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jhenry's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sassysparky's review against another edition
4.0
wow
This was a great story. I liked all the characters, they were all so fully formed. My only quibble is I just wish we knew what the heck Tina thought she was looking for.
This was a great story. I liked all the characters, they were all so fully formed. My only quibble is I just wish we knew what the heck Tina thought she was looking for.
wxdam's review
2.0
The Time Has Come follows the quotidian lives of a host of characters in Athens, Georgia. A godly nurse, a badass widow, a high school athlete, his touchy dad, and a few others who are all bumbling through life after the worst days of COVID upheaval.
One of the characters is a former teacher who believes there are documents related to truly heinous abuse hidden in a box in the back of the town's legendary Lindbergh's Pharmacy, and she's planning to walk in with a gun and demand to see them.
Much of the book features vignettes highlighting each character, why their flaws are worthy of our empathy, and what brought each of them to the pharmacy the night that the lights went out in Georgia.
That was a schmaltzy cliche, sure, but not as cheesy as this ending!
Really though, the ending blew up the rest of the book. The book tackled the pandemic, politics, violence, relationships, disappointment, insecurity, racism, and addiction. But the climax was odd and rushed, like we slipped into an alternate universe where really awful stuff evaporates and everyone is happy and gets along, the end. If only.
The most fascinating part of the book was Dorothy, the widow who discovered she's tough as nails and loved every second of it. I'd read an entire novel following her life before and after The Time Has Come.
Both stars are for Dorothy.
One of the characters is a former teacher who believes there are documents related to truly heinous abuse hidden in a box in the back of the town's legendary Lindbergh's Pharmacy, and she's planning to walk in with a gun and demand to see them.
Much of the book features vignettes highlighting each character, why their flaws are worthy of our empathy, and what brought each of them to the pharmacy the night that the lights went out in Georgia.
That was a schmaltzy cliche, sure, but not as cheesy as this ending!
Really though, the ending blew up the rest of the book. The book tackled the pandemic, politics, violence, relationships, disappointment, insecurity, racism, and addiction. But the climax was odd and rushed, like we slipped into an alternate universe where really awful stuff evaporates and everyone is happy and gets along, the end. If only.
The most fascinating part of the book was Dorothy, the widow who discovered she's tough as nails and loved every second of it. I'd read an entire novel following her life before and after The Time Has Come.
Both stars are for Dorothy.
calmcelebration9888's review
This book talks about all the things from 2020 that I never want to hear about again: Trump, coronavirus, discrimination. It’s just too much. I get this is real life, and that’s why I shouldn’t have to read about it in works of fiction.
ttodd86's review
2.0
A disappointment 0f a book that probably sounded better conceptually than what resulted from its execution.
deeschell's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
ohhellokelli's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
pattiillbee11's review
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
My least favorite kind of novel. 90% first person narrative. I found myself skimming through page long paragraphs of characters' self reflections. The characters themselves were interesting up to a point but show me don't tell me. This novel is also a compilation of all the issues facing our country. 80% is spent on characters' backgrounds with the last 20% dealing with the actions of one character involving all the others, which was anticlimactic in my opinion.
bmoritz99's review
5.0
Will Leitch is the writer I want to be when I grow up, and books like this are why. It’s poignant, funny, filled with memorable characters and it’s a love letter to Athens, Georgia.
checkplease's review
3.0
**Goodreads Giveaway winner!**
“The Time Has Come” is a character study of 7 people living in Athens, GA in the shadow of COVID, the Jan 6th insurrection, and racial unrest. The story begins with the writings of a woman whose plotted actions are clearly meant to evoke Pizzagate, the real-life storming of a small business, who is also mentally Ill with an imagined score to settle. It then weaves together the backstories of our 7 characters, whose lives converge in that store where trouble is stirred, a pharmacy and soda shop that had belonged to one family across three generations.
This was my first book by Will Leitch, who said in an interview that the novel was inspired by the films Shortcuts and Nashville. While those movies also focus on the stories of disparate characters, their individual narrative arcs synergize into something special that is greater than the sum of its parts. Here, things never quite coalesced for me, and I was left wondering what it all added up to.
Many of the characters face (non-COVID) loss as part of their storyline, and many are fleshed out using secondary characters whose own stories become loose ends left dangling. While I don’t need resolution all the time, I did think the structure came across as too self-conscious. And I wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that the author, a White man, named the children of an older Black couple in the story after his own real-life sons.
Ultimately, I liked the story while also remaining at a distance from it. Perhaps it’s emblematic that the term mass shooting is used incorrectly in the book, as I closed it wondering what I might have missed that would have helped the novel feel a little more consequential.
“The Time Has Come” is a character study of 7 people living in Athens, GA in the shadow of COVID, the Jan 6th insurrection, and racial unrest. The story begins with the writings of a woman whose plotted actions are clearly meant to evoke Pizzagate, the real-life storming of a small business, who is also mentally Ill with an imagined score to settle. It then weaves together the backstories of our 7 characters, whose lives converge in that store where trouble is stirred, a pharmacy and soda shop that had belonged to one family across three generations.
This was my first book by Will Leitch, who said in an interview that the novel was inspired by the films Shortcuts and Nashville. While those movies also focus on the stories of disparate characters, their individual narrative arcs synergize into something special that is greater than the sum of its parts. Here, things never quite coalesced for me, and I was left wondering what it all added up to.
Many of the characters face (non-COVID) loss as part of their storyline, and many are fleshed out using secondary characters whose own stories become loose ends left dangling. While I don’t need resolution all the time, I did think the structure came across as too self-conscious. And I wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that the author, a White man, named the children of an older Black couple in the story after his own real-life sons.
Ultimately, I liked the story while also remaining at a distance from it. Perhaps it’s emblematic that the term mass shooting is used incorrectly in the book, as I closed it wondering what I might have missed that would have helped the novel feel a little more consequential.