Helpful Score: 1
First, an admission. This reviewer is partial to Richard Russo's work. Therefore, discovering this 2007 work which followed immediately on the heels of his magnificent âEmpire Falls' was a great thrill.
For about the first hundred pages.
Then the glacial pace and huge scope of this coming-of-age tale mingled with an unraveling of what constitutes âtruth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me Godâ, overlaid with the stories of several marriages and parent-child relationships and the ugly class differences lurking in a blue-collar town⦠Well, it was just too much.
But when one of your favorite authors is presenting a story, one tends to hang on. And hang on. And hang on, far past the point where common sense says âthis isn't going to get any better and you might as well cut your lossesâ.
Sometimes we need to listen to that voice.
By the time the reader gets to the sixth decade of Lou Lynch's life and the 500th page of this tome, one is thoroughly tired of his ambivalence, of his unwillingness to let go of childhood friendships which may have disguised any number of betrayals, of his wife whose burning artistic talent just sort of dribbles off into the corner until the final chapter, and even of the new adventure on which he and his wife seem to be embarking.
It's too much. Just too much. Too many words. Too many characters. Too many simmering conflicts. Too much to ask of any reader, even one whose admiration for the author gets crushed to jelly under the weight of this interminable tale.
For about the first hundred pages.
Then the glacial pace and huge scope of this coming-of-age tale mingled with an unraveling of what constitutes âtruth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me Godâ, overlaid with the stories of several marriages and parent-child relationships and the ugly class differences lurking in a blue-collar town⦠Well, it was just too much.
But when one of your favorite authors is presenting a story, one tends to hang on. And hang on. And hang on, far past the point where common sense says âthis isn't going to get any better and you might as well cut your lossesâ.
Sometimes we need to listen to that voice.
By the time the reader gets to the sixth decade of Lou Lynch's life and the 500th page of this tome, one is thoroughly tired of his ambivalence, of his unwillingness to let go of childhood friendships which may have disguised any number of betrayals, of his wife whose burning artistic talent just sort of dribbles off into the corner until the final chapter, and even of the new adventure on which he and his wife seem to be embarking.
It's too much. Just too much. Too many words. Too many characters. Too many simmering conflicts. Too much to ask of any reader, even one whose admiration for the author gets crushed to jelly under the weight of this interminable tale.
Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details
