Theodore

Strout unfortunately disappoints

Revisado: 11-28-22

I am a huge fan of Elizabeth Strout. In anticipation of this new Lucy Barton book, I re-listened to all 3 of the previous ones. In light of the glowing reviews in most media outlets, I was really looking forward to Lucy by the Sea. To my dismay, much of the novel Oh, William feels rehashed here--only this time, with Covid-19 (for an accurate fuller review of the book, see:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/elizabeth-strout/lucy-by-the-sea/). I will just add that there were weird oddities in the book: What are we to make of a bizarre incident whereby Lucy has discovered signs that a male house cleaner has masturbated in her bathroom and the fact that a boy in the book is nicknamed "Sperm"? And Strout's use of the Holocaust is disturbing; the focus is on how characters in the book feel bad not about the horrors of what happened but about secondary things: William for having accepted an inheritance tainted by his grandfather's nazism, and one of the daughters for pajamas that remind her of concentration-camp attire. Finally there is this: Lucy's deceased husband David, a cellist for the NY philharmonic, makes another appearance in this book. Given that David was kicked out of his ultra-orthodox community at the age of 19, I'm not sure which reflects worse on Strout as novelist but neither puts her in a great light: 1) The assumption that a person can begin to study the cello at the age of 19 and ultimately end up playing for the NY philharmonic; 2) The assumption that cello lessons are within the realm of reasonable possibility for a boy growing up as David did.

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No need for this book in the Gilead series

Revisado: 11-28-22

When I saw that Marilynne Robinson's new Gilead-series book was called Jack, I was really looking forward to reading about Jack's life after we left him in the novel Home. To my dismay, Robinson chose to write about the period just before Home, the circumstances of Jack's meeting Della. Nothing is new or refreshing about this book--we basically could gather its contents from Home. There was only one possible new aspect of Jack's life that could have been covered in this book--and here Robinson is totally silent: How it came about that the Jack who was able to walk away from his responsibilities as the father of a child (when Glory asks Jack in Home why he doesn't marry the mother of the child, Jack says: "you saw her"), is able to miraculously have this incredible relationship of the heart with Della. The man whom it is to be supposed acted strictly out of lust, now is a man who is drawn to Della by anything but lust. How did this transformation occur? The reader hasn't a clue.

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Too asmmetrical

Revisado: 04-11-19

As someone who did an MA on Philip Roth, I was tickled by the Roth-like character in the first part. but then comes the totally detached second part which perhaps it would take a PhD in English tot be able to see as appropriate for this novel, and in the third part, which features the roth character again, the narration is by someone who sound extremely un-rothlike. also, the fact that this character was awarded the nobel prize in lit--something that roth himself said would never happen, was disturbing to me.

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Incredible Literary Experience!

Revisado: 02-11-19

This is my first Audible review even though I am one of the very early users of Audible and have listened to about 100 titles so far. I am making this exception because the combination of an incredible book with an incredible narrator makes the experience of listening to Milkman truly unique and wonderful. For a person not familiar with the Northern Irish accent, listening to Brid Brennan was like listening to a foreign language, only I was delighted to find that I could understand everything (with some imagination). And what a wonderful sense of humor has Anna Burns!! I keep telling people that Ms. Burns is a shining example of the fact that no matter how depressing the story you are telling, humor goes such a very very long way!! Thank you Ms. Burns, thank you Ms. Brennan, and thank you Audible!! Shalom, Teddy Weinberger

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powerful vietnam novel

Revisado: 06-29-17

should have read this powerful, upsetting, excellent book decades ago. glad it became an audiobook. thanks

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vignettes rather than a novel

Revisado: 08-25-16

lovely narration with irish accent. book is more a series of vignettes. because of this certain shocking parts of the book, most especially the ending, seem to come out of nowhere and one is left feeling not so satisfied.

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erdrich is wonderful

Revisado: 08-25-16

Once again another fine and touching novel from erdrich, and what a treat to hear her narrate her work!

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Summons to Boredom

Revisado: 10-24-11

I am dumbfounded as to how this book won a Pulitzer Prize. I can only conjecture that Peter Taylor's powerful friends persuaded the powers that be to give him the award as a prize for his total career. Nothing much happens in this completely humorless book. And I am at a loss to explain why the reader chose to narrate the book without a trace of the Nashville/Memphis accent of the book's narrator.

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