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A review by jess_stetson
Mink River by Brian Doyle
3.0
Don't hate me O Disciples of Mink River but... I did not LOVE this book. I liked it, for sure.
The prose had some magnificent moments. Most of the characters were at least interesting. I enjoyed the bits of Native American and Irish oral histories. The maical realism was lovely. The town certainly came to life... But... BUT.
There just feels like a huge BUT hanging in air there. I was not invested in enough of the characters. Some, yes. Worried Man and Cedar - absolutely - but none of the traumas or joys experienced by the characters in this affected me in the least (with the exception of a depression of one character which was beautifully described).
And I think that the overwhelming Catholicism of it just put me off by a LOT. I am not a religious person and I would go so far as to say that I can border on antireligious especially with regard to organized religion in general and Christianity in particular. Regardless, I can read books that have a religious/morality based undercurrent and not dislike them. This felt super preachy to me, though (especially with the Inch that goes out to sea).
I don't know. I'd like to give it 3.5 stars if I could. But I can't. And because I save my 4 and 5 Stars for things that really knock my socks off, I have to stick with 3 on this one.
That said, I did send 3 quotes to myself from the book - so it had plenty to offer... Like this:
The prose had some magnificent moments. Most of the characters were at least interesting. I enjoyed the bits of Native American and Irish oral histories. The maical realism was lovely. The town certainly came to life... But... BUT.
There just feels like a huge BUT hanging in air there. I was not invested in enough of the characters. Some, yes. Worried Man and Cedar - absolutely - but none of the traumas or joys experienced by the characters in this affected me in the least (with the exception of a depression of one character which was beautifully described).
And I think that the overwhelming Catholicism of it just put me off by a LOT. I am not a religious person and I would go so far as to say that I can border on antireligious especially with regard to organized religion in general and Christianity in particular. Regardless, I can read books that have a religious/morality based undercurrent and not dislike them. This felt super preachy to me, though (especially with the Inch that goes out to sea).
I don't know. I'd like to give it 3.5 stars if I could. But I can't. And because I save my 4 and 5 Stars for things that really knock my socks off, I have to stick with 3 on this one.
That said, I did send 3 quotes to myself from the book - so it had plenty to offer... Like this: