yaelshayne's review
4.0
Great writer. Good book. She has a wonderful take on relationships and how they work.
jtlars7's review
3.0
I enjoyed this novel, although the writing style, with all of its asides, was occasionally irritating. I'm not sure I would have cared for the book if I hadn't already "met" so many of the characters and come to love Fenno in Three June's. It also helped that I had recently retread Three June's, and now I think I might retread The Whole World Over. I'd forgotten most of that one.
nocto's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This was another book I found by looking at available books on Libby in random order and picking the first one with an appealing cover - I think it was second in the sort. And definitely a hit, a good read and I really like having very few expectations about what a book is going to be like when I pick a new author.
The story begins with Kit, 40ish, with a family of his own, he's recently unemployed art history lecturer, but the thing looming over his head is not knowing who his father was. He's the son of a teenage mother and she's not telling. With that beginning I was expecting something more straightforward than what I found. The story doesn't stick with Kit but is told in a sequence of long narratives from other people involved. Often it seems as if their stories are going to be peripheral but it gradually builds up a whole picture. If anything it was the flashes back to his teenage mother's (and father's) point of view that seemed rather unnecessary; they were too direct to match pace with the rest of the story.
The author introduced a character in the third narrative who had a point of view so opposed to my own that I almost put the book down, it gave me an "oh, is that *really* where this story is going?" moment but I'm glad I persevered a bit longer because that wasn't where the story was going and I ended up having sympathy with how that character had come by that point of view and what's fiction for if not to show us how people other than ourselves work.
A well written and enjoyable story, enough loose ends got tied up that it felt like the story got told, and enough threads were left dangling that it felt real. Definitely an author I'll be looking out for again as I like this kind of rambling family tale.
The story begins with Kit, 40ish, with a family of his own, he's recently unemployed art history lecturer, but the thing looming over his head is not knowing who his father was. He's the son of a teenage mother and she's not telling. With that beginning I was expecting something more straightforward than what I found. The story doesn't stick with Kit but is told in a sequence of long narratives from other people involved. Often it seems as if their stories are going to be peripheral but it gradually builds up a whole picture. If anything it was the flashes back to his teenage mother's (and father's) point of view that seemed rather unnecessary; they were too direct to match pace with the rest of the story.
The author introduced a character in the third narrative who had a point of view so opposed to my own that I almost put the book down, it gave me an "oh, is that *really* where this story is going?" moment but I'm glad I persevered a bit longer because that wasn't where the story was going and I ended up having sympathy with how that character had come by that point of view and what's fiction for if not to show us how people other than ourselves work.
A well written and enjoyable story, enough loose ends got tied up that it felt like the story got told, and enough threads were left dangling that it felt real. Definitely an author I'll be looking out for again as I like this kind of rambling family tale.
cook_memorial_public_library's review
4.0
Recommended by Jane.
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jskell911's review
5.0
My only regret is that I did not read Three Junes first, as I did not know this took place with many of the same characters, after Three Junes left off. Otherwise, this was a wonderfully written tale of finding yourself where you least expect to within your own family.
oohsarracuda's review
3.0
My least favorite of her books so far. It took almost three weeks for me to finish it because I just did not care, and it really dragged.
happyglowlucky's review
5.0
At first, this novel really drew me in, and I was excited, because I thought I'd stumbled across one of those I-love-it-like-crazy-and-will-reread-it-a-zillion-times-in-the-future novels. I loved the first parts of it that I read, where we're introduced to Kit, and then to Jasper and his life. But after that, it started to get a bit watered-down for me - there was so many character, and maybe that number of characters would have been okay, except for the amount of detail we got about them (detail that didn't matter, in terms of the plot, ie. Zeke The Younger's Father). At a certain point, it became obvious there was a lot of irrelevant detail, and (to me) that just drew my attention away from the main plot, and distracted me, because instead of being immersed in the story, I was pulled out of it because I was thinking, "Why do I need to know about dairy cows??".
It is beautifully written, though. And it did keep me reading. I really wanted to know how it ended! That, however, is another one of my problems with this - the ending was such a let-down. (SPOILER ALERT) I mean...at the very end, Kit suddenly realizes that Jasper, despite not being his biological father, is really his father, in a sense?? How dense was he that he didn't know that years ago? The problem is I kept waiting for these dramatic conclusions that didn't happen. So you wait....and wait....and when the big "revelations" are not revelations at all, you feel let down. What a soggy ending.
