smbla's review against another edition
4.0
This was an NPR recommendation and I have to say it was very funny. You have a famous Asian Sculptor who gives it all up to become a Brussels Sprout farmer, his brother a Harvard educated embezzler, an aging martial arts actress, a surfer who lost his foot to a great white and a lab named Bob. Of course like any true summer read-you have to decide to not judge and just go with the story and that is what makes it fun. If the book hadn't been as tightly written it would have been difficult to pull off the cast of characters but since it was-I would recommend it as a wacky literate read.
katywhumpus's review against another edition
3.0
A fairly typical small-town-full-of-Characters novel, but a quick and entertaining read. Mostly focused on the battle between a Brussels sprout farmer and a real estate development company which boils down to both sides playing increasingly destructive pranks (late night missions which the farmer refers to as 'monkey wrenching') on the other.
relf's review against another edition
4.0
Farcical, fun to read, deceptively good writing by a new faculty member at Western Michigan University. Female characters could have been a little deeper, but you can't have everything.
csolomon1983's review against another edition
3.0
This was a great summer read. Funny and unique (as you could probably guess from the summary blurb). It's always nice to find a fun, easy, and compelling story that doesn't have too many elements of old and tired story lines.
taru's review against another edition
2.0
Dragged out, pointless, confusing, lack of identity, unclear. Not to mention the less than average characters, poorly described setting, and out of place side stories.
That was my attempt at writing a review in the style of Don Lee. I'm not sure if it's an inferiority complex, love of detail and research, or an actual wealth of knowledge, but the painstakingly long-winded lists that popped up about 5 per chapter drove me mad. It felt as if I was being forced to read this book for a High School English class. The kind of English class where the teacher doesn't really know what they're doing.
Nearing the end of the book I felt like it was coming together. It had a chance of salvaging itself by pulling something from each of the completely unrelated story lines and forming a kind of 'identity crisis' theme, or at least something along the lines of 'everyone needs someone'... but that was not the case.
It pulled out the ingredients to create an on-the-spot but still acceptable dinner and left them to rot.
Albeit this wasn't one of his more highly acclaimed works, I fail to see myself picking up another book by Don Lee anywhere in the near future.
It did have some wonderfully quotable material though. Some insight into everyday behaviors was also mildly acknowledged, which was refreshing.
That was my attempt at writing a review in the style of Don Lee. I'm not sure if it's an inferiority complex, love of detail and research, or an actual wealth of knowledge, but the painstakingly long-winded lists that popped up about 5 per chapter drove me mad. It felt as if I was being forced to read this book for a High School English class. The kind of English class where the teacher doesn't really know what they're doing.
Nearing the end of the book I felt like it was coming together. It had a chance of salvaging itself by pulling something from each of the completely unrelated story lines and forming a kind of 'identity crisis' theme, or at least something along the lines of 'everyone needs someone'... but that was not the case.
It pulled out the ingredients to create an on-the-spot but still acceptable dinner and left them to rot.
Albeit this wasn't one of his more highly acclaimed works, I fail to see myself picking up another book by Don Lee anywhere in the near future.
It did have some wonderfully quotable material though. Some insight into everyday behaviors was also mildly acknowledged, which was refreshing.
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