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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a slow start for me, but it became more compelling about halfway through. I ultimately enjoyed this book, but I gave it 3 stars because it took so long for me to care about Zach. Overall, it was worth the quick read.
I was also disappointed with the ending; the book just ends abruptly, in the middle of what I view as the climax. Nothing gets resolved, and you have no clue what happens to any of the other characters.
I was also disappointed with the ending; the book just ends abruptly, in the middle of what I view as the climax. Nothing gets resolved, and you have no clue what happens to any of the other characters.
Overdenk dit eens:
Everett, zoals gebruikelijk durf ik inmiddels wel te zeggen, brengt gedachten(flarden) en ideeën en observaties op zo'n manier, dat het geen ram in mijn gezicht is maar werkt alsof je iets in je ooghoeken ziet bewegen. Dat kan je negeren, maar het is goed om nog eens een blik te werpen.
Behalve dat dit een prachtig verhaal is over verlies, de daarbij horende ontreddering en (een) wijze van met dat verlies omgaan, wordt het ook nog eens zo verteld dat ik wil blijven lezen, en blijven lezen en blijven lezen. Helaas is een boek eindig, zo ook in dit geval. Verrassend abrupt, zelfs.
The way we treat each other changes at a pace that in all other arenas of human experience we would find intolerable. We might call the pace slow or unhurried or, most accurately, glacial. A glacier is a body of ice and firn that shows evidence of movement, occurring where the production of snow is greater than ablation and so continues from year to year, persisting even when a change in climate reverses the conditions that have allowed it to exist. So it is with the indecency, harm, and evil we inflict on each other, prejudice, neglect, torture, and slavery. Like glaciers, they are not unique to any one part of Earth. Like ice, it is both mineral and rock.~ Uit Hoofdstuk: Here comes an old soldier from Botany Bay, pocketknife
Everett, zoals gebruikelijk durf ik inmiddels wel te zeggen, brengt gedachten(flarden) en ideeën en observaties op zo'n manier, dat het geen ram in mijn gezicht is maar werkt alsof je iets in je ooghoeken ziet bewegen. Dat kan je negeren, maar het is goed om nog eens een blik te werpen.
Behalve dat dit een prachtig verhaal is over verlies, de daarbij horende ontreddering en (een) wijze van met dat verlies omgaan, wordt het ook nog eens zo verteld dat ik wil blijven lezen, en blijven lezen en blijven lezen. Helaas is een boek eindig, zo ook in dit geval. Verrassend abrupt, zelfs.
Grief leads us to do interesting, weird, inexplicable, and sometimes remarkable things.
This quirky but interesting story is one that somehow manages to be both lighthearted and heavy.
This quirky but interesting story is one that somehow manages to be both lighthearted and heavy.
challenging
emotional
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:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’ve been wanting to read more by Percival Everett (having read James last year), and finally picked this one up. It’s so good, and so different from James. The narrative shifts between Zach’s family and his job as a professor, and his efforts to unravel the mysterious pleas for help he’s found in clothes ordered from eBay—two very different plotlines, yet the book doesn’t feel uneven. Following Zach as he processes grief and impending loss—and also avoids it—is an interesting study in control and letting go, and in the human need to effect change in the face of helplessness.
Everett’s technique of publishing three different versions, with three different endings, fascinates me. I read version A, and I initially liked the ending until I thought about it a bit more. It dropped some major threads and left them unresolved, making me wonder a lot about how that particular plotline was (or wasn’t) resolved in the other versions.
Everett’s technique of publishing three different versions, with three different endings, fascinates me. I read version A, and I initially liked the ending until I thought about it a bit more. It dropped some major threads and left them unresolved, making me wonder a lot about how that particular plotline was (or wasn’t) resolved in the other versions.
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Telephone" is a story about how one man confronts a life full of escalating grief and loss, and the choices he makes to find agency within that. It's a strange and specific and poignant book and, while deeply sad, I'd recommend it to almost anyone for its beauty, imagery, creative plot, and well-written characters.
This is the first Percival Everett novel I've read, and certainly won't be the last!
Note: I listened to the audiobook and found it slightly frustrated the way that the narrator mis-pronounced a couple of words.
This is the first Percival Everett novel I've read, and certainly won't be the last!
Note: I listened to the audiobook and found it slightly frustrated the way that the narrator mis-pronounced a couple of words.
dark
tense
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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