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3.16 AVERAGE
3.16 AVERAGE
Way too similar to Virgin Suicides, I didn't find the musing of the neighborhood boys interesting and their characters weren't developed enough. It was enjoyable, but nothing too impressive.
At beginning of The Fates Will Have Their Way, we learn about the disappearance of Nora Lindell, a 16-year-old who was last seen on Halloween. No one knows what happened to her, but speculation runs wild among a group of neighborhood boys. They continue to piece together subtle clues and rumors over several years, even as they grow up, get married, and have their own children. Was she abducted and dead in the woods? Was she pregnant? Did she run away to a faraway city, like Phoenix? Maybe she even made it all the way to India. Who’s to say?
When I first heard the plot, I was inclined to compare it to Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides, like so many others had done, too. Both books are told in plural first-person by a group of boys who were infatuated with a girl (or girls, in the case of Suicides) in their neighborhood. (Actually, I wouldn’t really say they were really in love with Nora, just that the event happened to be a huge moment in their own lives.) Both books also deal with some sort of tragedy involving those same girls. But the similarities largely end there. While Suicides is a look at the unraveling of a family told by outsiders, The Fates mostly examines the after-effects of Nora’s disappearance on the boys themselves. I don’t really thing it’s “spoilery” to say that we never do find out what became of her. That’s not really the point of the book. While their theories about her fate are interspersed within the story, most of it deals with the boys’ (and later, men’s) relationships with each other and their families.
Overall, I really liked the book. Hannah Pittard’s prose didn’t get in the way of the plot, and it actually moved very quickly. (I finished half the book in one day, and the rest in brief reading sessions during the rest of the week.) Her words are eloquent without being too flowery; poignant without being too preachy:
Aside from Tina Fey’s memoir, this is the first book released in 2011 that I’ve read. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it end up somewhere on my top 10 list at the end of the year.
When I first heard the plot, I was inclined to compare it to Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides, like so many others had done, too. Both books are told in plural first-person by a group of boys who were infatuated with a girl (or girls, in the case of Suicides) in their neighborhood. (Actually, I wouldn’t really say they were really in love with Nora, just that the event happened to be a huge moment in their own lives.) Both books also deal with some sort of tragedy involving those same girls. But the similarities largely end there. While Suicides is a look at the unraveling of a family told by outsiders, The Fates mostly examines the after-effects of Nora’s disappearance on the boys themselves. I don’t really thing it’s “spoilery” to say that we never do find out what became of her. That’s not really the point of the book. While their theories about her fate are interspersed within the story, most of it deals with the boys’ (and later, men’s) relationships with each other and their families.
Overall, I really liked the book. Hannah Pittard’s prose didn’t get in the way of the plot, and it actually moved very quickly. (I finished half the book in one day, and the rest in brief reading sessions during the rest of the week.) Her words are eloquent without being too flowery; poignant without being too preachy:
“We were growing up. It was one of those moments when you could practically feel the adult pushing out, pushing forward into the world. Perspective suddenly existed where it hadn’t existed before. This was just the beginning of our lives—our lives, things that we were responsible for, things that we could control. It seemed all at once too big and too simple an idea.”
“We thought about how little had happened in our lives, but how quickly the little that had happened had actually gone by.”
Aside from Tina Fey’s memoir, this is the first book released in 2011 that I’ve read. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it end up somewhere on my top 10 list at the end of the year.
This was a short, boring book. I read it in one day only because i was in NH with nothing much else to do. In the beginning, a 16 year old girl goes missing, and they never find her. The rest of the book is about the neighborhood boys and how they imagine her life turned out. They talk about it every year till they're at least in their 40s or older, because their lives are pretty boring apparently. We don't get closure on what exactly happened, and nothing really happens to these guys either, they just live their lives as a mirror of their boring parents, wasting away in the suburbs again. it's pretty depressing and boring and it's really a book about nothing. yet, because i was able to get through it, as i kept expecting something to happen, i'll give it 2 stars it was ok rather than one. you can probably skip this one, though.
The Fates is a story about a girl who goes missing and the many possibilities of what happened to her as speculated by a group of boys. Her classmates are obsessed with thinking about where she went and how her life ended up as they grow up themselves. It's a very quick and easy read. It reminded me of myla goldberg's "a false friend", which I enjoyed a lot. I didn't find it groundbreaking but a very good plane read.
So many reviews have called Pittard's writing haunting, and made connections to Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides, but there is more to it than that. I constantly had the feeling of watching the plot unfold through the clicking and clattering of old film home movies. The recollections have that dreamy, dark around the edges quality. Each conversation among the boys so clearly as that basement feeling, the way you get when you're huddled beneath your parent (or some parent's) house. I love the attention to myth building, to the way that information gets passed along in small towns. I want so desperately for their version of the tale to be right.
I read this mostly in low, warm lighting, under blankets and pashminas. There is a need to burrow while listening to this story, to give yourself up to the warmth and quasi-slumber state as you lose yourself in the collective we.
I read this mostly in low, warm lighting, under blankets and pashminas. There is a need to burrow while listening to this story, to give yourself up to the warmth and quasi-slumber state as you lose yourself in the collective we.
Not as good as I had hoped. I had heard many great things about this novel and I was greatly looking forward to it. The premise was interesting -- the effect of a missing 16-year-old girl on the neighborhood boys who loved her. Turns out I'm really not that interested in a 45-year-old man obsessing about the girl he once knew. It grew tedious at times; but I think that it probably just wasn't for me because I didn't like it for the same reason I never liked the TV show "Scrubs" -- I prefer actual stories and events, not constant imagination and speculation within a novel.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
Call it stylistic differences or whatever you want but this book felt like a weak stream-of-consciousness tale to me. According to critics it was "percussive" but I say lazy. The plot drifted, got vague, and a little whiny. I didn't even buy the premise which is that a group of pre-teen boys will spend the rest of their lives pining for a girl who disappeared in their youth. Just did not work for me on any level.
This is a tough book.
It's well written and compelling but it's also confusing and unpleasant. I do not know how true to life this version of life from the POV of boys and men is (especially since it's written by a woman) but I really, really hope that it is way off base. It makes most men seem very unpleasant. Unpleasant and immature to their core.
As for what happened to Nora (an unpleasant, confusing, unlikeable character) I guess I'm not sure. I think I know the truth but like "the boys" who narrate, I will always wonder a little bit about those bones.
It's well written and compelling but it's also confusing and unpleasant. I do not know how true to life this version of life from the POV of boys and men is (especially since it's written by a woman) but I really, really hope that it is way off base. It makes most men seem very unpleasant. Unpleasant and immature to their core.
As for what happened to Nora (an unpleasant, confusing, unlikeable character) I guess I'm not sure. I think I know the truth but like "the boys" who narrate, I will always wonder a little bit about those bones.
meh. I expected a lot and didn't get as much as I'd have liked. The concept was compelling, but the story was somewhat exhausting to read, despite it being an easy read... if that makes any sense.