Another revelation I kept waiting for was the big one about why Daphne refused to tell Kit a thing about his biological father. Given that this is the main premise of the novel, you'd think it'd be a BIG revelation. And it's not! (SPOILER ALERT) I mean, the big revelation is that Mal was gay??? Or was that even the revelation?? That's the only thing I can see that could be the revelation, yet nothing is ever said or explained by Daphne about why that bothered her, why that was a big deal, why that would cause her to keep Kit's paternity from him. So the biggest revelation is never explained.
Another nonsensical aspect of this is that Kit can't get a job because he doesn't know his paternity? I mean, okay, I guess that could happen - I guess a person could become very depressed about not knowing who his father was, and that depression could lead to the inability to job search. That would make sense. Except that's now how it goes. Kit doesn't seem to overly care who is father is, really. It's his wife, Sandra, that is convinced that that's the cause of all this. It's Sandra that sets the whole thing in motion, and forces him to go see Jasper and try and discover who his father was.
The other thing: Kit is supposed to be the main character, yet we never know much about him. We know more about Jasper, and others. For a main character, he seems very washed-out, as opposed to the other characters, who are painted so vividly.
And why does Fenno, who is from Scotland, never speak using UK slang/words, when he actually talks, but uses them when he's thinking, when he's the author of a chapter? It's strange. And I could be off about this one, cause it's not like I went through and searched the whole book to make sure he only used UK slang/words in this way, but that's how I remember it. If I hadn't been to the UK many years ago, I wouldn't have know what he was talking about at times, ie. the boot of the car. Not that an author is obliged to make all characters speak American/Canadian English, and not that all readers of this novel will speak American/Canadian English, but...but it just felt unnecessarily confusing for those who wouldn't understand it, since there was no point/reason in him being from Scotland. If there were an actual point/reason, ie. part of the novel took place in Scotland or something, that'd be different.
And I do wish I'd known more about some of the characters, ie. I never really understood Daphne. Nor did I fully understand the animosity between her and Lucinda. It's almost as though, with so many characters, there wasn't ample time to fully flesh-out the main ones....instead, we end up with too much detail about minor ones (ie Zeke's father's dairy farm, which really doesn't matter), while not hearing enough about major ones (ie more about Daphne, especially why on earth she had such an issue with Mal being gay).
Still, despite all my issues with this novel, it is, as I said, beautifully written. And some of the characters are real enough to walk right off the page, especially Jasper. I'm not unhappy that I read it, but I sure wouldn't read it again. This is the first book by the author that I have read. Her writing is interesting enough to me that I am going to read another novel by her, and perhaps I will enjoy that one better.
It is beautifully written, though. And it did keep me reading. I really wanted to know how it ended! That, however, is another one of my problems with this - the ending was such a let-down. (SPOILER ALERT) I mean...at the very end, Kit suddenly realizes that Jasper, despite not being his biological father, is really his father, in a sense?? How dense was he that he didn't know that years ago? The problem is I kept waiting for these dramatic conclusions that didn't happen. So you wait....and wait....and when the big "revelations" are not revelations at all, you feel let down. What a soggy ending.
Another revelation I kept waiting for was the big one about why Daphne refused to tell Kit a thing about his biological father. Given that this is the main premise of the novel, you'd think it'd be a BIG revelation. And it's not! (SPOILER ALERT) I mean, the big revelation is that Mal was gay??? Or was that even the revelation?? That's the only thing I can see that could be the revelation, yet nothing is ever said or explained by Daphne about why that bothered her, why that was a big deal, why that would cause her to keep Kit's paternity from him. So the biggest revelation is never explained.
Another nonsensical aspect of this is that Kit can't get a job because he doesn't know his paternity? I mean, okay, I guess that could happen - I guess a person could become very depressed about not knowing who his father was, and that depression could lead to the inability to job search. That would make sense. Except that's now how it goes. Kit doesn't seem to overly care who is father is, really. It's his wife, Sandra, that is convinced that that's the cause of all this. It's Sandra that sets the whole thing in motion, and forces him to go see Jasper and try and discover who his father was.
The other thing: Kit is supposed to be the main character, yet we never know much about him. We know more about Jasper, and others. For a main character, he seems very washed-out, as opposed to the other characters, who are painted so vividly.
