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innatejames 's review for:
A Good American
by Alex George
A genealogist's dream read. A sort of ultra-American epic story traveling through generations a la Isabel Allende minus the supernatural stuff. Very much appealed to my obsession with family history. Wish a past relative wrote something like this about my family.
Quick synopsis: James Meisenheimer recounts the story of his family, starting with immigrant grandparents from Germany, and tales of his small Missouri town.
SPOILERS AHOY
The reason I only gave this book three stars is because I saw behind the curtain. At times, I was very aware that I was reading the author's first novel. (CORRECTION: Not his first novel...which actually makes me like the book a little less.) I felt like the chapters adopted a predictable structure:
Narrator introduces an (interesting) character.
Narrator tells a few (very interesting) anecdotes about said character. Anecdote ties character into the main story of the family in some way.
Narrator tells the story of how said character leaves the plot arc.
Chapter ends with something like "And he would never know how he had affected the family."
To me, some of the character's ends were a little predictable as well. But the big twist of James's mother was a pretty big shock to me. I wish the story had built up to more, but the author chose a quieter route, and gave the drama to the twins.
Alex George's talent lies most definitely in character development, but in this sweeping format I didn't feel like enough time was spent with any one character. Especially since, as I mention above, we got a character's life story in the span of one or two chapters. For his next book, I hope the author chooses two or three grabber-characters and flushes them out really well.
I also enjoyed the author's folksy style of writing, which reads a little like Mark Twain's work. That's probably the author's intent since two of the main characters actually travel up the Mississippi by steamboat. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for Alex George's next work!
Quick synopsis: James Meisenheimer recounts the story of his family, starting with immigrant grandparents from Germany, and tales of his small Missouri town.
SPOILERS AHOY
The reason I only gave this book three stars is because I saw behind the curtain. At times, I was very aware that I was reading the author's first novel. (CORRECTION: Not his first novel...which actually makes me like the book a little less.) I felt like the chapters adopted a predictable structure:
Narrator introduces an (interesting) character.
Narrator tells a few (very interesting) anecdotes about said character. Anecdote ties character into the main story of the family in some way.
Narrator tells the story of how said character leaves the plot arc.
Chapter ends with something like "And he would never know how he had affected the family."
To me, some of the character's ends were a little predictable as well. But the big twist of James's mother was a pretty big shock to me. I wish the story had built up to more, but the author chose a quieter route, and gave the drama to the twins.
Alex George's talent lies most definitely in character development, but in this sweeping format I didn't feel like enough time was spent with any one character. Especially since, as I mention above, we got a character's life story in the span of one or two chapters. For his next book, I hope the author chooses two or three grabber-characters and flushes them out really well.
I also enjoyed the author's folksy style of writing, which reads a little like Mark Twain's work. That's probably the author's intent since two of the main characters actually travel up the Mississippi by steamboat. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for Alex George's next work!