Bill C

Great book, better read than listened to

Revisado: 03-19-23

The language is rich and dense (not in my opinion overwritten as another reviewer says) and the story heartrending. The island comes to vivid life in its characters and the landscape itself. The blindness,folly and aggression of white supremacy culture drives events, but the dignity, brilliance and faith of the members of this doomed multiracial community are the heart of this book. I wish I’d read it rather than listened, because I kept having to rewind to enjoy the language fully. It’s certainly not a page turner; plot does not pull readers along. It’s a melancholy reflection. Read it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Louise Erdrich’s voice is soulful and true

Revisado: 06-20-21

Hearing the author read her wonderful prose, giving life to her novel’s heroes, brings the sorrow, injustice and incredible resilience in their story home to me as I listen.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Extraordinary

Revisado: 02-22-20

At the start I had the impression this was a book of short stories connected by the theme of trees. Then I realized these early chapters were the root system of a much richer whole. The characters are vivid and believable, and the passages about the amazing lives of trees are spellbinding. As a Buddhist, I found the themes of interconnection, and of hope and despair on the brink of climate collapse, to be inspiring and sobering. Thank you, Richard Powers. If I could ask the author a critical question, it would be, Why are your characters almost entirely white? The American tree has Native, Black and LatinX roots that are invisible in the novel.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Why was this book a Pulitzer finalist?

Revisado: 05-08-18

Main character is somewhat interesting, but the plot drags and the writing feels extremely simplistic. I almost felt this was written for teenagers given its elementary level characters and use of simile.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Compelling and true, with a magical realism twist

Revisado: 04-04-17

Hamid compassionately tells the story of a whole world on the move, refugees, migrants in place and time. Through the journey and arc of relationship between Said and Nadiya. Ultimately a realistic evocation of the world future we face with collapse of the worlds political and climatic systems, with an ending that is both "plausible and desirable," a way forward through the falling apart.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Wrong narrator for this book

Revisado: 03-05-17

The guy was perfect as narrator for A Man Called Ove. Felt dry and off key with Chabon's prose.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Shattering personal narrative of black suffering and struggle, white supremacy and depravity.

Revisado: 09-06-16

Cora means maiden, and this Cora voyages through the hell of abandonment and bondage, sadism and the imaginative evil of America's original sin. Whitehead's narrative takes us through history, allowing the escaped slave woman at the heart of the story to visit all manner of white societies built around white exploitation, dehumanization and blinding fear of African-descended people in North America. As relevant as the latest hashtag trend about Black Lives Matter. Please read and feel yourself as part of this novel, this unfinished history. If you are a US citizen, you are part of it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Powerful themes somewhat clumsily treated

Revisado: 05-27-16

The author's devotional motivation sometimes makes his prose feel clunky, repetitive, ham handed. But the stories of these protagonists making meaning in the midst of many kinds of suffering, are truly moving.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona