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lilcoop71's review against another edition
2.0
Surprisingly boring. I'm not sure why this is getting such great reviews, honestly, especially the comparisons to Jonathan Franzen. It is well-written but it's lacking emotion. Could not really connect to any of the characters. It was a good idea but not very well executed.
kent231's review against another edition
4.0
Very wel written- I was involved with the characters almost immediately, and had a hard time putting it down. A must-read.
pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
I checked this talking book out after reading a favorable review. I had run out of audio books and this sounded like a good possibility. I wavered through most of the book - do I like this? Should I continue? There would be chapters that I loved and then parts that were difficult listening. I was starting the last CD when a friend asked me if they would like this novel. I had to answer that I was not sure - wait until I reach the end.
When I got to the end and the whole book came together, I knew I had experienced an extraordinary book. Anshaw takes us through decades of family, friends, marriage, children, divorce. All that happens is influenced by one event that happens at the very start of the story. How Anshaw kept the threads running smoothly and kept track of all of them, amazes me. Her language is beautiful and made even better by Renee Raudman's narration.
I am struggling to know how much to tell about this tale in my review. If I give you the bare facts, I won't have done justice to how Anshaw puts everything in context with the accident that starts the tale. Let me just say if you want to know more about this, read it.
I recommend this book to lovers of the movie, The Big Chill, to readers of literary fiction, to listeners who want to live in other peoples' lives for awhile and to my friend who asked if she should read this. No one who lived through the 1970's until now should miss this book.
When I got to the end and the whole book came together, I knew I had experienced an extraordinary book. Anshaw takes us through decades of family, friends, marriage, children, divorce. All that happens is influenced by one event that happens at the very start of the story. How Anshaw kept the threads running smoothly and kept track of all of them, amazes me. Her language is beautiful and made even better by Renee Raudman's narration.
I am struggling to know how much to tell about this tale in my review. If I give you the bare facts, I won't have done justice to how Anshaw puts everything in context with the accident that starts the tale. Let me just say if you want to know more about this, read it.
I recommend this book to lovers of the movie, The Big Chill, to readers of literary fiction, to listeners who want to live in other peoples' lives for awhile and to my friend who asked if she should read this. No one who lived through the 1970's until now should miss this book.
wsk56's review against another edition
3.0
After a wedding, a group of people in a car strike and kill a 10-year-old girl. This book is about grief and guilt and how it affects people in different ways. I enjoyed the writing, the characters, the humor and the way Anshaw brings leftist politics of the time period into the story. It also shows how tragedy can bring people together in a very lasting way, while others are torn apart by it.
megancrusante's review
2.0
I liked several of the characters but there was something do pointless about it. All I really got out of it was flail about places I know in Chicago.
melissakuzma's review
5.0
I loved this! This book was so right up my alley. It's the story of a group of people involved (but mostly two sisters and their brother) in a car accident that killed a little girl, and what happens to them in the 20 or so years following the accident. Absolutely perfect. Best book I've read so far this year.
rebeccalcohen's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this but truthfully I had so many bones to pick with this book.
1. there are a LOT of characters introduced right off that bat. it makes it hard to keep track of them and even towards the end, some characters would be mentioned and i couldn’t remember why they were important.
2. the writing style was confusing. every chapter was a new “narrator” AND it jumped an unspecified number of years into the future at the same time. eventually, i got the hang of it but i spent the first half of the book extremely confused.
3. i got so annoyed at the author’s description of places by simply listing what street they were on in Chicago. it added absolutely nothing to the story- in fact, i found is extremely distracting because of how often the author would say things like “Carmen stopped by the Dunkin on Clark Street on her way to the store at Broadway and Halsted.” Unless you live in Chicago, it means absolutely nothing in terms of describing the place. it was completely unnecessary.
4. i didn’t feel like there was much of a plot?? the conflict happened at the beginning of the story and then... their lives go on and vaguely allude to the event but it’s done in very awkward ways that feel like a stretch.
overall, i wouldn’t recommend this book.
1. there are a LOT of characters introduced right off that bat. it makes it hard to keep track of them and even towards the end, some characters would be mentioned and i couldn’t remember why they were important.
2. the writing style was confusing. every chapter was a new “narrator” AND it jumped an unspecified number of years into the future at the same time. eventually, i got the hang of it but i spent the first half of the book extremely confused.
3. i got so annoyed at the author’s description of places by simply listing what street they were on in Chicago. it added absolutely nothing to the story- in fact, i found is extremely distracting because of how often the author would say things like “Carmen stopped by the Dunkin on Clark Street on her way to the store at Broadway and Halsted.” Unless you live in Chicago, it means absolutely nothing in terms of describing the place. it was completely unnecessary.
