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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Interesting portrayal of 1950s small town America but felt like the characters were undeveloped.
Lord, this was a depressing book to read. Strout's other books aren't exactly a barrel of laughs, but I was able to empathise with the characters, so I enjoyed them, especially [b:Olive Kitteridge|1736739|Olive Kitteridge|Elizabeth Strout|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1239113569s/1736739.jpg|3263906], one of the best books I've read so far this year. But I really had nothing in common with Tyler Caskey, the Congregationalist minister at the centre of the story, and the small-town 1950s "morality" of his congregation really got me down. I soldiered on and finished it, and thank goodness, it got a bit brighter, but it wasn't really for me. In some ways it has similar themes to Marilynne Robinson's [b:Home: A Novel|2924318|Home A Novel|Marilynne Robinson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255598835s/2924318.jpg|2951639], but I found the latter more profound and though-provoking.
This is one of those books that makes you hope and wish god forbid that anything should happen to you that a wonderful woman will help take the best care ever of your little daughter! Boy did I weep for the daughter in this book.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Strout's tale of a grieving small town pastor is by turns melancholy and introspective, but ultimately a redemptive and rewarding read. Strout is a keenly perceptive author, one who writes characters so real they could step off the page and into your living room. I would love to have a friend like the Reverend Tyler Caskey.
Good and Got Better
It wasn’t from the beginning— despite a masterful opening paragraph—my favorite of her books but it got oddly better as I read. I liked it better than Burgess Boys by the end.
There’s an enviable cadence to Strout’s writing. Like Marilynn Robinson. But in a very Maine way, there’s deliberate withholding, too. It would’ve been easy to have Tyler wildly breakdown and while he does, she doesn’t put words to it. Achieving and maintaining this narrative distance at such a crucial stage kinda awes me. It makes the characters more alive, because we can only watch, or only see in snippets how life is tossing them. In this Strout allows us to simply abide with them, to be present in their suffering.
Strout is one of those few writers who I’d sacrifice a years of my own work to command a chapter or character the way she does.
It wasn’t from the beginning— despite a masterful opening paragraph—my favorite of her books but it got oddly better as I read. I liked it better than Burgess Boys by the end.
There’s an enviable cadence to Strout’s writing. Like Marilynn Robinson. But in a very Maine way, there’s deliberate withholding, too. It would’ve been easy to have Tyler wildly breakdown and while he does, she doesn’t put words to it. Achieving and maintaining this narrative distance at such a crucial stage kinda awes me. It makes the characters more alive, because we can only watch, or only see in snippets how life is tossing them. In this Strout allows us to simply abide with them, to be present in their suffering.
Strout is one of those few writers who I’d sacrifice a years of my own work to command a chapter or character the way she does.
What a lovely book. Strout has a real gift for gentle prose that reveals the characters' thoughts. Utterly believable--when the church women criticize the minister's wife for her slingback shoes and not drying all the dishes, I felt as if I knew these women, their values and their habits. The teacher who turns against her student and the school psychologist who relies on textbook definitions and cannot find compassion for the little girl who just lost her mother are very real, too--but nobody is a cardboard villain, or grand hero.
It's a compelling story, too. Characters are multi-dimensional. The plot wanders, a bit. The main character seems, by turns, naive, wise, brave, clot-headed and endearing. Trying to be a perfect and godly man in a world full of grief, sorrow and imperfection.
I did not think the ending was neat and tidy. It was a resting place in an ongoing story, but a place where we could leave the characters with some hope for a rebuilt little family, a future that included genuine joy.
It's a compelling story, too. Characters are multi-dimensional. The plot wanders, a bit. The main character seems, by turns, naive, wise, brave, clot-headed and endearing. Trying to be a perfect and godly man in a world full of grief, sorrow and imperfection.
I did not think the ending was neat and tidy. It was a resting place in an ongoing story, but a place where we could leave the characters with some hope for a rebuilt little family, a future that included genuine joy.
A pastor, his crisis of faith and the very human congregants that he serves... Beautifully written.
Another unforgettable book by Elizabeth Strout. Love the language, the characters, setting. Such a great read.
"No one, to my knowledge, has figured out the secret to love.
We love imperfectly, Tyler. We all do.
Even Jesus wrestled with that.
But I think - I think the ability to receive love is
as important as the ability to give it"
"I suspect the most we can hope for, and it's no small hope,
is that we never give up, that we never stop giving ourselves permission
to try to love and receive love."
사랑을 받을지만 알았던 로렌
사랑을 줘야만하는지 알았던 타일러
그리고 사랑을 받아보지 못해서 줄지도 못했던 케더린.
특히 책속에서 매도우 부부의 사랑을 받으면서
자신을 용서하고 세상을 따뜻하게 바라보기 시작한 여섯살 케더린을 보면서
우리 아이들에게 사랑을 주는게 얼마나 중요한지 깨달았다.
We love imperfectly, Tyler. We all do.
Even Jesus wrestled with that.
But I think - I think the ability to receive love is
as important as the ability to give it"
"I suspect the most we can hope for, and it's no small hope,
is that we never give up, that we never stop giving ourselves permission
to try to love and receive love."
사랑을 받을지만 알았던 로렌
사랑을 줘야만하는지 알았던 타일러
그리고 사랑을 받아보지 못해서 줄지도 못했던 케더린.
특히 책속에서 매도우 부부의 사랑을 받으면서
자신을 용서하고 세상을 따뜻하게 바라보기 시작한 여섯살 케더린을 보면서
우리 아이들에게 사랑을 주는게 얼마나 중요한지 깨달았다.