Scan barcode
suvata's review against another edition
3.0
• Reading Envy Podcast Readalong for June 2020
Reading this book was like being the head of a neurotic for 1,000 pages. This never-ceasing stream of consciousness actually made me anxious at times (bring on the Xanax). Yet, there was something compelling about the writing that made me want to keep reading. I do a lot of practice to control my “monkey mind“. This book was 30+ hours“ of pure, unadulterated “monkey mind”. A veritable encyclopedia of the first part of the 21st Century in America — Very unique and hard to rate.
Reading this book was like being the head of a neurotic for 1,000 pages. This never-ceasing stream of consciousness actually made me anxious at times (bring on the Xanax). Yet, there was something compelling about the writing that made me want to keep reading. I do a lot of practice to control my “monkey mind“. This book was 30+ hours“ of pure, unadulterated “monkey mind”. A veritable encyclopedia of the first part of the 21st Century in America — Very unique and hard to rate.
niamhreadgood's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
kasdaye's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
bookbelle5_17's review against another edition
I only made it to page 14, but I couldn't do it. I understand what the author is trying to say about motherhood, but I couldn't do 988 pages of our narrators endless thoughts. I wish I could have read it but as soon as I started looking for page breaks and I need more of a story. It's a good thing I didn't buy this at BooksaMillion, but at the used bookshop where I only spent $3 on this. BTW, the reason there is such a gap and I only made it to page 14 is, because I put it down for a little while.
mkwojcie's review against another edition
5.0
"the fact that maybe my pies are even antidotes to gun violence, the fact that, on the other hand, they might be fueling gun crime, the fact that for all I know there may be perps getting energized by my pies, and comfort-eating them after they carry out their crimes, the fact that what if my cinnamon rolls have given some gunslinger the energy to, shoot his wife or something, for no reason, the fact that that could be my new pie slogan, 'The Family Annihilator's Reward'"
For the first fifteen pages of this novel, the syntax drove me absolutely nuts, and I was sure that I wouldn't finish. But WOW. I am so glad I gave it enough time to suck me in, because once it did it was completely mesmerizing--SO funny, devastating, memorable, lingering and full of incident, anxiety, and humanity. It vividly paints in words what it's like to live in an age of incessant news cycles, when making a pie and thinking about gun violence become inseparable, but it also, by the end, just makes you really glad to be alive.
For the first fifteen pages of this novel, the syntax drove me absolutely nuts, and I was sure that I wouldn't finish. But WOW. I am so glad I gave it enough time to suck me in, because once it did it was completely mesmerizing--SO funny, devastating, memorable, lingering and full of incident, anxiety, and humanity. It vividly paints in words what it's like to live in an age of incessant news cycles, when making a pie and thinking about gun violence become inseparable, but it also, by the end, just makes you really glad to be alive.
bleepbloop's review against another edition
challenging
funny
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? Yes
5.0
incredible.
thegreatestpossibleresonance's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
runningbeard's review against another edition
5.0
40 pages in.
Dear lord what have I gotten myself in to? Two? two's company, three's a crowd, Three's Company! John Ritter. Joyce Dewitt. Twit. Sit Ubu sit. The fact that I can't stop reading the Great American Word Purge. Purge? I really hate that word, it grates. Great Balls of Fire, a Bird on a Wire, tire. Rotation. Space invasion. Can't stop. Jane, get me of this crazy thing!
Dear lord what have I gotten myself in to? Two? two's company, three's a crowd, Three's Company! John Ritter. Joyce Dewitt. Twit. Sit Ubu sit. The fact that I can't stop reading the Great American Word Purge. Purge? I really hate that word, it grates. Great Balls of Fire, a Bird on a Wire, tire. Rotation. Space invasion. Can't stop. Jane, get me of this crazy thing!
shoulder_pads's review against another edition
5.0
I don't think I can properly express how much I loved this book. It's a love letter to the human race, chronicling the complexities and details that make up the running monologue inside everyone. Every little fact that we pick up, every novel we read, every person we interact with, all gathers like a snowball in our minds to form a completely unique and complex collection of thoughts that make us who we are. The narrator's little tics, her neuroses, Laura Ingalls Wilder, pastry baking, her backyard chickens, her children, her husband, her mother, they all work over the course of this massive 1000 page novel to create this person who feels so real, and insanely relatable.
I have a lot more thoughts about this novel but at its core it made me think deeply about the roles of motherhood, domesticity, the beauty to be found in your own backyard, and finding your place in a world you have little control over. Despite its length and one sentence format, I found this book to be a relatively "easy" read on the surface, and I could really feel how much love and attention was put into it.
I totally get why people don't like this book and could be put off by it, but it's easily one of the best novels I've read in recent memory and I loved both its ambition and its execution.
I have a lot more thoughts about this novel but at its core it made me think deeply about the roles of motherhood, domesticity, the beauty to be found in your own backyard, and finding your place in a world you have little control over. Despite its length and one sentence format, I found this book to be a relatively "easy" read on the surface, and I could really feel how much love and attention was put into it.
I totally get why people don't like this book and could be put off by it, but it's easily one of the best novels I've read in recent memory and I loved both its ambition and its execution.