LRdly

Story/characters didn't grab me...

Revisado: 01-20-24

I read reviews before I select titles, and generally, I end up liking books that receive mostly positive reviews that align with my reading interests. Not the case with this one.

I'm not a gamer, but I don't think you have to be one to like this book (I LOVED Ready Player One, which is heavy gaming). No real spoilers here, but I found that I didn't really like the two main characters, Sadie & Sam. Marx, who shows up a little into the story, was the only main character I found likable, although he seemed too good to be true. As another reviewer said, Sadie & Sam seemed almost overly mature when young and immature as adults. Their arrogance, stubbornness, pettiness, and grudge-holding, even when they both endured shared traumatic experiences, became tiresome and irritating.

I didn't dislike the book so much as to return it, but it wasn't a great listen for me.

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Suspenseful but a bit implausible

Revisado: 02-26-23

I grew up on Florida's East Coast & my family owned boats since the 1970s. This book is loaded with in-depth descriptions of Florida's East Coast & intricate details of how to handle a boat. I've spent countless hours sailing the Intracoastal Waterway from Jax to Miami, the Bahamas, the FL Keys & the Virgin Islands, so I thoroughly enjoyed the trip down memory lane as Martin describes islands, harbors, towns & even bridges as he makes his way south. However, for some, the deep dive into these details might become tedious.

Brutally violent drug traffickers were a serious risk to boaters who sailed S. FL waters at that time, so I had no problem believing that sex traffickers would be the same. For anyone squeamish about violence/sex, don't worry, there aren't really any graphic scenes in this story.

Overall, I enjoyed the story but a few things caused me to drop a few stars. (no real spoilers):

The pros for me were:
-Geography/descriptions rang true & were generally accurate
-Suspenseful & fast-paced
-Generally likable characters who I cared about

The cons:
-Murph (protagonist) was a bit of an unrealistic superhero - he gets repeatedly injured but never slows down
-The continuous pining for a woman / unrequited love that he can't move past
-Romance scenes are pretty cheesy
-A LOT of convenient coincidences that seemed implausible
-For someone who cared so much about saving people, Murph unnecessarily risks exposing others (Summer & other passengers) to harm - again, implausible
-A lot of product placement (dropping brand names of sunglasses, boats, clothing, etc) - assuming he's getting paid?
-A bit simplistic on the all good vs. all evil - I guess he's considered a Christian writer, and there are some religious references but not so much so that it's distracting - just makes the story/characters a little squeaky clean & unrealistic
-Narrator repeatedly mispronounces the Bahamian island, Bimini - why didn't the audio publisher/sound director catch that?? It's BIM-in-ee, not Bi-MEEN-ee!

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Well Worth Sticking With It

Revisado: 01-13-22

I've thoroughly enjoyed some of Backman's other works but some of the negative views about how annoying the characters are made me hesitate. A friend recommended this, so I plunged ahead - and so glad I did. I think the readers who hated it either didn't stick with it because the characters are not who they appear to be by the end - or readers didn't understand that, like the over-the-top violence in a typical Quentin Tarantino movie, the characters were supposed to appear over-the-top annoying & idiotic to the point of being humorous. I laughed out loud more than once.

This isn't an action-packed novel, it's an immersion into the minds and lives of people struggling with a variety of inner conflicts and emotions. Backman is a master at creating flawed characters like this.

As far as the narration, I normally like Marin Ireland but I'm not sure she was the best fit for this book. Maybe a male narrator would have been better. But overall, she did a good job in using different voices so I knew which character was speaking.

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Engaging & Interesting but Not for Everyone

Revisado: 01-05-22

Many reviewers complained about the story going nowhere or being depressing. To some extent, I can understand those opinions, but I disagree. This isn't a story with a lot of action, plot twists, suspense or characters you wish you could be or know - it is an incredible, expansive story of an ordinary family. Each character is dealing with a different inner challenge – mental illness, addiction, self-hate/blame, narcissism, selfishness, hypersexuality and naivete. The characters all want different things and fail to understand one another, which creates a lot of literary tension. Franzen is a master at creating flawed but not-too-flawed characters.

