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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-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
This is impressively succinct for the amount of characters involved. Most of the male characters are good “regular” Americans, and the drama is created by women experiencing crises of the heart. I found all the characters to be dynamic and (mostly) convincing.
Loved the characters, some more than others, and the depth of description O’Brien brought to each one. But this felt almost like a talented writer emptying out a notebook filled with character studies filled with favorites and key vignettes. This shadow box of treasures screamed out for a story arc, anything that could string together the bright, twinkling moment into something more.
emotional
reflective
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:
Yes
tim. my man, you’ve done it again.
the setup of this entire narrative is pure genius!! alternating stories, constant changing between past & present, build up & intertwining of character lives; so good so good so good.
melancholic & lonely are the first two words i’d think of to describe it. strangely, hauntingly realistic. not sure i’ve ever read a book i’ve felt i’ve lived before in a past life.
this is the second work of tim o’brien’s that i’ve read & i’m absolutely floored by his prose. purely from his recurring themes & writing style, i can adequately say he is the ernest hemingway of our time.
the setup of this entire narrative is pure genius!! alternating stories, constant changing between past & present, build up & intertwining of character lives; so good so good so good.
melancholic & lonely are the first two words i’d think of to describe it. strangely, hauntingly realistic. not sure i’ve ever read a book i’ve felt i’ve lived before in a past life.
this is the second work of tim o’brien’s that i’ve read & i’m absolutely floored by his prose. purely from his recurring themes & writing style, i can adequately say he is the ernest hemingway of our time.
One of those books that if it’s by an unknown author gets four stars, easy, but that because I’ve come to expect so much from O’Brien is a three. Well-written and compelling. My only gripe is the frequency of shared cigarettes. No smoker shares a cigarette as often as the smoker characters in this book do.
O'Brien, one of my favorite writers, doesn't capture today's baby boomers nearly as well as he does the war years - and that results in a rather uneven sketch of a group of 1969 college grads coming together for a reunion in 1999. The best scenes are the flashbacks, which are more believable and intense than the present. I'll still go on to read more O'Brien, but this one was a bit of a disappointment.
An interesting take on the impact of the Vietnam War, O'Brien follows the stories of the class of 69 as revealed in their 30th reunion (one year late). Examining the lives of a variety of characters provides new perspectives, but the action seems overly concerned with sex and infidelity as the book progresses.
Tim O'Brien has done it again. With incredible character development and story telling, this was one of those books that I dreaded putting down. The ending was beautiful and painful and absolutely realistic. Definitely one of my new favorites. Maybe the reading process is over, but my thoughts about it aren't. I just really loved this book.
The Things They Carried is one of my favorite books of all time. I also loved Going After Cacciato, and I have an autographed copy of In the Lake of the Woods. Meeting Tim O'Brien was an honor that I'll remember forever, even if it was only a 10-minute conversation with a few other students. There's always been this question lingering in the back of my mind, and in the minds of other fans too, I'm sure: can O'Brien write a great book without writing about Vietnam? without writing a war story? without the war being the main thrust of character motivation? With this book, the answer is a resounding yes. Now, Vietnam is an element of this story, even a major element for a few characters, but not for most of them (excusing the fact that the war was happening in the background of their lives).
I think the blurb on the back of the book explains my feelings about what O'Brien has written here: "July, July is a book for all seasons. Funny and poignant, it looks into the nature of our dreams and how fulfillment eludes us." In a way, this could also be called The Things They Carried.
I think the blurb on the back of the book explains my feelings about what O'Brien has written here: "July, July is a book for all seasons. Funny and poignant, it looks into the nature of our dreams and how fulfillment eludes us." In a way, this could also be called The Things They Carried.
I'm not even sure why I finished this whole novel as I didn't really like it. I think the problem was that I'm not the novel's target audience. My mom is.