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geekwayne's review against another edition
4.0
'Enon' by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Harding, is a heartbreaking work. The story mainly takes place internally, but it's still a pretty great read, even if you want to scream and shout at the main character.
Charlie Crosby suffers the worst possible kind of grief at the beginning of this novel, the loss of a child. When he commits an act of violence, things just spiral further and further down. Charlie finds himself addicted, living in squalor and committing more violence in the town he has called home for his whole life. Can he break this cycle and resurface?
The time in the book shifts around like memory does in our minds. Rarely do we think linear, and neither does Charlie. He goes from memories of his grandfather, to trying to score more drugs, then to his last day with his child, and back around again. The book takes place over a year, but Charlie is so lost in himself and his actions that it's mostly lost to him and to us.
I liked the writing and while I had a hard time sympathizing with Charlie at certain points, it was still an interesting character journey.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
Charlie Crosby suffers the worst possible kind of grief at the beginning of this novel, the loss of a child. When he commits an act of violence, things just spiral further and further down. Charlie finds himself addicted, living in squalor and committing more violence in the town he has called home for his whole life. Can he break this cycle and resurface?
The time in the book shifts around like memory does in our minds. Rarely do we think linear, and neither does Charlie. He goes from memories of his grandfather, to trying to score more drugs, then to his last day with his child, and back around again. The book takes place over a year, but Charlie is so lost in himself and his actions that it's mostly lost to him and to us.
I liked the writing and while I had a hard time sympathizing with Charlie at certain points, it was still an interesting character journey.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
wanderinggoy's review against another edition
1.0
I didn’t finish this book. I was in no way thrilled the way I was by ‘This Other Eden’, and the flat non-thrillingness went on for so long that I gave up at about 1/3 of the book.
krobart's review against another edition
3.0
See my review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/day-1041-enon/
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/day-1041-enon/
ja3m3's review against another edition
4.0
Once again I have gone back and changed my review stars. I initially gave Enon 3 stars, but have found myself thinking about this story off and on since I finished the book.
In Enon grief is so powerful that it is almost it's own character as we watch grief encompass the life of a father as he slides into the pit of despair over the death of his daughter. What I have been thinking about off and on is that we never know the battles that people are fighting. The guy on the street that we shrug off as a derelict and scurry by - what is his story? what is his heartache that brought him to this point?
Any book that makes me think that we should be kinder to each other and not judge each other so harshly is worth another look.
In Enon grief is so powerful that it is almost it's own character as we watch grief encompass the life of a father as he slides into the pit of despair over the death of his daughter. What I have been thinking about off and on is that we never know the battles that people are fighting. The guy on the street that we shrug off as a derelict and scurry by - what is his story? what is his heartache that brought him to this point?
Any book that makes me think that we should be kinder to each other and not judge each other so harshly is worth another look.
bmg20's review against another edition
2.0
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
A copy of Enon was provided to me by Random House for review purposes.
'I felt like a ghost, listless and confined, wandering in a house that had been mine a century ago, relegated to examining the details of the lives of strangers.'
Enon opens in tragedy. Charlie Crosby misses a life changing phone call from his wife: his only daughter has been hit by a car and died. His struggle to deal with the grief is bad enough but shortly after his wife leaves him as well. Without his wife and daughter in his life he has lost all reason for living. He becomes the very epitome of pain and suffering. He has no one to share this grief with so he internalizes everything and by doing so sends himself on a downward spiral.
Enon is imbued with a suffocating grief that threatens to swallow you whole. The story meanders down a twisting path, lacking any linear pattern but instead forging it's own self-destructive path. I understand the purpose behind the lack of a solid plot as I felt it was representative of Charlie's mindset, but I was still anticipating something monumental to happen. A moment of major significance. But it just didn't happen. The first person point of view gave the book a very monotone feel despite how emotional you would expect it to be.
I think this is a story that will speak to many people, but it almost seems like something you need to be going through personally in order to fully understand, appreciate and relate. Enon portrays just how all-consuming grief can be, especially when you allow it to overtake you.
A copy of Enon was provided to me by Random House for review purposes.
'I felt like a ghost, listless and confined, wandering in a house that had been mine a century ago, relegated to examining the details of the lives of strangers.'
Enon opens in tragedy. Charlie Crosby misses a life changing phone call from his wife: his only daughter has been hit by a car and died. His struggle to deal with the grief is bad enough but shortly after his wife leaves him as well. Without his wife and daughter in his life he has lost all reason for living. He becomes the very epitome of pain and suffering. He has no one to share this grief with so he internalizes everything and by doing so sends himself on a downward spiral.
Enon is imbued with a suffocating grief that threatens to swallow you whole. The story meanders down a twisting path, lacking any linear pattern but instead forging it's own self-destructive path. I understand the purpose behind the lack of a solid plot as I felt it was representative of Charlie's mindset, but I was still anticipating something monumental to happen. A moment of major significance. But it just didn't happen. The first person point of view gave the book a very monotone feel despite how emotional you would expect it to be.
I think this is a story that will speak to many people, but it almost seems like something you need to be going through personally in order to fully understand, appreciate and relate. Enon portrays just how all-consuming grief can be, especially when you allow it to overtake you.
pearloz's review against another edition
5.0
Easily one of the most moving books I've read. Not gonna lie, I shed a few tears, and there wasn't much to dislike about the book (even his unraveling which--while juvenile--was handled pretty well, I thought). Well, I did have a quibble with the hurricane near the end and I sorta resented the fact that he began to "purify" himself after the hurricane came. But other than that (a quibble, really), I think he handled grief the way I would: poorly.
labtracks's review against another edition
3.0
I waffled between being quite moved by this book and hating it, so I will waffle right in the middle on this one. I hate to be non-committal, especially about something that could so clearly go one way or the other for most.
courtandspark's review against another edition
3.0
Well-written and poignant, this tale of mourning proved a slog to read. However, it is a compelling look into the loss of a child.
stevienlcf's review against another edition
3.0
In "Enon," Paul Harding revisits some of the characters from his Pulitzer prize-winning "Tinkers." In this novel, Charlie Crosby, the grandson of the titular clock tinkerer from the earlier book, slowly self-destructs when his beloved only child, 13-year-old Kate, is struck and killed while riding her bicycle in the bucolic New England town of Enon, Massachussets. After Kate's funeral, Charlie punches a hole in the wall of his home, shattering his hand so "I couldn't work or do much of anything that needed doing." Charlie's wife, Susan, a "mystery that remained that way for the duration of [their] marriage," joins her family in Minnesota never to be heard from (nor thought of) again: "I kissed her again and she got into the car and the car pulled out of the driveway and drove off and that was the last time I saw her." Charlie is left to self-medicate with painkillers and whiskey, as he ruminates about the activities that he had shared with Kate -- feeding the birds, practicing running, and playing cribbage. As Charlie descends into unwashed and drug-addled madness, his visions become more unhinged. Although Harding's work is filled with gorgeous, hallucinatory writing, it is a brutal read to watch this haunted, broken protagonist suffer alone with his unfathonable grief.