I found the most interesting characters to be Perry, the 15-year-old, and Marion, Russ' (the pastor) wife. Marion's story doesn't really get going until later in the book, but she was the one I most related to, maybe because I'm a middle-aged wife/mother who has experienced some similar inner conflicts. I found Russ to be inept & annoying, but I changed my mind a bit after I listened to the Franzen & Pittu (narrator) interview at the end of the recording. Franzen praised Pittu for understanding that Russ is a comic character, and his “predicaments are ridiculous & preposterous…particularly in his determination to cheat on his wife.” That is spot-on, and it gave me a different understanding of Russ’ character.

I am not at all religious and many scenes focus on religious experiences, especially with Becky, but I didn’t find them unrelatable. As far as the narration – I agree with many reviewers that the female voices would have been much better with a female narrator. Pittu’s female voices were somewhat cringy.

This novel is supposed to be part of a trilogy, so it will be interesting to see what happens next.

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Unusual, innovative & excellently written

Revisado: 11-05-21

Doerr is a wordsmith and intricately weaves an amazing tale across centuries with a seemingly inconsequential thread tying the different characters & time periods together. His writing is exquisite and I frequently marveled at his phrasing and innovative descriptions. This novel is so many things - contemporary themes such as autism & LGBTQ, historical, myth & a little sci-fi.

It does take a while to get into the story, and, as some other reviewers have noted, it can feel a bit jarring when the story suddenly jumps to a different character/time period. The odd male narrator that jumps in between chapters seems odd at first, but it starts to make sense. Once I got into the rhythm of the story, I had no trouble following the various plot lines. It was fascinating to see how Doerr slowly ties the threads together.

I heard a partial interview with Doerr on NPR right when this book was released. He described his love of libraries, which is evident in this book. Libraries and books are part of the bond that weaves the stories together.

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Characters not very likeable / so-so narration

Revisado: 11-04-21

I've read/listened to many Grisham novels, and this one is OK compared to others. The premise of a sitting judge being a serial killer & how skilled he is at hiding his alleged crimes is interesting. I normally like strong female characters, but I didn't really like Jeri or Lacy. Jeri came across as overly paranoid & having almost no emotional IQ with incessant demands on Lacy & others. Lacy seemed kind of flat, with no real depth of character. She didn't seem to particularly like or dislike anyone, including her long-time, dedicated boyfriend, her colleagues, or her brother (no spoilers but an unfeasible scene that involved him didn't fit with the rest of the story).

As far as the narration, the only real challenge I had was discerning the different voices. Jeri & Lacy were read almost identically, so it was hard to keep track of who was talking. It wasn't as bad with other characters, but again, better distinction between the characters would have made listening a much better experience.

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Unique, fascinating Western

Revisado: 09-07-21

I don't read a lot of Westerns, but I heard/saw this book mentioned on NPR or the NY Times (sources I tend to trust for book recommendations). Despite not having many reviews at the time, I decided to try it, and boy, I'm glad I did! I really enjoyed this book - it was far more than a Western featuring a woman passing as a man in a brutal man's world. Jess is tough because she has to be to survive, but Larison managed to keep her from becoming a stereotypical "tough girl" who never reveals any tenderness or compassion. Jess develops deep, interesting relationships with several characters as the story unfolds and manages to hang onto a certain innocence.

The book also includes some modern takes on race, gender and sexuality. There are some violent scenes, but they aren't thrown in as random incidents. I've seen a few comparisons to Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" and this book is NOTHING like that other than the similar setting. The narration is fantastic and brings this story to life.

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King missed his main talent here, but OK story

Revisado: 09-03-21

I've been a King fan since the '70s starting with "Carrie" & 'Salems Lot," and I've been wandering in and out of the King-iverse over the past 5 decades. I haven't read/listened to every book, but a solid majority.

One of the things I've always liked about his stories is how his main characters are usually fairly "normal" people who get sucked into extraordinary circumstances. The characters react how any normal person would and gradually, whatever bizarre circumstances, it feels believable. Billy isn't really an "ordinary" person given his history, but the other main character is (no spoilers). However, unlike some of King's best stories, the normal getting pulled into the bizarre doesn't ring quite as true and is less believable (despite there being no real supernatural elements).

