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Book Review of Once We Were Brothers

Once We Were Brothers
esjro avatar reviewed on + 919 more book reviews


I have such mixed feelings about this book! On one hand, the story is great and kept me turning pages late into the night. It is difficult to not get emotionally involved with Ben's tale. On the other hand, the writing is pretty bad. The bulk of the story is told in the format of Ben talking to his attorney. Each chapter (or end of a conversation) seems to end with two or three of the main characters deciding what to eat, going to get the food, then eating it. I know everyone has to eat, but this format gets old pretty fast. They eat turkey sandwiches, meatball sandwiches, Thanksgiving turkey dinner, terrines of something at a fancy restaurant......

Much of the dialogue that does not involve Ben's story is downright cheesy (e.g. the discussion between Ben and Catherine's snarky brother in law). It is too bad, because there is a great story here. The author should have done one of those James Patterson things in which he outlines the story but someone else does the actual writing.