L V
2026 Review: This one is a re- read for me (from a 3 star to a solid 4). I like to re-read books from time to time because it always amazes me how age, experience, and changes in our social and political climates can change our perspectives and our book reviews! A.J. Fikry puts it best:
“…the things we respond to at twenty are not necessarily the same things we will respond to at forty and vice versa. This is true in books and also in life.”
“We are not quite novels. We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works.”
“The words you can't find, you borrow. We read to know we're not alone. We read because we are alone. We read and we are not alone.”
2015 Review: I think the author was going for a heart-warming and tear-jerking read, and it had all the potential in the world to be just that, but the characters were too underdeveloped to allow that to happen. The plot too is a bit disjointed in that the author attempts to provide deeper insight into some of the main character's lives, however, she skips back and forth through each of them so quickly, that they all just remain two dimensional.
As with all of the books chosen by members in my book club, I try not to read any of the blurbs or reviews about the book until I've fully read it, so I was really disappointed to go back after reading this book and looking through the book's blurb which is quite misleading and for the most part inaccurate as it relates to the characters' roles within the story. With that said, it wasn't a total disaster, there are some great references to other works of literature which I've duly noted and will go back to at some point and read on my spare time.
2026 Review: This one is a re- read for me (from a 3 star to a solid 4). I like to re-read books from time to time because it always amazes me how age, experience, and changes in our social and political climates can change our perspectives and our book reviews! A.J. Fikry puts it best:
“…the things we respond to at twenty are not necessarily the same things we will respond to at forty and vice versa. This is true in books and also in life.”
“We are not quite novels. We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works.”
“The words you can't find, you borrow. We read to know we're not alone. We read because we are alone. We read and we are not alone.”
2015 Review: I think the author was going for a heart-warming and tear-jerking read, and it had all the potential in the world to be just that, but the characters were too underdeveloped to allow that to happen. The plot too is a bit disjointed in that the author attempts to provide deeper insight into some of the main character's lives, however, she skips back and forth through each of them so quickly, that they all just remain two dimensional.
As with all of the books chosen by members in my book club, I try not to read any of the blurbs or reviews about the book until I've fully read it, so I was really disappointed to go back after reading this book and looking through the book's blurb which is quite misleading and for the most part inaccurate as it relates to the characters' roles within the story. With that said, it wasn't a total disaster, there are some great references to other works of literature which I've duly noted and will go back to at some point and read on my spare time.