And why does Fenno, who is from Scotland, never speak using UK slang/words, when he actually talks, but uses them when he's thinking, when he's the author of a chapter? It's strange. And I could be off about this one, cause it's not like I went through and searched the whole book to make sure he only used UK slang/words in this way, but that's how I remember it. If I hadn't been to the UK many years ago, I wouldn't have know what he was talking about at times, ie. the boot of the car. Not that an author is obliged to make all characters speak American/Canadian English, and not that all readers of this novel will speak American/Canadian English, but...but it just felt unnecessarily confusing for those who wouldn't understand it, since there was no point/reason in him being from Scotland. If there were an actual point/reason, ie. part of the novel took place in Scotland or something, that'd be different.
And I do wish I'd known more about some of the characters, ie. I never really understood Daphne. Nor did I fully understand the animosity between her and Lucinda. It's almost as though, with so many characters, there wasn't ample time to fully flesh-out the main ones....instead, we end up with too much detail about minor ones (ie Zeke's father's dairy farm, which really doesn't matter), while not hearing enough about major ones (ie more about Daphne, especially why on earth she had such an issue with Mal being gay).
Still, despite all my issues with this novel, it is, as I said, beautifully written. And some of the characters are real enough to walk right off the page, especially Jasper. I'm not unhappy that I read it, but I sure wouldn't read it again. This is the first book by the author that I have read. Her writing is interesting enough to me that I am going to read another novel by her, and perhaps I will enjoy that one better.
kdhanda's review
2.0
Having read Three Junes, I really delved into this book with anticipation. Kit is a lost soul and he traverses life on the periphery. His wife, Sandra, thinks that this is because he never knew his father. She kicks him out and tells him to go and revisit his past, find his father, to get his life together. No quite a Homer-like elegy neither is it a book that ties it all together. We get to know each of the characters in a separate vignette. The construction is good but the prose is lacking. The plots goes on and on and Glass gets mired in minutae of details. I struggled to finish the book.
klew's review
5.0
This was such an emotional book...it was heartbreaking and lovely simultaneously. As told through the history of the Burns family....a story about coming of age, understanding your own sexuality, regret, the brutal years at the beginning of the AIDS crisis, and what it means to be to move on.
snowmaiden's review
4.0
First, a word of caution: This is one of a subset of Julia Glass' books that all concern a large cast of interconnected characters. They certainly can be read in any order and make sense, but now I regret that I didn't read them in chronological order. It's been about three years since I read [b: The Whole World Over|27646|The Whole World Over|Julia Glass|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439154564l/27646._SX50_.jpg|2870], the book that takes place immediately before this one, and I often wished I had a copy to refer to. So, word to the wise, I wouldn't start with this book if you think you might want to read more of Glass' novels later. Go and pick up a copy of [b: Three Junes|227593|Three Junes|Julia Glass|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924179l/227593._SY75_.jpg|2060095] instead.
All that aside, this is really a marvelous book. I saw a lot of reviews here that said it was boring, which makes me question how unimaginative those reviewers must be. Glass' strength is always in characterization, not in plotting. It's the subtle interactions between people that she's mainly interested in, so if that doesn't sound like your kind of book at all, you might also find this one boring. Except that there are actually two long adventurous sequences in this book, one involving a sled-dog rescue during a blizzard, and the other, a hurricane. How could anybody find those parts boring?
I've almost caught up with Julia Glass-- there are only three of her books remaining for me to read. A part of me wishes she'd hurry up and write faster, but I also know that her books are worth the wait. And hey, if I ever get really lonely for her voice, I can always read them again, this time in the correct order!
All that aside, this is really a marvelous book. I saw a lot of reviews here that said it was boring, which makes me question how unimaginative those reviewers must be. Glass' strength is always in characterization, not in plotting. It's the subtle interactions between people that she's mainly interested in, so if that doesn't sound like your kind of book at all, you might also find this one boring. Except that there are actually two long adventurous sequences in this book, one involving a sled-dog rescue during a blizzard, and the other, a hurricane. How could anybody find those parts boring?
I've almost caught up with Julia Glass-- there are only three of her books remaining for me to read. A part of me wishes she'd hurry up and write faster, but I also know that her books are worth the wait. And hey, if I ever get really lonely for her voice, I can always read them again, this time in the correct order!