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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Um yeah. I was reading this book, and then I wasn't. I didn't get very far. I have no discipline. I don't even remember where it went. I guess I returned it to the library. Hmph, it's all a distant memory...
My mouse just hovered over the stars above this review box for about a minute, going back and forth between "I liked it" and "I really liked it." Three or four stars? Did I like it or really like it? I settled on liking it.
It's a really engaging read. The main character, Wheeler Burden, is a sort of mythical American man, good at everything every boy wants to be good at. He is son to a man very much like him. That the author manages to make these uber-men seem believable is a great testament to his skill. That he places them believably in Vienna in 1897 through some bizarre time shifting experience is an even greater testament.
Vienna is beautifully and lovingly drawn here, almost a travelogue in time. The specificity of place is an exciting part of the story. It also, for me, was where the story got a little gimmicky. One conversation with Freud about his theories was interesting, an opportunity for the modern man to argue with the father of psychoanalysis. The second was less interesting and by the third, I just didn't care anymore. That travelogue feeling could get a little ridiculous, too. "And look who else is here! It's Mahler! And here's Adolf Hitler as a child! And Mark Twain!" And our modern man touches in with all of them. It's a little like Lifestyles of the Famous in 1897 with our host, Wheeler Burden.
But all that aside, the story is well crafted and touching. The characters manage to retain their humanity through very dramatic events and I had a very hard time putting it down. I loved the way the story bent time and highlights the circles of lifetimes. There's real beauty in that.
It's a really engaging read. The main character, Wheeler Burden, is a sort of mythical American man, good at everything every boy wants to be good at. He is son to a man very much like him. That the author manages to make these uber-men seem believable is a great testament to his skill. That he places them believably in Vienna in 1897 through some bizarre time shifting experience is an even greater testament.
Vienna is beautifully and lovingly drawn here, almost a travelogue in time. The specificity of place is an exciting part of the story. It also, for me, was where the story got a little gimmicky. One conversation with Freud about his theories was interesting, an opportunity for the modern man to argue with the father of psychoanalysis. The second was less interesting and by the third, I just didn't care anymore. That travelogue feeling could get a little ridiculous, too. "And look who else is here! It's Mahler! And here's Adolf Hitler as a child! And Mark Twain!" And our modern man touches in with all of them. It's a little like Lifestyles of the Famous in 1897 with our host, Wheeler Burden.
But all that aside, the story is well crafted and touching. The characters manage to retain their humanity through very dramatic events and I had a very hard time putting it down. I loved the way the story bent time and highlights the circles of lifetimes. There's real beauty in that.
This enchanting novel ranks high on my list of best books I've ever read. It apparently took the author like 30 years to write, but I think it was worth the wait. It's the story of Frank Standish Burden III, known to his public as Wheeler, an aging rock star of the 70s and early 80s (modeled to some degree on David Crosby) who one day finds himself emerging from a mental haze as he walks down the Ringstrasse in Vienna in the year 1897. Apparently suffering from some weird kind of partial amnesia he has no idea how or why he has been transported into the past. Over the course of the novel, we learn a great deal about his life, as well as the life of his war hero father, Dilly Burden, and various other relatives and ancestors. We also encounter some famous people from the period of time in Vienna he finds himself stranded in, including Sigmund Freud and Gustav Mahler, and everyone plays a part in the mystery of Wheeler's displacement. The main characters here are well drawn and totally endearing without exception. I was completely immersed in this book from beginning to end, and it was one of those stories, for me at least, that just kept getting better and better right up to the very satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended, especially for fans of historicals.
My love for books involving time travel goes back to reading "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" in high school--and, indeed, Mark Twain makes a showing here, as do many other fascinating historical characters from Gustav Mahler to Sigmund Freud to Klaus Lueger, the mayor of Vienna who set in motion a disastrous anti-Semitic movement near the end of the 19th century. The plot and characters (in and out of their "real" times) move through the upheavals of the first half of the 20th century.
Selden Edwards wrote the book--his first novel--over 30 years, and it shows. It's repetitively layered, and there are a couple of loose ends and more than a few edits needed, including the kind that make an English teacher and headmaster like Edwards cringe. The plotting is so layered and intricate that it's easy to imagine getting lost in the writing, over such a long time, believing you have already mentioned ____, but need to reinforce_____, and are unable to excise ______, because you loved that part from the moment you set it on paper. The prose is clear, but hardly exceptional, including the occasional bit of academic obfuscation.
So what is it about this book that made me like it so much? It's the idea that history repeats itself, that humankind does not learn from its own (sometimes glorious) mistakes, and that...inexplicable stuff happens, all the time. There are no coincidences. And our only redemption, as a race, comes from our love and caring for one another. Those things, which anchor this odd little book, made it worth five stars, to me.
Selden Edwards wrote the book--his first novel--over 30 years, and it shows. It's repetitively layered, and there are a couple of loose ends and more than a few edits needed, including the kind that make an English teacher and headmaster like Edwards cringe. The plotting is so layered and intricate that it's easy to imagine getting lost in the writing, over such a long time, believing you have already mentioned ____, but need to reinforce_____, and are unable to excise ______, because you loved that part from the moment you set it on paper. The prose is clear, but hardly exceptional, including the occasional bit of academic obfuscation.
So what is it about this book that made me like it so much? It's the idea that history repeats itself, that humankind does not learn from its own (sometimes glorious) mistakes, and that...inexplicable stuff happens, all the time. There are no coincidences. And our only redemption, as a race, comes from our love and caring for one another. Those things, which anchor this odd little book, made it worth five stars, to me.
This reminds me a bit of [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], but more rooted in history. The characters are complex and well-realized and the intricacies of their connections, while telegraphed a bit too clearly at times, are fascinating.
I think I would maybe give this 4.5 if I could. It was a strangely attractive book. Despite the fact that you know it's narrated by the main character's mother, it feels almost detached and distant. There are multiple threads that follow different characters during different ears, which could have been disastrous. It works, though, rounding out the whole picture of nearly a century of non-linear living. Like any time travel story, it kind of put my brain in a jumble trying to think out the repercussions and loops. I enjoyed it, and found it touching, emotional, and thought-provoking.
Only about 1/4 into it I can highly recommend it. Well written and intriguing, the book is well worth picking up.
Okay now I'm through it and I loved it. Romantic, intriguing, interesting, well written. I highly recommend it and am greatly looking forward to The Lost Prince which I'll pick up my dad in a couple of days.
Okay now I'm through it and I loved it. Romantic, intriguing, interesting, well written. I highly recommend it and am greatly looking forward to The Lost Prince which I'll pick up my dad in a couple of days.
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
8.5 ⭐️
This is the newest addition to my recommended book list. A fantastic back-and-forth between the present-day and 1800s Vienna, [book:The Little Book] brings in classical music, art, psychology, philosophy, baseball, and rock-and-roll. The story does contain fairly pervasive talk about sex (mainly because Freud is a major character), but - for the first time in a long time of reading - it all seemed necessary to the plot. It's an interesting look at father-son relationships and at how history affects life every day. An incredible debut novel.