It's not a bad foray into this genre of assassins trying to do good, but I wouldn't rank this novel in his top 10. Fans of The Shining & The Stand will recognize a few references.

As far as the narration, I thought the narration was solid, but I also had a hard time hearing words at times, even with the volume turned all the way up. I assume this related more to how the sound was engineered than the narrator.

As for the Trump-bashing - I hate Trump and how his administration threw gasoline on an already smoking ruin of decency and democracy as much as SK, but have to agree, the frequent brief references didn't advance the story or even seem to fit.

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Fascinating historical fiction but could be better

Revisado: 07-24-21

I had just recently finished listening to Lisa Scottoline's "Eternal" when I listened to this, so I was a little familiar with the Nazi's treatment of Jews in Italy, and Mussolini's failures as a leader. This was a fascinating story, even if it's only loosely true. The author states upfront that it's historical fiction and it was often hard to find evidence to back up Pino's story. It could have used a good editor (especially in the beginning) when insignificant things were described in painfully excruciating detail.

It also has a bit of a Forrest Gump aspect where Pino seems to conveniently witness every significant event and conversation in WWII Northern Italy. Each time Pino jumped into some kind of precarious situation, I had to keep reminding myself that he was only 17/18 when the story unfolds and the male teenage brain's frontal lobe (decision making, risk assessment) isn't fully developed.

Pino's constant pining for Anna got a little old too, but again, I had to remind myself that we develop some of our strongest feelings and memories in our teen/young adult years, and this is an elderly man's recollection of his youth. Given that, I can buy that Anna loomed larger than life in Pino's memory. I can't help but wonder if either the author's fabricated conversations and event re-fabrications made the story seem less credible - or if Pino's mind has filled in memory holes with events/conversations he imagined. He had to have suffered from serious PTSD after witnessing the Nazi horrors and deaths of loved ones during an era when no one knew about PTSD or how to treat it. Keeping those memories buried for so many decades likely altered some of them.

Pino's portrayed as being fairly modest about his talents and brave actions, but his recollections certainly aren't modest so there seems to be a disconnect there. I have no doubt the author thoroughly researched this story, but it seems odd that so little was known about an Italian spy who was passing valuable info to the Allies. I tried to research General Leyers and some of the events but didn't find much.

Despite the sometimes questionable credibility and lack of editing, it's still a fascinating story of Nazi occupation of Italy during WWII and learning more about how much the Italians, not just Jews, suffered.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

Not Realistic/Authentic & Shallow & Weak Plot

Revisado: 07-24-21

I enjoyed Taylor Jenkins Reid's "Daisy Jones & the Six" so I was excited to see this newer title. I grew up in the late '70s & early '80s in a surfing family and community on the East Coast instead of CA, but have lived and spent time surfing in Hawaii & S.CA. I was also excited to read this novel due to the surfing backdrop & time period setting.

The biggest flaw I felt with this book was the characters' lack of authenticity and shallowness. I felt like Reid did Google searches on "late 70s surfing lingo," which came across as contrived. She captured a little of the bliss and unity with the ocean surfers feel in maybe one scene, but overall the surfing seemed like a plot device Reid threw in to make the story more "S. CA cool."

I kept thinking to myself "if Nina was a female pro-surfer in the late 70s/early '80s when female surfers were rare, she wouldn't have been nearly such a pushover." Surfing is HARD - it's hard to learn, it takes incredible strength and endurance to be able to paddle out into big surf, endure cold water, sharks and jerks in the lineup stealing waves. On top of being a pro surfer, Nina's also a gorgeous model, so her timidity and fear of attention didn't ring true. Nina also seemed to be suffering from a martyr complex and her immature siblings didn't notice until the very end.

In a nutshell, as some other reviewers have stated, there really wasn't a plot or well-developed, likable characters. I didn't really care for any of them. I kept wanting to shake every female character (except for maybe Kit), including the mother, and tell them to grow a spine. The male characters were stereotypes and not even very good ones.

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