cartophilus's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed reading this book, but I just didn't feel like I could give it more than three stars: the story about a character with Williams syndrome was moving, the writing was beautiful, but the chapters were too short. The story hopped from one vignette to another, each of them rarely more than a few pages. For me, this kept the book from really developing the deep emotional impact when significant character development happened. In spite of the really carefully detailed and well-thought out descriptions of the characters, the story seemed flat and sometimes absurd.
kittykornerlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Beautifully written and dreamlike... there is a hushed tone as all the characters' thoughts and memories unfold. Set in a New York apartment building, the eccentric neighbors each bring a unique story and way of being broken and continuing on. Edith, the elderly landlady, needs care and to find her daughter who has been estranged for over forty years. Journeys both literal and metaphorical abound. The writing is extremely good. Unique and unforgettable.
curiousnoel's review against another edition
5.0
So many times this book made me sigh out loud from the sheer beauty of it.
donitaluz's review against another edition
5.0
I couldn't finish a single book in years!!! Happy to have picked this up in a sale booth of a book store when I was just there to buy an envelope. It is like its calling to me and now I know why I have to listen to my instinct.
I was going to rate this 4 stars but decided to add another star solely because of the fact that this has been one of the easiest book I read this year.
But don't get me wrong. This book is not easy in the slightest. I meant, I devoured this book just as easily as I do before I contracted the worst bookslump disease. But the story is not easy, the characters where the whole story revolves are complicated and sad and heart warming.
I was rooting for Edith, for Adeleine, angry at Owen, my heart melt for Paulie. This book made me feel a lot just by meeting these fictional chacters.
"I thought I could feel all the space trying to rush in, all those rooms with no living in them yet, begging for light and the tread of people, this infinite home"
I was so sure I still have a couple of pages left. More words to tell me what happened to those characters I was rooting for. So Imagine my surprised when I turn in the next page and saw the big bold words: "ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS".
It could have ended differently. There are infinite ways the author could have ended the story, but she chooses it the way she did and somehow, after hours of thinking how the author rob me of possibilities, I understood. I realized, there are infinite possibilities out there and how could you have justified and ending to the characters that are full of flaws from the start? By making them have a happy ending? Sad ending? No it is entirely different and I'm just very happy to have the chance to meet all these characters.
Thank you for giving me a roller coaster ride in this book. Definitely one I will not forget so easily.
Highly recommended.
P.S. watch out for the slow and sometimes too cheesy(writing) moments. But savor it. :)
I was going to rate this 4 stars but decided to add another star solely because of the fact that this has been one of the easiest book I read this year.
But don't get me wrong. This book is not easy in the slightest. I meant, I devoured this book just as easily as I do before I contracted the worst bookslump disease. But the story is not easy, the characters where the whole story revolves are complicated and sad and heart warming.
I was rooting for Edith, for Adeleine, angry at Owen, my heart melt for Paulie. This book made me feel a lot just by meeting these fictional chacters.
"I thought I could feel all the space trying to rush in, all those rooms with no living in them yet, begging for light and the tread of people, this infinite home"
I was so sure I still have a couple of pages left. More words to tell me what happened to those characters I was rooting for. So Imagine my surprised when I turn in the next page and saw the big bold words: "ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS".
It could have ended differently. There are infinite ways the author could have ended the story, but she chooses it the way she did and somehow, after hours of thinking how the author rob me of possibilities, I understood. I realized, there are infinite possibilities out there and how could you have justified and ending to the characters that are full of flaws from the start? By making them have a happy ending? Sad ending? No it is entirely different and I'm just very happy to have the chance to meet all these characters.
Thank you for giving me a roller coaster ride in this book. Definitely one I will not forget so easily.
Highly recommended.
P.S. watch out for the slow and sometimes too cheesy(writing) moments. But savor it. :)
brianthehuman's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
cher_n_books's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars - It was alright, an average book.
Felt overwritten and slow in places. To illustrate what I mean by overwritten, below is the first chapter in its entirety (all the chapters are short). This writing style can be beautiful when used sparingly but is over the top when it flows continuously.
