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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness
A slow-starter, but after about Chapter 5 or so, it really picks up - the characters are so vivid and strange and the story is sadly fascinating.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
The overall feel of this book reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird. A grittier version.
I've read others' reviews, highlighting their dissatisfaction with the main characters ... I'm not sure the author wanted us to love them. Art it supposed to make us feel strongly ... didn't she achieve that? I neither liked nor hated the characters. I wanted to hold them at arm's length, and they were each complex and interesting enough to keep me reading.
The story is cringe-worthy, for its intimate portrayal of selfishness, hedonism, struggle, ego and fear. Somehow being in the heads of these characters felt almost too invasive ... which I enjoyed.
Yes, I found myself a little confused at times, and the mysteries were solved by focused attention.
Read it. You won't be disappointed.
I've read others' reviews, highlighting their dissatisfaction with the main characters ... I'm not sure the author wanted us to love them. Art it supposed to make us feel strongly ... didn't she achieve that? I neither liked nor hated the characters. I wanted to hold them at arm's length, and they were each complex and interesting enough to keep me reading.
The story is cringe-worthy, for its intimate portrayal of selfishness, hedonism, struggle, ego and fear. Somehow being in the heads of these characters felt almost too invasive ... which I enjoyed.
Yes, I found myself a little confused at times, and the mysteries were solved by focused attention.
Read it. You won't be disappointed.
Well written book, but deeply disturbing and terrifying is the period of American history before racial equality that it describes .
I liked/ believed some characters much more than others, or else I would've liked the whole book a lot more.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The reviews tend to say that this novel is a mess, and I suppose it is. Still, I liked it the best of her novels. The writing, as always, was quite beautiful and thoughtful. But where in her other books I always have the feeling that none of her characters were capable of communicating or creating connections, in this book I at least felt that was a possibility. Of course, it basically goes unrealized and what we have here (with apologies to Cool Hand Luke) is a failure to communicate.
It didn't bother me as much this time. The book centers around four characters, all of whom are loathsome to one degree or another. Worst is the Judge, and ex-Congressman who dreams of redeeming Confederate currency so that the South might be able to return to its former glory. Then there's his grandson, who is aimless and more than a little thoughtless. There is the local pharmicist, who is in denial about his diagnosis if leukemia, but doesn't really do much except endlessly seek second opinions. And finally, there is Sherman Pew, a black orphan who is understandably rude and haughty, but unlikeable all the same and is a compulsive liar.
The story, or what there is of one, is largely an exploration of existentialism. None of these characters actually holds any real beliefs or ideals, so they are all looking for them. The Judge finds his meaning in his own narcissism. He's a glutton and entirely self-satisfied. The grandson is looking for a calling in life, and thinks it might be in flying. He is also mightily confused about his sexual identity, and he confuses sexual longing with his need to rebel against his grandfather. Sherman takes his identity and his meaning of life from his conjecture about who is mother was. He is convinced that she must have been a great black woman, abused by some horrid white oppressor. The druggist takes his meaning from the denial of his own mortality.
It all sounds pretty grim, and for the most part it is. But the characters are fascinating, and here there at least seems to be some chance that they will find some human connection. Thus, I found this to be the most hopeful of her books. I also think it's pretty amazing that she can draw a character as thoroughly horrible as the judge, and still have him be more than a cartoon villain.
As for the book being a mess, from the standpoint of a story, it clearly is. But thematically, I think it worked quite well and I'm glad I read it.
It didn't bother me as much this time. The book centers around four characters, all of whom are loathsome to one degree or another. Worst is the Judge, and ex-Congressman who dreams of redeeming Confederate currency so that the South might be able to return to its former glory. Then there's his grandson, who is aimless and more than a little thoughtless. There is the local pharmicist, who is in denial about his diagnosis if leukemia, but doesn't really do much except endlessly seek second opinions. And finally, there is Sherman Pew, a black orphan who is understandably rude and haughty, but unlikeable all the same and is a compulsive liar.
The story, or what there is of one, is largely an exploration of existentialism. None of these characters actually holds any real beliefs or ideals, so they are all looking for them. The Judge finds his meaning in his own narcissism. He's a glutton and entirely self-satisfied. The grandson is looking for a calling in life, and thinks it might be in flying. He is also mightily confused about his sexual identity, and he confuses sexual longing with his need to rebel against his grandfather. Sherman takes his identity and his meaning of life from his conjecture about who is mother was. He is convinced that she must have been a great black woman, abused by some horrid white oppressor. The druggist takes his meaning from the denial of his own mortality.
It all sounds pretty grim, and for the most part it is. But the characters are fascinating, and here there at least seems to be some chance that they will find some human connection. Thus, I found this to be the most hopeful of her books. I also think it's pretty amazing that she can draw a character as thoroughly horrible as the judge, and still have him be more than a cartoon villain.
As for the book being a mess, from the standpoint of a story, it clearly is. But thematically, I think it worked quite well and I'm glad I read it.
challenging
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No