Nicole
Dated but some essays are very amusing. I like his writing voice. Skip all concerning the health qualities of good and diet. And best enjoyed in small doses rather than all together.
What a terrific and engrossing read. Wonderful plot, immersive writing, subtle character development. I plan to read more by her.
I'm normally a fan of the author's work ... but I didn't even finish this one. It had neither a gripping story line, nor characters that I was interested in, nor a twist on the world as we know it that made it compelling to read. It felt to me like he just churned this one out . . .
What a powerful book. The particulars of the Joad family are vivid and heart rending, but Steinbeck really shines in the intermittent chapters that paint the broader picture of the period.
I don't know how I haven't read this book before now. But I'm so glad to be reading it now. It was a little eerie at times – we are (again) seeing the unhealthy concentration of wealth and the poor suffering from our knowing ignorance of the needs of the earth.
While the writing was as brilliant as ever, I found myself less captured and transported by the book than Paris to the moon. In that sense a little disappointed. The essay on his friend Kirk Varnedoe and the Mighty Metrozoids was beautiful and true.
A raw, graphic, and unvarnished book of memories from the war. I read it in a sitting, couldn't stop. The most powerful thing about it, for me, is revealing what one man ... Just one of so many of our country's young people people who served ... suffered, during the war and after. I hope W read this.
Stephenson seemed to be channeling the author of a crappy spy potboiler for a good half of the book. Between endless passages of gratuitous violence and lots of purple prose, I got bored and frustrated.
I've loved many of his earlier books so plan to continue reading him, hoping this was a one time lemon from him. Fingers crossed that he and his editor get a little discipline back.
I highly recommend listening to thus book on Audible. The actor gives an extraordinary performance as Inez, who narrates this riveting story.
Some of these essays feel like they could have been written now ... Not 50 years ago. Informative, serious, provocative and moving. I'm so very glad I read this book.
A beautiful written, thoughtful, and deeply moving novel which deals with the most profound questions ... who are we, and how will we live our lives, as individuals and as societies?
Incidentally, I listened to this novel on Audible and the reader was superb. Recommended.
Disappointing second novel. Repetitive, too much gratuitous violence, heavy handed, and missing the surprising ideas that mad the windup girl so remarkable.
Fantastic and substantive novel about the 60s, the SLA and our country's response, and Patty Hearst. Very funny at times, and with smooth and creative use of different voices. Others compare the author to Roth and Dellilo but he puts me in mind of Boyle and Powers. Recommended.
Fantastic summer read. Clever, engaging, funny, a bit thought provoking, within a science fiction (sort of) world. I listened to it on audible ... Excellent performance.
Mesmerizing and totally absorbing, unlike anything I've read before, and kind of horrible all at the same time. The reader is in the head of an alcoholic, self absorbed, hustling, horny, insecure, restless, and ultimately pathetic businessman in upstate NY for a long and tumultuous weekend. Feels like a dream when you are reading it, it just keeps going and going and dragging you along even when you feel like “i want this to stop”. One of those books that I'm glad I read, and I won't read again... I don't know how Oates wrote this ... powerful.
For the genre, I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the natural world (hints of Aldo Leopoldo?). Some sections of this book are very beautifully written indeed.
Riveting. Beautifully explores what violence, separation, loss, loyalty, compassion, and freedom can mean to us. True and fine. The description fails to mention that the book is really two stories, one of the soldier, Robin, and second is of Agate, an enslaved woman. Both stories are compelling and crucial.