4. i didn’t feel like there was much of a plot?? the conflict happened at the beginning of the story and then... their lives go on and vaguely allude to the event but it’s done in very awkward ways that feel like a stretch.
overall, i wouldn’t recommend this book.
adw7984's review against another edition
4.0
This book started out quite trippy. We were immediately thrown into a wedding of people we didn’t know at all, but would come to know quite well. The wedding was fueled with bizarre drugs, so you knew the minute everyone got in the car that something bad would happen (and if you read the book jacket).
We follow the 3 main characters, Nick, Carmen, and Alice over several years to see how this one event changed their lives. It was interesting to me that the book starts with Carmen’s wedding, but I really didn’t care about her as a character. Alice was the story that I was most interested in, and I felt that I understood her the best out of everyone.
Nick was also a tragic character. His girlfriend at the time was the one arrested for the accident. I found it odd that it was because of the undelivered mail in the trunk rather than the accident. In fact, the mail in the trunk went right over my head until it was brought up about halfway through. Nick remained on drugs, gave it up for a bit and then went completely off the deep-end and ended up dead behind a dumpster.
While all three characters were affected by the accident, I felt that Nick was really the one who carried it with him daily. He went to see the father and then visited the mother as well. I felt that his drug-addiction was caused by this accident. He used recreationally before and then it became a problem after Olivia left.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book by Carol Anshaw. It was an easy book to read with an intriguing story, and I couldn’t put it down once I started!
*This book was provided to me for review on Confessions of a Bookaholic. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
We follow the 3 main characters, Nick, Carmen, and Alice over several years to see how this one event changed their lives. It was interesting to me that the book starts with Carmen’s wedding, but I really didn’t care about her as a character. Alice was the story that I was most interested in, and I felt that I understood her the best out of everyone.
Nick was also a tragic character. His girlfriend at the time was the one arrested for the accident. I found it odd that it was because of the undelivered mail in the trunk rather than the accident. In fact, the mail in the trunk went right over my head until it was brought up about halfway through. Nick remained on drugs, gave it up for a bit and then went completely off the deep-end and ended up dead behind a dumpster.
While all three characters were affected by the accident, I felt that Nick was really the one who carried it with him daily. He went to see the father and then visited the mother as well. I felt that his drug-addiction was caused by this accident. He used recreationally before and then it became a problem after Olivia left.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book by Carol Anshaw. It was an easy book to read with an intriguing story, and I couldn’t put it down once I started!
*This book was provided to me for review on Confessions of a Bookaholic. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
xoxbball10's review against another edition
2.0
No, I didn't finish this book. It starts with so much promise; a dead girl and a car full of people, each with their own guilt. The problem is the rest of the story. In the next 100 pages, there are only two characters whose lives were noticeably changed by the accident. For all of the others, their lives probably would have been the same with or without the death. The author spends her time claiming that, yes, the accident caused this person's life to turn out this way, but they are all stretches, to say the least.
ldv's review against another edition
3.0
Based on my vague recollection of the blurb on the book and the title, I expected this book to be a little bit more like [b:One Day|4137|Me Talk Pretty One Day|David Sedaris|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165389015s/4137.jpg|1030767] in that it revisits the same characters over an extended period of time. Or I thought that each chapter would directly connect that chapter's main character with "the girl" (ie the One of the title), and that it would follow all of the characters who were in the car when the accident occurred. Not quite. Really the book focusses on three siblings and their adulthood/development. Only two of the siblings were in the car, and the other three characters who were in the car are part of the story throughout the novel, but mainly in secondary or tertiary roles.
This unexpected storyline shadowed my perception of the story, but there is no doubt that the author writes well. I never felt dialogue was cheesy or characters were flat or unrealistic. In fact, these characters are some of the most realistic characters I've encountered. That's what the book is really about: realistic characters living through life's screw-ups and trials. More attention was given to Alice and her love life than I would have liked (I felt Carmen's storyline dropped off after it seemed to be going so strongly), but still interesting. And different. Different is always welcome.
This unexpected storyline shadowed my perception of the story, but there is no doubt that the author writes well. I never felt dialogue was cheesy or characters were flat or unrealistic. In fact, these characters are some of the most realistic characters I've encountered. That's what the book is really about: realistic characters living through life's screw-ups and trials. More attention was given to Alice and her love life than I would have liked (I felt Carmen's storyline dropped off after it seemed to be going so strongly), but still interesting. And different. Different is always welcome.