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missamandamae's review against another edition
5.0
This book found me at just the right moment. It's a contemplation of people between rocks and hard places who have to decide what their dreams are when faced with reality. Making a main character a musician just made me connect with it even more. It's sad and beautiful. I felt bursts of inspiration for my own projects while reading it, so I'm already indebted to the author for his creation. It also reminded me a lot of Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. For all the failed or aspiring indie musicians out there who still have the creative urge even when faced with the drabness that life can be.
lola425's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoy don Lee's style, I really do, and I think that if this had been Jeanette's story I would have been all in. I just didn't engage with Yadin at all. Still, I'd recommend to book groups since the themes of stagnation, being stuck in one place, as the result of circumstance, sketchy choices, and bad luck, and how hard it is to pull yourself out of that muck once you're in, would make for a good discussion.
em_reads_books's review against another edition
4.0
This book's been pretty well hyped, and I really liked The Collective, but I doubt the plot as described would have made me snap it up so fast if it hadn't been about my favorite genre of music. There are alt-country lyrics and homages and references everywhere and probably a decent number of them sailed right over my head but whatever, it was very cool to see.
What makes it a good book regardless is how well Lee knows his characters and their backstories, how he turns the story of a couple months of their lives into the story of how they got there, and gives them a perfectly suited ending. He's obviously done his research on the whats and wheres of the story but dang, he knows his people, and clearly cares for them even when he's putting them through hell.
(Now I wish I could read Mallory's perspective on the story, not filtered through either main character - what were her intentions exactly?)
What makes it a good book regardless is how well Lee knows his characters and their backstories, how he turns the story of a couple months of their lives into the story of how they got there, and gives them a perfectly suited ending. He's obviously done his research on the whats and wheres of the story but dang, he knows his people, and clearly cares for them even when he's putting them through hell.
(Now I wish I could read Mallory's perspective on the story, not filtered through either main character - what were her intentions exactly?)
justanotherreaderofwords's review against another edition
5.0
The book started out slow, it was really interesting, some parts of the book caught my attention and I really enjoyed the book. Yadin, Mallory and Jeanette are amazing characters, I really like how Don Lee expresses the character's emotions.
janey's review
4.0
All the way through this book, I kept being reminded of [b:Love Warps the Mind a Little|899413|Love Warps the Mind a Little|John Dufresne|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347449291s/899413.jpg|884596] by John Dufresne, which is surprising because I have never before thought of Don Lee and John Dufresne at the same time. Lonesome Lies Before Us isn't Oedipus Rex, it's Death of a Salesman, only not so dramatic. It's quiet and thoughtful and layered, and it's peopled with flawed and uncertain individuals who are doing their best and making corrections along the way, just as we all do as we stumble toward our better selves.
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