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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
I didn’t love the ending - it felt rushed, anticlimactic and unearned
Decent read. I enjoyed most of it (particularly the way it expresses grief and invokes memory). My issue came about during the last third or so in which it became clear that this was ANOTHER “sad older man finds a new lease of life in a MUCH younger woman” narrative. This may work for a lot of readers but I honestly just cannot connect with those stories.
And where did the doggy go?
And where did the doggy go?
Melko sisällyksetön ja ennalta-arvatava kirja, vaikka päähenkilössä oli välillä jotain sympaattistakin. Ei se silti riittänyt pelastamaan tätä.
Macon Leary es un petardo de hombre. El libro es un tostón que hastía al más pintado. Y me lo he acabado por ver si pasaba algo de interés...
Un año después del asesinato de su hijo, Sarah decide divorciarse de Macon. Éste decide llevar desde ese momento una vida casposa. Es escrito de guías de viaje para hombres de negocio (las guías "El turista accidental en..."), pero no le gusta viajar. En el siguiente viaje tras el divorcio tiene que dejar al perro en una residencia canina, donde conoce a Muriel, una mujer completamente opuesta a él. A la vuelta, Macon se rompe una pierna y se va a vivir con su hermana Rose y sus dos hermanos también divorciados. Los Leary son cuadriculados hasta el síndrome obsesivo compulsivo, ordenados, metódicos, insoportables, en suma.
En éstas estamos cuando el perro de Macon decide que lo mejor del mundo es ladrar, morder, putear a los viandantes y ciclistas e incluso a Rose y a los otros Leary, por lo que Macon decide adiestrarlo y quién mejor que Muriel. Y surge el amor, claro. Ella es el colmo del desorden, trabaja en mil sitios, habla por los codos y tiene un hijo enfermo.
No puedo llegar a entender qué ven dos mujeres en este hombre anodino, gris, triste, aburrido, indeciso, obsesivo-compulsivo, asocial...
No perdáis el tiempo. Si alguien tiene curiosidad por saber cómo acaba, que me mande un comentario y se lo cuento en petit comité.
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really enjoyed this book, loved the quirky characters and how they evolved over time. The idea of the accidental tourist guidebook was genius, all and all too real for a certain type of American! The pace was gentle, not slow exactly, but flowed well. A good read.
Very good writing, like sincerely very good. Felt like I was taking a masterclass, nicely rounded-out characters that are both absurd and realistic with a nice amount of observational humor. The tone is never laugh-out-loud, it stays pretty wry and dry, and the emotional moments sometimes hit very hard. But overall, you do get this overarching sense of restraint and narrative detachment that I feel can sometimes dampen the emotion of the book, but I guess that also fits thematically with Macon's detachment. You do find a lot to love in the characters, some really poignant take-away messages, and depictions of love, separation, grief, the human condition etc. that just made me put down the book and think quietly.
What keeps it from 5 stars for me is just a personal thing with the very every-day setting and plot, I guess I've been overdosed recently on either the fantasy of historical displacement that comes with reading old books or the exciting worlds of sci-fi and fantasy books. I don't know if I'm 100% built for a well written highbrow romance that finds beauty in the mundane.
What keeps it from 5 stars for me is just a personal thing with the very every-day setting and plot, I guess I've been overdosed recently on either the fantasy of historical displacement that comes with reading old books or the exciting worlds of sci-fi and fantasy books. I don't know if I'm 100% built for a well written highbrow romance that finds beauty in the mundane.
I don’t know why it took me so long to get to this book when Anne Tyler is one of my favorite authors. I always love her insights into relationships and the little things in life that end up being the big things.