THE NEIGHBORS HADN’T NOTICED the building’s slow emptying, didn’t register the change until autumn’s lavish colors arrived and leaves sailed through the windows the man hadn’t bothered to shut. The wind captured various vestiges—a sun-bleached postcard covered in outmoded cursive and a chipped plastic refrigerator magnet shaped like a P and a curling photo of a red-haired woman asleep on a couch—and flew the tenants’ things before relinquishing them to the sidewalk.
He was often visible in the evenings, backlit by a feeble table lamp, immobile in a plastic school chair placed against a top-floor sill, and he seemed untouched by any changes in sound or light or weather, an ambulance’s amplifying moan or the snap of a storm on parked cars or the inked saturation of the sky at dusk. Some nights his seat remained empty, and yellows and whites and golds briefly filled each room before darkening and appearing in the next, the lights traveling from the first floor to the third, and the movement of electricity was a quiet spectacle, like the reappearance of hunger after a long illness.
When the cold knock of air came and New York turned white, he closed the windows.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: “Aging gracefully” was a model much talked about, though Edith doubted anyone ever felt elegant or nimble amid the nearly inescapable fatigue, the persistent mutations of once-simple tasks and the shame thereafter.
First Sentence: The neighbors hadn’t noticed the building’s slow emptying, didn’t register the change until autumn’s lavish colors arrived and leaves sailed through the windows the man hadn’t bothered to shut.
Felt overwritten and slow in places. To illustrate what I mean by overwritten, below is the first chapter in its entirety (all the chapters are short). This writing style can be beautiful when used sparingly but is over the top when it flows continuously.
THE NEIGHBORS HADN’T NOTICED the building’s slow emptying, didn’t register the change until autumn’s lavish colors arrived and leaves sailed through the windows the man hadn’t bothered to shut. The wind captured various vestiges—a sun-bleached postcard covered in outmoded cursive and a chipped plastic refrigerator magnet shaped like a P and a curling photo of a red-haired woman asleep on a couch—and flew the tenants’ things before relinquishing them to the sidewalk.
He was often visible in the evenings, backlit by a feeble table lamp, immobile in a plastic school chair placed against a top-floor sill, and he seemed untouched by any changes in sound or light or weather, an ambulance’s amplifying moan or the snap of a storm on parked cars or the inked saturation of the sky at dusk. Some nights his seat remained empty, and yellows and whites and golds briefly filled each room before darkening and appearing in the next, the lights traveling from the first floor to the third, and the movement of electricity was a quiet spectacle, like the reappearance of hunger after a long illness.
When the cold knock of air came and New York turned white, he closed the windows.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: “Aging gracefully” was a model much talked about, though Edith doubted anyone ever felt elegant or nimble amid the nearly inescapable fatigue, the persistent mutations of once-simple tasks and the shame thereafter.
First Sentence: The neighbors hadn’t noticed the building’s slow emptying, didn’t register the change until autumn’s lavish colors arrived and leaves sailed through the windows the man hadn’t bothered to shut.
lvw22's review against another edition
3.0
3 1/2* It took me a while to get into the flow of this book, but once I did I really enjoyed Alcott's finely drawn characterizations of the disparate group of tenants in a run-down apartment building in NYC. Their relationships to each other and to their aging landlord are unique and interesting to read about--these people stick with you. I especially loved Paulie, a 33-year old man with Williams Syndrome, who feels things deeply and sees the humor and beauty in everything, and his sister who takes care of him. I also like the way the individual stories come together as they interact to preserve their home.
tddonoso's review against another edition
It was a great book but it clearly wasn't for me. At least not at this moment of my life. The depiction of abusive behavior and violence, even if it was subtle, made it incredibly difficult to continue reading.
shelbyjo's review against another edition
Not for me and I don't love the narrator.
gabzdabz's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars??? It was beautifully written. Felt character centered rather than plot centered, yet somehow I still didn’t feel like I really knew or cared for the characters much. Usually with a beautifully written book I can’t put the book down, but this one didn’t do it for me as much (though I had a lot more motivation to read it in the second half when things picked up). I feel like it needed *more* somehow. I want to like it more than I do, but it is what it is!!!