Reviews

Rare instance for me in which multiple POV worked. In fact the alternating narrator structure helped to build tension and anticipation that drove the plot to its (sad) conclusion.

charadreemurrs's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

somanysagas's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Strong character development? No

2.0

please read The Living is Easy instead of this i’m so sorry to Miss Dorothy omg. I haven’t stopped recommending The Living is Easy since I read it and yet this was seriously one of the worst books I’ve read all year. Incredibly disjointed without a solid or even heavily referenced through line to thread between any two points. There are some moments of beautiful phrasing, but the mountain of un-storied vignettes you have to get through to get to them are too much. There is more reflection on the narrators part than the characters so the experience is really unanchored. Also, the realities of colorism and racism etc are introduced as subject to critique and complexity, yet every single subject is played out mostly in the narrator’s philosophizing. So instead of getting dynamic portrayals of those themes within the characters lives, you get alot of absolute assertions about this is the way it can/should/will be regarding color in particular. And it’s not like it’s wrong (like thought wise for the society each generation had to grow up in), but it does come across as condescending on the whole because it’s not something you glean from the story, it’s something the narrator is telling you to contextualize whatever nonsense these lightskinned people are up to next! Which is next to nothing and this is coming from someone who likes domestic fiction.

The Living is Easy explores all these topics and themes with amazing sincerity and diabolical humor, and just with more grace ?? than this book.

Sorry to speak bad on your name Miss Dorothy

marcymurli's review against another edition

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4.0

I hadn't read this novel in a number of years. It was so delightful to return to Dottie's world of Martha's Vineyard and recall her vivid characters and her beautiful language. I just love the way she weaves all the characters' stories together in such a tightly-composed narrative. Just sublime!

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