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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Picked this one up at the airport (good thing since I ended up sitting on the runway for 3 hours prior to our 6 hour flight). It was a great choice.
Story of a man who goes back in time from 2000 to Vienna in the 1800s and interacts with Freud, Mahler, Hitler (as a child) and others who were on the scene at the time.
Well done. A little let down at the end, but generally a good, fun read.
Story of a man who goes back in time from 2000 to Vienna in the 1800s and interacts with Freud, Mahler, Hitler (as a child) and others who were on the scene at the time.
Well done. A little let down at the end, but generally a good, fun read.
After polishing off [b:The Time Traveler's Wife|14050|The Time Traveler's Wife|Audrey Niffenegger|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31DB3K45TXL._SL75_.jpg|2153746], I had [b:The Little Book|4746029|The Little Book|Selden Edwards|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51l%2BJqX5pNL._SL75_.jpg|3034636] recommended to me since it was also a story of relationships and time travel.
This time, though, our hero, Wheeler Burden, gets to stay in one place: turn-of-the-century Vienna. I'll leave you to discover the circumstances behind his arrival, but what I can tell you is he gets to meet, along with Sigmund Freud and Mark Twain, a father he never knew and a grandfather he wished he never met. The characters are well-constructed, and the story weaves them together in a rich, swirly, surprising way.
Who knew Vienna in 1897 had such a concentration of thinkers, artists and scientists? Selden Edwards does a masterful job of placing historical gems throughout the story: notes about how the city was built, its history of repelling Turkish invaders, political intrigue, rising anti-Semitism, the flourishing of philosophy, music, psychology. I'm anxious to walk the Ringstrasse someday. I admit to geeking out a bit when it comes to history, which is one of the reasons I loved [b:The Historian|10692|The Historian|Elizabeth Kostova|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170833655s/10692.jpg|3061272] so much.
Edwards has a semi-anachronistic writing style that made understanding his characters a bit of a challenge, but so rewarding in the end. Maybe that's what happens when you take 30 years to finish your novel. It was refreshing, actually, after reading [b:The Lost Symbol|6411961|The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)|Dan Brown|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51jHvD-ZUrL._SL75_.jpg|6600281]. No offense, Dan Brown.
This time, though, our hero, Wheeler Burden, gets to stay in one place: turn-of-the-century Vienna. I'll leave you to discover the circumstances behind his arrival, but what I can tell you is he gets to meet, along with Sigmund Freud and Mark Twain, a father he never knew and a grandfather he wished he never met. The characters are well-constructed, and the story weaves them together in a rich, swirly, surprising way.
Who knew Vienna in 1897 had such a concentration of thinkers, artists and scientists? Selden Edwards does a masterful job of placing historical gems throughout the story: notes about how the city was built, its history of repelling Turkish invaders, political intrigue, rising anti-Semitism, the flourishing of philosophy, music, psychology. I'm anxious to walk the Ringstrasse someday. I admit to geeking out a bit when it comes to history, which is one of the reasons I loved [b:The Historian|10692|The Historian|Elizabeth Kostova|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170833655s/10692.jpg|3061272] so much.
Edwards has a semi-anachronistic writing style that made understanding his characters a bit of a challenge, but so rewarding in the end. Maybe that's what happens when you take 30 years to finish your novel. It was refreshing, actually, after reading [b:The Lost Symbol|6411961|The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)|Dan Brown|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51jHvD-ZUrL._SL75_.jpg|6600281]. No offense, Dan Brown.
Admittedly, there were parts of this book that I didn’t understand as well as I could have (it’s so much to pay attention to!), but I ultimately loved the story.
I fell hard for Wheeler and I think that’s partly because of the narrator’s voice. His voice was AMAZING!
All the time manipulation was great too. Thought-provoking and, at the same time, comforting. I’d definitely recommend this one.
I fell hard for Wheeler and I think that’s partly because of the narrator’s voice. His voice was AMAZING!
All the time manipulation was great too. Thought-provoking and, at the same time, comforting. I’d definitely recommend this one.
Time travel books can be so tricky: how is the travel approached? why is the person traveling? does it make sense? In this case, the answer is that the author managed those things well and that, coupled with writing about an interesting era and believable characters led to a five star review.
Fin de siècle Vienna, filled with Secessionist thinkers and artists, Freud and the start of the anti-Semetic movement that will lead to Hitler is one of those times and places you wish you could visit (ok, a time and place I wish I could visit!) and it has lovingly been brought to life by "the Haze", a beloved teacher at St. Gregory's school near Boston. At least two generations of boys have heard many of his thoughts and quotations from the writers, philosophers and authors he knew as a young man; generations that included Frank Standish Burden Jr and III.
Wheeler (aka III) was an unconventional child, an autodidact who was an amazing baseball pitcher and good enough musician to play both Woodstock and Altamont. He has written a book that collates the Haze's writings and sayings, and suddenly he finds himself in Vienna, 80 years earlier. One of the people he meets there is Dilly (aka Jr) - they also meet Weezie (who will become Dilly's mother), the Haze, and Burden Senior. Because this is historical fiction, Mark Twain, Klimt, Freud and Churchill make appearances.
The writing brings both timelines alive in a way I hadn't expected. One or two characters seemed so real I was surprised when they turned out to be products of the author's imagination! The reason behind the time travel (an escape from the pain of death) actually made sense; the results of their actions also made sense, something that doesn't always follow.
Fin de siècle Vienna, filled with Secessionist thinkers and artists, Freud and the start of the anti-Semetic movement that will lead to Hitler is one of those times and places you wish you could visit (ok, a time and place I wish I could visit!) and it has lovingly been brought to life by "the Haze", a beloved teacher at St. Gregory's school near Boston. At least two generations of boys have heard many of his thoughts and quotations from the writers, philosophers and authors he knew as a young man; generations that included Frank Standish Burden Jr and III.
