The passages discussing the Adirondacks are lovely, and at times this book reminded me a bit of Wallace Stegner. There is a wonderful, accurate, and troubling brief discussion of the undermining of the independent “yeomen and yeowomen” as the wealth gap grew in the 20s and 30s ... surely it could be written today. But the characters are too one dimensional; they almost seem like cartoons. Leftist self-indulgent & self-absorbed artist. Beautiful high strung troubled heiress. Noble Adirondack guide. Loyal and rather perfect wife. I wish they had been more nuanced so that the people part of the story would be more believable and engaging.
So disappointing. Some characters are so flat and hackneyed (the cop, his war buddy for example). The sex scenes from the romance are corny. What is the book even meant to be – a who done it? A chance for diverse voices to speak and share their world? A family melodrama? A look at how the country is evolving? For me, an unsatisfying book which I'm sorry I bothered to finish.
I listened to the author read this book and it was mesmerizing. Highly recommended as an audible book.
Attempted to read this in translation. Lots of purple prose. The book is clumsy. I stopped roughly 1/4 of the way through. Reading should not be such work. Two stars because maybe it gets improves a lot?