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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
Well, whoever wrote the back cover copy for this book should be shot. It describes maybe the first third of the book and doesn't reference most of the story at all. Of course, as my friend Sandy pointed out, "Yeah, how are you going to pitch people on a book with multiple unresolved tangential story lines that don't necessarily go anywhere?" True. Suffice it to say that this book is by Michael Ondaatje which means that it is beautifully written. He is a master of gorgeous, lyrical prose. This is not a book where stories are neatly wrapped up, all ends tidied conveniently. It wanders through time, backwards and forwards, and place and takes you on a journey of tangents, following the most poetic stories of people as they pass in and out of each other's lives. Highly, highly recommended. A terrific book.
This is almost like a group of related short stories, and felt a bit skimpy for that reason. The change in voice bothered me, bouncing between first and third person, sometimes with the same character. Maybe if I were cleverer I could figure out the wherefore on this, but it seemed needlessly confusing. I liked the telling of the separate stories, bouncing back and forth in time and place, with all the strings coming together in the end. Well, almost all. Claire and Coop head back to the ranch, so to speak, to confront the past, of which Coop has no memory. Since he's lost his past, literally and figuratively, it would be curious to know what happened there.
This book was absolutely painful to read and I had a hard time getting through it.
Like everything Ondaatje writes, Divisadero was beautiful and complicated and a little sad. I wanted to stay with each narrator a little longer--know more about their lives, and follow them into the future to make sure everything turned out ok.
Read it for the prose, he's a great writer who writes landscapes beautifully, and people quite well, if not as beautifully as the people. He takes you to some beautiful places. There's a temporal and story shift towards the end of the book that I did not like at all because it took me away from characters I was enjoying to one I had no connection with, but I would read the book anyway.
I found this book arresting and beautifully written, but I am still confused about some plot aspects. Several threads seemed to peter out or were not fully expressed. I don't need a hollywood ending or traidtional wrap-up in any sense, but here it came off as holes in the story. However, it was delightful to read anyway thanks to the author's lyrical, descriptive style and tone, and having grown up in this area of the country made it that much more enjoyable. I recommend it, even if I can't explain it.
That was amazzzing.
“The journey south with his mother and the return north almost broke his heart again and again with happiness. It was when he felt most clearly that there was no distinction between himself and what was beyond him - a tree’s sigh or his mother’s song could, it seemed, have been generated by his body.”
“Then, after dinner, when his wife or any visitors had retired, he returned to its quiet and darkness, and before turning on the lamp, allowed himself to become conscious of the smell of the clockmaker’s oils that had once filled this space. He sat there weighing what was already written, half-dreamt during the day, until he fell on a scrap of a sentence, something uncommitted, that would open a door for him.”
“The journey south with his mother and the return north almost broke his heart again and again with happiness. It was when he felt most clearly that there was no distinction between himself and what was beyond him - a tree’s sigh or his mother’s song could, it seemed, have been generated by his body.”
“Then, after dinner, when his wife or any visitors had retired, he returned to its quiet and darkness, and before turning on the lamp, allowed himself to become conscious of the smell of the clockmaker’s oils that had once filled this space. He sat there weighing what was already written, half-dreamt during the day, until he fell on a scrap of a sentence, something uncommitted, that would open a door for him.”
Michael Ondaatje is one of my favorite authors. When I saw this (new-ish) book on the shelves at the bookstore last month I was excited and this book did not let me down. It was excellently written and I had problems tearing myself away. The ending was good but a bit disappointing as I felt it left us hanging a bit. But, that type of ending makes you use your imagination, which is always a good thing :)
Points of view, tenses, and story were all over the place. I was honestly not impressed.
Beautifully written but with a rather confusing narrative of “vignettes” or episodes in the lives of the characters.