Wheeler (aka III) was an unconventional child, an autodidact who was an amazing baseball pitcher and good enough musician to play both Woodstock and Altamont. He has written a book that collates the Haze's writings and sayings, and suddenly he finds himself in Vienna, 80 years earlier. One of the people he meets there is Dilly (aka Jr) - they also meet Weezie (who will become Dilly's mother), the Haze, and Burden Senior. Because this is historical fiction, Mark Twain, Klimt, Freud and Churchill make appearances.
The writing brings both timelines alive in a way I hadn't expected. One or two characters seemed so real I was surprised when they turned out to be products of the author's imagination! The reason behind the time travel (an escape from the pain of death) actually made sense; the results of their actions also made sense, something that doesn't always follow.
I usually love time-travel books, but this one lacked cohesiveness and got bogged down in the middle. The wonderful premise was never enacted and fleshed out in a credible way.
Slow to start but I really got into it in the end!! Lots of plot twists that I wasn't expecting, and the story was beautifully told. The author did a great job of intertwining fictional characters and plot lines with real people and events. I liked that there was an element of science fiction but it was not the focus of the story. What beautiful relationships he developed - I was in tears several times by the end!
I believe our impressions of books are caught by the time and/or order in which we read them. I happen to be a big fan of The Time Traveler's Wife, which in my opinion, nailed the time travel thing with characters I cared about.
It feels like The Little Book flits over way to many subjects. I would have found it more compelling if the story had been more focused on either the Burden family OR the historical aspects. It seems as though the story just 'skims'...the characters, the historical component, the relationships.
Maybe if Mr. Selden had completed this work in 20 instead of 30 years, it would have spoken to me more.
It feels like The Little Book flits over way to many subjects. I would have found it more compelling if the story had been more focused on either the Burden family OR the historical aspects. It seems as though the story just 'skims'...the characters, the historical component, the relationships.
Maybe if Mr. Selden had completed this work in 20 instead of 30 years, it would have spoken to me more.
There's something about this book that defies reviewing. It's hard to describe, hard to summarize. It's kind of Time Traveler's Wife (I mean, there is time travel, and there's a romance that is complicated by said traveling) meets Forrest Gump (in the sense that Forrest "accidentally" caused a lot of historical events to occur, or participated in them significantly), if that makes any sense at all. Which is probably doesn't. And even if it does, that hardly captures the essence of this book at all.
The premise is that a young man from the 1970s is transported back to 1897 Vienna, which I gather was a kind of golden age for that city, the birth of many modern cultural phenomena. It then deals with historical figures like Gustav Mahler and Sigmund Freud, as well as exploring some WW2 history through the life of the young man's father. There's also a bit of a comparison between that period in Vienna and what was going on in the US in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Fascinating ideas about changing history, participating in the past, and cause and effect are raised in the course of the story.
I could go on and on, but let me just say that this book was a hidden gem I picked up off a bookstore's used shelf (though it was also a NYT bestseller). It's hard to put my finger on exactly what makes it stand out so much - the style, the intricate portraits that were beautifully painted of each character, the mix of fiction and history, and the ideas of time as circular and many lives intersecting again and again... but overall, since this was a 30-year project for the author, almost entirely based on that fact alone, it's certainly worth checking out.
The premise is that a young man from the 1970s is transported back to 1897 Vienna, which I gather was a kind of golden age for that city, the birth of many modern cultural phenomena. It then deals with historical figures like Gustav Mahler and Sigmund Freud, as well as exploring some WW2 history through the life of the young man's father. There's also a bit of a comparison between that period in Vienna and what was going on in the US in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Fascinating ideas about changing history, participating in the past, and cause and effect are raised in the course of the story.
I could go on and on, but let me just say that this book was a hidden gem I picked up off a bookstore's used shelf (though it was also a NYT bestseller). It's hard to put my finger on exactly what makes it stand out so much - the style, the intricate portraits that were beautifully painted of each character, the mix of fiction and history, and the ideas of time as circular and many lives intersecting again and again... but overall, since this was a 30-year project for the author, almost entirely based on that fact alone, it's certainly worth checking out.
At times I was totally enthralled by the story, eager to find out what happens to characters, caught up in their emotions and histories and futures (since characters time travel from various times in the 20th century to 1890s Vienna, it makes for some interesting situations, and pieces of the story take on different meaning as you go). At other times, though, I could have cared less about a few plot-lines, or the story over-emphasized Wheeler’s genius to the point of disconnection. What can’t this man do? He can match wits with famous pyschologists and philosophers, discuss and play music with the greats, reinvent the Frisbee, pitch a perfect game of baseball - and time travel. The man doesn't just time travel - he and his father time travel because they want something badly enough. I can suspend my disbelief for most forms of time travel, but through sheer willpower? Sorry, no. All these genius accomplishments makes him pretty obnoxious, to me at least. But the story is interesting, and some of the other characters are more compelling. So I’m kind of torn. It reminds me a little of John Irving in terms of that over-the-top sense of plot and character and significance given to details. If Wheeler had seemed more human, I would have been sold on the book much more easily. I didn't need the overarching themes of history - I much prefer ordinary people.
As far as recommending this - if the concept sounds interesting, and you aren't bothered by overly brilliant characters, it's a pretty fun read, and the audio version isn't bad.
As far as recommending this - if the concept sounds interesting, and you aren't bothered by overly brilliant characters, it's a pretty fun read, and the audio version isn't bad.
I found the book to be a very entertaining look into life in fin de siècle Vienna. I loved how the story of the Burden family unraveled and the way that Edwards showed the cause and effects of "time travel" - ultimately that things will turn out the way they are supposed to!