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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Haunting and beautiful and funny and painful and everything wrapped into one.
I'd really put it at a 3.5. Some sections are better than others, but I loved how everything weaved together in the end.
Unsure, really. Parts are insanely affecting. Others are not. Feels unfinished even if he did work on it for close to a decade.
Based on pure reader response, this is probably a 4-star book for me, but there is so much beauty, wisdom, and poignancy packed into so little space, and the writing is literally lyrical. I couldn't possibly give it a lower rating.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Okay, I loved this. Turns out I really appreciate a good rhyme, and connected character studies.
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Grief
This novel written in verse is a fast read; I thought the rhyming would seem cutesy and gimmicky, but it was a good story that kept my attention. The author died young a few years ago, and I couldn't stop thinking about that fact while I read this book. it also made me want to go back and read more Calvin Trillin!
Extra points for mentioning a street that I used to live on: "That led him for blocks the wrong way on Guerrero..." Some of my favorite rhymes: despotic/erotic, captor/slapped her, two-ish/Jewish, adolescence/phosporescence, who so/Rousseau, you see 'em/museum, plastered/bastard, hurt you/virtue, vomit/bomb it, Julian/cerulean.
So so sad that there isn't going to be any more wonderful David Rakoff to read.
Not prepared for this to be a poem. It was an interesting format but I wanted to know more about the characters.