You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
This book was a book club selection from my sister's book club. She warned me that the book wasn't that well written and she encouraged me to speed read it to get to the points without getting bogged down in it's many, many pages of text that weren't necessary.
The main character, Nat, keeps making bad decisions...to the point of being tedious. He does grow a bit, but not until late, very late in the story.
The main character, Nat, keeps making bad decisions...to the point of being tedious. He does grow a bit, but not until late, very late in the story.
DNF. Read about half the book. I liked the beginning but after the Nathans met, the characters just started feeling flat, especially Big Nathan. Big N seemed like a cliché of a grandpa, doling out terse life lessons in two sentences. I didn't feel like I was getting to know the characters and by the time you're halfway through, you know the writing isn't going to change. Didn't feel worth it to finish.
I really liked this one, I love stories in which the characters find themselves and are redeemable, even if the rest of the world doesn't see them that way. It gives me hope.
I don't care enough about the characters to finish this book.
Gut Instinct Rating: 4.5
Characters: 4.5
Believability: 5
Uniqueness: 5
Writing Style: 5
Excitement Factor: 4
Story Line: 4.25
Title Relevance: 5
Artwork Relevance: 4
Overall: 4.58
Characters: 4.5
Believability: 5
Uniqueness: 5
Writing Style: 5
Excitement Factor: 4
Story Line: 4.25
Title Relevance: 5
Artwork Relevance: 4
Overall: 4.58
Great story of overcoming life's obstacles... standing in your own way and allowing others to support you. Working with tough kids each day, this story reminds me to persevere to chip away at their hard exterior, even when it seems futile.
This book really hit home. The thoughtful way Nathan expressed himself really spoke to me. He did not express his feelings in a typical way but some how helped Nat to think about his own actions/feeling.
Nathan is a middle-aged man, somewhat set in his ways even though he is married. He and his wife sleep in separate rooms, and they don't seem to have much to do with each other. In one of the first scenes in the book, Nathan has gotten up before dawn to go duck hunting, and he is disappointed that she hasn't set up the coffee for him, even though it has been years since she has done that for him.
On this hunting trip, his dog won't come when he calls her, and that is so unusual that he goes looking to see why she hasn't come. She has found a tiny baby beneath a pile of leaves, and to Nathan's surprise, the baby is alive. He rushes the baby to the hospital, and against all odds, the baby survives.
Nathan tells the doctor at the hospital that he wants to adopt the baby, but it turns out that the baby has a grandmother, the mother of the girl who abandoned him. Nathan accepts that he has no rights to the baby, but he makes the grandmother promise that someday, when she deems the time appropriate, she will tell the baby about him.
The boy -- named Nathan, but going by Nat -- is always in trouble, and his grandmother finally has enough when he is in his mid teens, and drops him off on Nathan's doorstep, telling Nathan that now he can have his chance at raising the boy. And Nathan does, and tells him that no matter what, he won't abandon him.
This book reminded me of Anne Tyler. It's a book about ordinary people, and how they get through their lives with meaning, and what they mean to one another. Really a wonderful book, one of the best I've read lately.
On this hunting trip, his dog won't come when he calls her, and that is so unusual that he goes looking to see why she hasn't come. She has found a tiny baby beneath a pile of leaves, and to Nathan's surprise, the baby is alive. He rushes the baby to the hospital, and against all odds, the baby survives.
Nathan tells the doctor at the hospital that he wants to adopt the baby, but it turns out that the baby has a grandmother, the mother of the girl who abandoned him. Nathan accepts that he has no rights to the baby, but he makes the grandmother promise that someday, when she deems the time appropriate, she will tell the baby about him.
The boy -- named Nathan, but going by Nat -- is always in trouble, and his grandmother finally has enough when he is in his mid teens, and drops him off on Nathan's doorstep, telling Nathan that now he can have his chance at raising the boy. And Nathan does, and tells him that no matter what, he won't abandon him.
This book reminded me of Anne Tyler. It's a book about ordinary people, and how they get through their lives with meaning, and what they mean to one another. Really a wonderful book, one of the best I've read lately.