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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
Ik heb een paar dagen bij de familie Alter doorgebracht.
Ik kende ze niet, maar nu wel. Voor zover je iemand kùnt kennen.
Echt veel opzienbarende dingen hebben ze niet meegemaakt, maar toch is hun verhaal onder mijn huid gekropen.
Hun wankele pogingen om het leven te begrijpen hebben me ontroerd en aan het lachen gebracht.
Hun kwetsbaarheden hebben me geïntrigeerd, niet geïrriteerd.
Hun kleine kantjes maakten ze op één of andere manier mooi.
Ik heb een paar dagen met de Alters doorgebracht. Ik zal ze nooit meer terugzien en uiteindelijk wellicht vergeten.
Maar nu blijven ze nog even bij mij.
Ik kende ze niet, maar nu wel. Voor zover je iemand kùnt kennen.
Echt veel opzienbarende dingen hebben ze niet meegemaakt, maar toch is hun verhaal onder mijn huid gekropen.
Hun wankele pogingen om het leven te begrijpen hebben me ontroerd en aan het lachen gebracht.
Hun kwetsbaarheden hebben me geïntrigeerd, niet geïrriteerd.
Hun kleine kantjes maakten ze op één of andere manier mooi.
Ik heb een paar dagen met de Alters doorgebracht. Ik zal ze nooit meer terugzien en uiteindelijk wellicht vergeten.
Maar nu blijven ze nog even bij mij.
Follow me on Instagram @bookmarkedbya / instagram.com/bookmarkedbya and see my full review at my blog: https://bookmarkedbya.wordpress.com/2019/04/21/the-altruists-andrew-ridker/
*Thanks to Viking for the free book.
The bewildering story of a deeply dysfunctional family that comes together for a long weekend - each for their own personal, and selfish, reasons.
Siblings Ethan and Maggie are living in New York while their estranged father Arthur is behind in their hometown of St. Louis. When their mother died a few years ago, she left a previously secret large sum of money to only her children. Arthur can’t pay the mortgage, and so he devises a plan to guilt trip his children into giving him some of their inheritance. Hi-jinx, discomfort, and secrets uncovered ensue.
This is such an odd, unique family drama. Each family member is totally self-involved and terribly unlikable. While I usually hate unlikable characters, the Alter family is laughably oblivious and the hatred I feel for them is a bonus to the story rather than a hindrance. The weekend in St. Louis, as well as the many flashbacks throughout the narrative, are extremely interesting and help develop the super dynamic characters, all of whom have fascinating motives and reasons for why they’re so terrible. I liken this book to reading a Wes Anderson movie - pretty weird but really good.
*Thanks to Viking for the free book.
The bewildering story of a deeply dysfunctional family that comes together for a long weekend - each for their own personal, and selfish, reasons.
Siblings Ethan and Maggie are living in New York while their estranged father Arthur is behind in their hometown of St. Louis. When their mother died a few years ago, she left a previously secret large sum of money to only her children. Arthur can’t pay the mortgage, and so he devises a plan to guilt trip his children into giving him some of their inheritance. Hi-jinx, discomfort, and secrets uncovered ensue.
This is such an odd, unique family drama. Each family member is totally self-involved and terribly unlikable. While I usually hate unlikable characters, the Alter family is laughably oblivious and the hatred I feel for them is a bonus to the story rather than a hindrance. The weekend in St. Louis, as well as the many flashbacks throughout the narrative, are extremely interesting and help develop the super dynamic characters, all of whom have fascinating motives and reasons for why they’re so terrible. I liken this book to reading a Wes Anderson movie - pretty weird but really good.
I finished it eventually but didn't really love it. The plot was too slow, the writing not engaging enough .
The cover promised that it was brilliant and funny but it was neither. I’m all for an unloveable a character but if I wanted a whole book of them I’d read olive kitteridgr again. Don’t bother.
ok so this is a serious candidate for my book of 2019 award!
I really enjoyed this story of the Alter family. The writing was sharp and sarcastically funny. I didn’t think Ridker could land this puppy, but he did to a surprisingly satisfying conclusion.
I’m kind of rounding up. This book is all over the place. Sometimes you’ll get a scene that feels so real and insightful, and then it’s followed by something totally inauthentic. I don’t know what’s up here, he can definitely write but does he have some hang ups or what? The scene where Ethan confronts Charlie is truly objectionable; I actually want an explanation for it, unless we’re just supposed to accept an extremely
binary view of sexuality. Almost lost a star for a “surprise! how did that happen idk” pregnancy because I hate that but I’ll let it slide. This was just kind of a mess to me.
binary view of sexuality. Almost lost a star for a “surprise! how did that happen idk” pregnancy because I hate that but I’ll let it slide. This was just kind of a mess to me.
Altruism is defined as "the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others" - or "behavior of an animal that benefits another at its own expense". Andrew Ridker's debut novel, The Altruists, carries a title which leads you to believe its story is going to be entirely taken up with characters who practice and live by this belief. Indeed, it is about that. However, there is a bit of an irony in this, for this book is largely about good intentions frequently gone awry.
