and 3 other guests are all drunk or high. Their lives are irreversibly changed when the car they're in hits and kills a young girl. Alternating chapters follow the damaged, flawed, characters through 25 years of life's milestones.
The three siblings push each others buttons and lean on each other for support. Carmen is a political activist who puts herself in harms way. She is a wife and mother, then single mother. Alice is the talented, insecure artist who paints the dead girl into her landscapes and has a series of affairs with women who can control her. Nick is the brilliant astrophysicist who uses drugs to assuage his guilt and falls down the rabbit hole of addiction. Olivia, the driver, atones by doing time in jail but re-enters society with a new moral-code and ambition. Forever connected by 'the girl', some self-destruct, some stumble their way into their 40's.
A lot to convey in less than 300 pages, but the author manages it, making it look easy. Taking place between 1983 and 2008, I am roughly the same age as the characters. Cultural/historical references throughout had me recollecting - where was I when....? This novel is one that will stay with me for some time and has me looking forward to what Carol Anshaw has in store for us next.
Driving away from Carmen's wedding reception in the wee hours of the morning, Carmen's brother Nick and sister Alice and 3 other guests are all drunk or high. Their lives are irreversibly changed when the car they're in hits and kills a young girl. Alternating chapters follow the damaged, flawed, characters through 25 years of life's milestones.
The three siblings push each others buttons and lean on each other for support. Carmen is a political activist who puts herself in harms way. She is a wife and mother, then single mother. Alice is the talented, insecure artist who paints the dead girl into her landscapes and has a series of affairs with women who can control her. Nick is the brilliant astrophysicist who uses drugs to assuage his guilt and falls down the rabbit hole of addiction. Olivia, the driver, atones by doing time in jail but re-enters society with a new moral-code and ambition. Forever connected by 'the girl', some self-destruct, some stumble their way into their 40's.
A lot to convey in less than 300 pages, but the author manages it, making it look easy. Taking place between 1983 and 2008, I am roughly the same age as the characters. Cultural/historical references throughout had me recollecting - where was I when....? This novel is one that will stay with me for some time and has me looking forward to what Carol Anshaw has in store for us next.