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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I really liked this book, but it has a lot of information, so it took me a while to read and process the information I was reading. I loved it
I would recommend this book to a patient reader. It has a very slow setup, it takes about 100 pages for the author to draw you in, and then by page 200 you can't put it down. The main character time travels to Vienna in 1897, which I found fascinating. Freud is a main character, so if you are interested in psychology this may appeal to you.
Hard to imagine how much I liked this book - after first starting it and putting it down as "probably not worth it"... wow - really glad I gave it another chance - its really good... and something I'll be musing about for a while...
except - I really do believe that Wheeler is his father's father... there's just no way that he isnt. (I wonder if she knew?)
except - I really do believe that Wheeler is his father's father... there's just no way that he isnt. (I wonder if she knew?)
The beginning of this book is amazing. Learning about Wheeler and Dilly is just great storytelling. However, half way through the book starts to get a bit out there and, some might say, ridiculous. It never gets off the rails but it wobbles. The first part i give a 5 out of 5 and the second half a 3 out of 5.
This book was...oh what's a good word....different.
In short, a guy (he's a famous rock and roller, but that doesn't really have much to do with it) goes back in time and meets his dad (whom he never knew), his grandfather (whom he is hiding from because the guy is a disagreeable brute), his grandmother (who ends up knowing all and he happens to fall in love with) and various other people he knows from his present life. As well, he meets Hitler, as a little boy, seeing clearly how he became who he was, and Freud, who wasn't much help at all.
Not that I am recommending this book, but it's interesting that it took the author twenty-five years to write. Kind of a waste of time, yet intriguing.
In short, a guy (he's a famous rock and roller, but that doesn't really have much to do with it) goes back in time and meets his dad (whom he never knew), his grandfather (whom he is hiding from because the guy is a disagreeable brute), his grandmother (who ends up knowing all and he happens to fall in love with) and various other people he knows from his present life. As well, he meets Hitler, as a little boy, seeing clearly how he became who he was, and Freud, who wasn't much help at all.
Not that I am recommending this book, but it's interesting that it took the author twenty-five years to write. Kind of a waste of time, yet intriguing.
Love this book! It encompasses so much history, philosophy, and politics while also weaving a complicated love story.
Very disappointing.
From the description I thought it would be right up my alley: Time travel, 19th century Vienna, Freud, Wittgenstein, baseball, intergenerational family drama ... what's not to like, right?
However, no need for spoiler alerts; the foreshadowing is so heavy-handed that by page 80 or so you can predict all the major plot twists and can put the book down. No joke.
From the description I thought it would be right up my alley: Time travel, 19th century Vienna, Freud, Wittgenstein, baseball, intergenerational family drama ... what's not to like, right?
However, no need for spoiler alerts; the foreshadowing is so heavy-handed that by page 80 or so you can predict all the major plot twists and can put the book down. No joke.
I ended up being a bit disappointed in The Little Book: A Novel. It started off interestingly enough, with Wheeler Burden waking up in Vienna in 1897 with his last memory being from 91 years later. However, the characters were a little too incredible for words - nobody is that perfect. It was interesting to get a sense of Vienna at that time though, where music and art were so important, Freud had yet to become well known, and Hitler was a young boy of 8. However, as Wheeler tries to come to terms with his new present as well as his past, the story just went in a direction I wasn't entirely comfortable with. Overall though it was an entertaining enough read.
I almost gave up on this one. The author (and modern-day characters') intense fascination with all things Vienna at the turn of the 20th century felt inexplicable and extremely tedious to me. In fact there was lots of fed-up, dramatic sighing on my part while reading anywhere in the vicinity of my husband. I stuck with it and at 150ish pages I became mostly hooked once the story gained major momentum. Some odd, interesting turns and an oddly sweet relationship I didn't expect.