The book centers around the somewhat quirky Jewish family, the Alters, who live in a St. Louis college town. Arthur, the patriarch, is a a bumbling, questionably-pending-tenure college professor who once had grand ambitions in his life that went terribly wrong; leading him to descend into a disappointed, miserly, cheap existence in his old age. His grown children, Ethan and Maggie, both live their own somewhat discontent lives in New York City: Ethan, a bisexual man who leaves employment even as he extravagantly cashes in on an expensive Manhattan apartment, and Maggie, who "survives" by quite literally starving herself, in the pursuit of living a life of noble intentions helping others. At the heart of this family is mother Francine Alter, a psychiatrist who we understand early on has died from breast cancer, but nonetheless remains a powerful force and uniting factor among all 3 of the remaining Alters throughout the book. Occasionally, Ridker flashes back and narrates episodes from Francine's younger life when she met and married Arthur, then gave birth to and raised the children - ultimately making her perhaps the most sympathetic character of the novel. Much of the story revolves around the fact that Francine had a secret cache of money and investments that she bequeathed to only Ethan and Maggie upon her death; Arthur, failing at his job and finding himself in a pickle with the mortgage on the old family home, invites his children home for a visit to try and coax some of that inheritance from them to ultimately save the house, and in turn, save him.
It's entirely understandable to see why many readers might get through half of this book and want to toss it aside, finding the Alters completely unlikeable. Despite what they feel are their own good intentions, much of what motivates them is revealed to be complete selfishness - Arthur, in my opinion, being the worst of them, though Maggie's motivations were completely bizarre to me at times too. You want to see each of them get a bit of a comeuppance by the end, and I would argue that - if you stick with it - you do. In their own unique, separate ways, they learn their lessons. I would argue too that Francine, somewhat beyond the grave, has her hand in it, and it seems only fitting that she does. Then again, personally, I just love books like this that are so character-driven; there is much that Ridker explores with each one of the family members here.
Truly, it's a book to stick with - the second half is actually quite better than the first. I found it immensely rewarding in the end, drawing to a satisfactory conclusion. Sometimes having good intentions isn't enough. What may be good for one person can be disastrous for another. There is a lot to think about here, after the final page. It's also a remarkable, astute debut novel for such a young writer (28 years old!), and I look forward to reading more from him.
The book centers around the somewhat quirky Jewish family, the Alters, who live in a St. Louis college town. Arthur, the patriarch, is a a bumbling, questionably-pending-tenure college professor who once had grand ambitions in his life that went terribly wrong; leading him to descend into a disappointed, miserly, cheap existence in his old age. His grown children, Ethan and Maggie, both live their own somewhat discontent lives in New York City: Ethan, a bisexual man who leaves employment even as he extravagantly cashes in on an expensive Manhattan apartment, and Maggie, who "survives" by quite literally starving herself, in the pursuit of living a life of noble intentions helping others. At the heart of this family is mother Francine Alter, a psychiatrist who we understand early on has died from breast cancer, but nonetheless remains a powerful force and uniting factor among all 3 of the remaining Alters throughout the book. Occasionally, Ridker flashes back and narrates episodes from Francine's younger life when she met and married Arthur, then gave birth to and raised the children - ultimately making her perhaps the most sympathetic character of the novel. Much of the story revolves around the fact that Francine had a secret cache of money and investments that she bequeathed to only Ethan and Maggie upon her death; Arthur, failing at his job and finding himself in a pickle with the mortgage on the old family home, invites his children home for a visit to try and coax some of that inheritance from them to ultimately save the house, and in turn, save him.
It's entirely understandable to see why many readers might get through half of this book and want to toss it aside, finding the Alters completely unlikeable. Despite what they feel are their own good intentions, much of what motivates them is revealed to be complete selfishness - Arthur, in my opinion, being the worst of them, though Maggie's motivations were completely bizarre to me at times too. You want to see each of them get a bit of a comeuppance by the end, and I would argue that - if you stick with it - you do. In their own unique, separate ways, they learn their lessons. I would argue too that Francine, somewhat beyond the grave, has her hand in it, and it seems only fitting that she does. Then again, personally, I just love books like this that are so character-driven; there is much that Ridker explores with each one of the family members here.
Truly, it's a book to stick with - the second half is actually quite better than the first. I found it immensely rewarding in the end, drawing to a satisfactory conclusion. Sometimes having good intentions isn't enough. What may be good for one person can be disastrous for another. There is a lot to think about here, after the final page. It's also a remarkable, astute debut novel for such a young writer (28 years old!), and I look forward to reading more from him.
I am not one of those people who think you must like the characters to enjoy the novel. However, in The Altruists, I found the characters so unlikeable that I did not care what happened in the story as the story focused on what would happen to them. I did not care about their somewhat petty and misguided problems and therefore, the book was a slug to get through.
I liked it, but didn't love it. The writing was solid, but the story never really gripped me. I think the characters were really hard to care about, which made it hard to care about what happened to them.