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A review by beckykphillips
Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Do you want to feel sad about capitalism but in like a darkly funny way? This is definitely the book for you.
I listened to this as an audiobook and heartily recommend that format, although I think this book would shine in any format you consume it. The narrator of the story is omniscient and gives insights into what's going on throughout from the perspectives of all of the characters, which I fully enjoyed. The book reminded me of the movie Stranger Than Fiction, especially since the main character, Jonathan Abernathy, is not the brightest crayon in the box.
The character development throughout the book was fascinating and all of the main folks felt very real. Molly McGhee does an incredible job of helping us feel how the different characters are feeling, especially with the omniscient narrator.In particular, the part where Rhoda discusses the loss of her son was heartbreaking. I also appreciate how the author came up with all these pithy lines to describe love and loss, but in the end just bared it out there. On the flipside, seeing Abernathy start to turn into a complete asshole and lose his humanity trying to compete with the other men after getting promoted broke my heart in a different way.
The book does a fantastic job of critiquing the soullessness of capitalism and how crushing debt can feel and the things people will do to try to get out of it and the consequences of this system. In particular, the fact that the dreams of the folks living by Abernathy were all being audited with the express purpose of getting them to move so that a highway could be built. .
I listened to this as an audiobook and heartily recommend that format, although I think this book would shine in any format you consume it. The narrator of the story is omniscient and gives insights into what's going on throughout from the perspectives of all of the characters, which I fully enjoyed. The book reminded me of the movie Stranger Than Fiction, especially since the main character, Jonathan Abernathy, is not the brightest crayon in the box.
The character development throughout the book was fascinating and all of the main folks felt very real. Molly McGhee does an incredible job of helping us feel how the different characters are feeling, especially with the omniscient narrator.
The book does a fantastic job of critiquing the soullessness of capitalism and how crushing debt can feel and the things people will do to try to get out of it and the consequences of this system.