Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-burgess-boys.html
The Burgess Boys are Jim and Bob - both scarred by the accidental death of their father when they were young. They choose very different paths in life but remain connected as only siblings can. A call from their sister Susan brings them back to their hometown in an attempt to help their nephew Zach, who is in trouble with the law.
Zach makes a bad decision and does something that can be viewed as a boy's stupidity or as a hate crime depending on perspective. He is prosecuted for the crime. Both Jim and Bob are attorneys although both have chosen very different careers. Susan, who is Bob's twin, calls on her two brothers to help. Through the context of this event, the book tells the story of these three siblings.
This book tries to take on too much and too many big issues - the scars of childhood, the complicated relationships between siblings, marriage and divorce, tensions in a small community, race and ethnic issues, political issues, and more. Unfortunately, in doing all of that, it does justice to none of them.
The book starts off with great potential. Unfortunately, after a while, it feels like it is jumping from thread to thread to thread. No one aspect of the story line develops fully, and as a reader, leaves me unsatisfied.
*** Reviewed for the GoodReads First Reads program ***
The Burgess Boys are Jim and Bob - both scarred by the accidental death of their father when they were young. They choose very different paths in life but remain connected as only siblings can. A call from their sister Susan brings them back to their hometown in an attempt to help their nephew Zach, who is in trouble with the law.
Zach makes a bad decision and does something that can be viewed as a boy's stupidity or as a hate crime depending on perspective. He is prosecuted for the crime. Both Jim and Bob are attorneys although both have chosen very different careers. Susan, who is Bob's twin, calls on her two brothers to help. Through the context of this event, the book tells the story of these three siblings.
This book tries to take on too much and too many big issues - the scars of childhood, the complicated relationships between siblings, marriage and divorce, tensions in a small community, race and ethnic issues, political issues, and more. Unfortunately, in doing all of that, it does justice to none of them.
The book starts off with great potential. Unfortunately, after a while, it feels like it is jumping from thread to thread to thread. No one aspect of the story line develops fully, and as a reader, leaves me unsatisfied.
*** Reviewed for the GoodReads First Reads program ***
Gave up on page 60. Did not like the characters at all. Too hard to follow at times. I have way too many other books to start to waste time on this. Good luck if you try it!
Elizabeth Strout's great strength is her unique ability to allow her readers to "see" her characters. The plot is secondary to the character studies in this book. The Burgess "boys," Bob and Jim live very different lives, but come together when their sister's son is accused of a hate crime in their small Maine hometown. In addition to Bob, Jim and the peripheral friends and relatives, their hometown also becomes a fascinating study of differing American viewpoints. The collective and individual dysfunctional lives of the characters in Burgess Boys become understandable when viewed in retrospect. Perhaps this is true of all dysfunction. As always, Strout leaves her readers with much to ponder at the conclusion of this novel.
The story is about family and the relationships among the members from wives and husbands to brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and their sons and daughters. It might seem complicated but each of us is molded in some way by our parents, our brothers and sisters and our spouses. And, when the children come, they, too, begin to mold who we are.
Interestingly in this story, a Somali man understands all this when Zach, Susie's son, pulls a prank that causes unforseen consequences. As the nineteen-year-old experiences what happens after he throws a pig's head into a Somali worship place, he begins to discover who he is. So, too, do his uncles whose lives have been linked by not only their vocations but the death of their father. Zach finds himself in court, begins to understand that his prank affected others dramatically. Many in the Somali community are frightened and rightfully so when one understands what their lives were like before they moved to this small Maine town. They cannot understand the language, the culture nor the people they meet. And, the young people they encounter seem almost like aliens. This is a touching read that leaves much food for thought with the reader.
Interestingly in this story, a Somali man understands all this when Zach, Susie's son, pulls a prank that causes unforseen consequences. As the nineteen-year-old experiences what happens after he throws a pig's head into a Somali worship place, he begins to discover who he is. So, too, do his uncles whose lives have been linked by not only their vocations but the death of their father. Zach finds himself in court, begins to understand that his prank affected others dramatically. Many in the Somali community are frightened and rightfully so when one understands what their lives were like before they moved to this small Maine town. They cannot understand the language, the culture nor the people they meet. And, the young people they encounter seem almost like aliens. This is a touching read that leaves much food for thought with the reader.
I did not like this book and gave up on page 100. I have too many other books to read and hate to waste time on a story that I couldn't relate to the characters or storyline.
Very depressing. An inside look at a messed-up family from Maine. I was waiting for something uplifting in the story and there wasn't much of that.
