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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
the vignettes in this novel may be bleak, but Rachman had my attention from the beginning with his witty dialogue, great location and imagery, and above all, his truly unique characters. it definitely was not the happiest book, but it was quite an interesting one.
I plowed through this one rather quickly. Much like Visit from the Goon Squad, this narrative is split between different people. The organizing principle or glue that holds these people together is the european-based english language newspaper they work for, and in one case, read. This is the 6 degrees of separation idea. I'd even call it a trend. When I talked about this with a friend, we tried to remember why it feels so familiar and decided it goes back to those movies like 21 Grams and Crash. We're only given moments of the character's lives; hopefully moments that reveal their character and cause it to change however slightly. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. I'm not sure how I feel about this trend. I find myself entirely satisfied at times, and at other times, uncomfortably dissatisfied. Enough about structure. In all, I enjoyed reading this book. Rachman shows a strong ability to hold the narrative together, and his prose are very readable.
not a singular story -- not even a full, solitary resolution -- but a series perfectly imperfect stories. each chapter is written from a new character's perspective, with only a fractured 50-year-old narrative between them.
I really enjoyed this novel. It was a refreshing novel, something I haven't read in awhile. Original and interesting, highly recommend.
She opens the book, starts to read, and realizes it's written in third person present tense. She almost stops reading then and there. "Maybe he's just starting the novel with an intercalary chapter, maybe it'll switch to past tense in later chapters," she thinks. So, she reads on. But at Chapter 2, she realizes that, not only is the whole book written in third person present, every chapter deals with a separate character. But the glowing reviews still shine off the front cover of the book, so she must tredge on. For a split second, she wonders if maybe it is written in present tense in an attempt to give the stories a "current events" feel. But, she quickly realized that even current, even stories that are reporting on events as they're happening use the past tense!
Ok, enough of that nonsense. By the end of the book, I had come (past tense!) to the conclusion that all of the good reviews were from newspapers who read the book and thought "Yes! Someone who understands our plight about how newspapers are disappearing because of the internet!" As mentioned, all of the chapters are about a separate character. And none of the characters end happily! The only message I got out of this book is, basically, you're all alone, no one cares or is cared for, and everyone ends up sad. Also, [SPOILER ALERT] if you don't like books where the dog is brutally murdered at the end, avoid this book!
Ok, enough of that nonsense. By the end of the book, I had come (past tense!) to the conclusion that all of the good reviews were from newspapers who read the book and thought "Yes! Someone who understands our plight about how newspapers are disappearing because of the internet!" As mentioned, all of the chapters are about a separate character. And none of the characters end happily! The only message I got out of this book is, basically, you're all alone, no one cares or is cared for, and everyone ends up sad. Also, [SPOILER ALERT] if you don't like books where the dog is brutally murdered at the end, avoid this book!
[Possible spoiler in my last paragraph.]
This book was interesting, I stuck with it, indeed at times I didn't want to put it down. And yet, having finished it last night, my feeling this morning is it was simply okay. As someone who appreciates the delight of reading a physical newspaper (and physical books), I enjoyed the story of this Rome-based international English-language paper – its founding and the people who worked there. As with many institutions, it is the people who flavor the institution, who bring an inanimate idea to life.
My issues are twofold. While many of the characters were believable to me, occasionally some of Rachman's descriptions felt trite or canned, simply not resonating with my perception of one or two of the characters. The other issue is absolutely on me and not on him. Because I am mourning a death in my family, I found some of the vignettes depressing, in particular part of Arthur Gopal's story and most of Cyrus Ott's (and his family's) story, Cyrus being the founder of the newspaper.
I did quite appreciate the time frames of the book as each chapter encompassed a headline of the time during which the chapter takes place. Rachman's book was published 10 years ago and, as such, spans a portion of history that is part of my life. I found Ornella De Monterecchi's story both shudderingly odd, yet by the time her chapter concluded, also somewhat uplifting. And, while it could be debated whether Abbey deserved her comeuppance, I smiled to see Dave get some resolution.
This book was interesting, I stuck with it, indeed at times I didn't want to put it down. And yet, having finished it last night, my feeling this morning is it was simply okay. As someone who appreciates the delight of reading a physical newspaper (and physical books), I enjoyed the story of this Rome-based international English-language paper – its founding and the people who worked there. As with many institutions, it is the people who flavor the institution, who bring an inanimate idea to life.
My issues are twofold. While many of the characters were believable to me, occasionally some of Rachman's descriptions felt trite or canned, simply not resonating with my perception of one or two of the characters. The other issue is absolutely on me and not on him. Because I am mourning a death in my family, I found some of the vignettes depressing, in particular part of Arthur Gopal's story and most of Cyrus Ott's (and his family's) story, Cyrus being the founder of the newspaper.
I did quite appreciate the time frames of the book as each chapter encompassed a headline of the time during which the chapter takes place. Rachman's book was published 10 years ago and, as such, spans a portion of history that is part of my life. I found Ornella De Monterecchi's story both shudderingly odd, yet by the time her chapter concluded, also somewhat uplifting. And, while it could be debated whether Abbey deserved her comeuppance, I smiled to see Dave get some resolution.
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
That was quite good. The book is sort of a loosly-tied collection of short stories. Each story is a sketch of a different employee of an internation newspaper based in Rome. The characters are a catch all of not quite ready for prime time players that are easy to love, or at least agonize along with. Some of the stories are painful in there revelations, but are (almost) a joy to read.
This should be rated 2.5 stars. Well-written but so depressing. The chapters read more like short stories which was a nice departure from the novels I usually read. I just wish SOMETHING good would have happened.