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sujuv's review
4.0
I tried to read Zink's book "Wallcreeper" a while ago and I have to admit I gave up. I was bored by the characters. So I was hesitant about reading this book until the reviews won me over. I'm glad I did. While the first half is definitely more energetic than the second, it is compelling throughout. She's created characters who defy expectations and who re-define family while at the same time taking us through New York in the 80s, into 9/11, and (sadly) into Trump. She tackles the Green Party and beltway politics, feminism and motherhood, celebrity and authenticity. It's a very ambitious book and succeeds in many ways and it's a fun read.
johndiconsiglio's review against another edition
3.0
I’m not nearly cool enough for this novel’s Lower East Side indie rock scene. (If you don’t know the Tragic Mulattos or 13th Floor Elevators, neither are you.) But there’s a real affection among the 2 generations of misfits it follows from the downtown ’90s to the Trump election, with a major interlude at 9/11. Music-hipsters Pam & Daniel try their hand at child-raising while sweet pal Joe becomes an unlikely rock star. Despite its best efforts to stay droll, actual emotions break through. If only the author’s smug detachment didn’t keep getting in the way.
marcrosenblum's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Struck close to home for me because one of the main characters is my age, with a daughter a bit older than Hazel, and they live back and forth between DC and NYC, sharing some of my interests. Laughed out loud in places. Well written, enjoyable read. But not like memorable or especially thought provoking.
ohhek's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
hedgehogreads01's review
4.0
Not a strong 4/5, more like 3.5/5
The book is advertised as “how 9/11 changed the lives of main characters” (smth like that), but it is not just that. And 9/11 is one of many events happened. The characters almost never go back to their 9/11 memories (unless you count their memories of their dear friend). Lives changed, but aren’t they change all the time?
Good stuff:
1) I like two of the female characters: Pam is def my girl — I can relate to her choices, her sarcasm and views, and Ginger reminds me of my fave grandmother, who was less conservative than her contemporaries, and loved me to the bits.
2) The first 30% of Pam/Daniel/Joe’s story is my idea of A Home at the End of the World (maybe I shouldn’t compare these books, but...). Like, the version I can believe, to be honest.
Bad stuff:
1) Flora’s love stories... Can’t spoil it, or should I? They are just sad and boring. Even her green activism is more entertaining.
2) For some reason the author (and main characters) decided, that STDs don’t exist. Or how can you explain all the unprotected sex set in 21 century?! All I can say, if my baby says “I date an old guy, but we don’t use condoms, cause he says so”, I’d say “RUN, baby. And use condoms at all times with anyone”.
Sadly, the book ends with “all about Flora”, whom I just can’t like or relate.
The book is advertised as “how 9/11 changed the lives of main characters” (smth like that), but it is not just that. And 9/11 is one of many events happened. The characters almost never go back to their 9/11 memories (unless you count their memories of their dear friend). Lives changed, but aren’t they change all the time?
Good stuff:
1) I like two of the female characters: Pam is def my girl — I can relate to her choices, her sarcasm and views, and Ginger reminds me of my fave grandmother, who was less conservative than her contemporaries, and loved me to the bits.
2) The first 30% of Pam/Daniel/Joe’s story is my idea of A Home at the End of the World (maybe I shouldn’t compare these books, but...). Like, the version I can believe, to be honest.
Bad stuff:
1) Flora’s love stories... Can’t spoil it, or should I? They are just sad and boring. Even her green activism is more entertaining.
2) For some reason the author (and main characters) decided, that STDs don’t exist. Or how can you explain all the unprotected sex set in 21 century?! All I can say, if my baby says “I date an old guy, but we don’t use condoms, cause he says so”, I’d say “RUN, baby. And use condoms at all times with anyone”.
Sadly, the book ends with “all about Flora”, whom I just can’t like or relate.
mollylcarlisle's review
I loved Mislaid and I really tried to like this one. I just don’t care about the characters and the cleverness is grating. Giving up at 60% read.
undermeyou's review against another edition
4.0
I had a few problems with this book. Mainly that it felt like two different books in one series. The Joe/Pam/Daniel story line could have easily been one singular book with Flora’s as another. I felt little connection to Flora because of the way this was presented as one book.
My biggest problem was with the ending. I fucking hated it. What a spoiled little shit. Flora is upset and thinks Aaron is uninvested in being a parent because he won’t lose his job to play house in the loft her parents are letting him borrow? Most parents have work and little bonding time with each other. America and its capitalist values make family bonding a total shit show, but wanting to make sure you can provide for your family because where you live makes it a necessity does not equal uninvested in parenthood. I get she’s supposed to be mentally struggling as a green liberal, but you can be a realist and still be fighting for a better future.
My biggest problem was with the ending. I fucking hated it. What a spoiled little shit. Flora is upset and thinks Aaron is uninvested in being a parent because he won’t lose his job to play house in the loft her parents are letting him borrow? Most parents have work and little bonding time with each other. America and its capitalist values make family bonding a total shit show, but wanting to make sure you can provide for your family because where you live makes it a necessity does not equal uninvested in parenthood. I get she’s supposed to be mentally struggling as a green liberal, but you can be a realist and still be fighting for a better future.
uosdwisrdewoh's review against another edition
5.0
This fantastic novel, chronicling the lives of a family in New York and Washington over the past few decades, is written with a knowing, sardonic edge, but Zink never takes the easy way out with knowledge of future events. Only occasionally does the narration give some indication of foreshadowing before snapping back into daily life, and those glimpses are so sly that you almost miss them.
Zink’s characters hit the same touchstones in their lives that everyone remembers, but never in an annoying overly referential way, simply one that reinforces their situation in a time and place. Zink trusts the reader to understand why a line like “she looked up the Green Party of the United States on Facebook” pulsates with its implications.
It’s an odd thing to say, but Zink is especially good at the economic developments of these past years, and how that gets reflected in everyday life. She has a strong hold on how the very fabric of working life changed and strained against the contortions of recent history, always filtered through an incisive voice that edges right up to sarcasm, without ever crossing the line, like when the family becomes indirect victims of their landlords’ short-sighted investment strategy: “When the bubble burst in March 2000, they took an $80,000 loss of their own free will as if they could punish [Amazon] by divesting. They raised Daniel’s rent $800, an increase of 100 percent. It would bring them an extra $80,000 over seventeen years.”
The main protagonists are sympathetic and witty but with real flaws that sometimes made me wonder how much I should really root for them. Zink doesn’t have a Girls-type withering disdain for her characters. Instead she skillfully walks a tightrope, giving a clear-eyed view of people who are generally whip-smart about life but still do some really stupid things, especially when it comes to sex. It’s the journey of people who don’t exactly know what they want (and what they do want is impractical, ridiculous, and unfulfilling) and how they somehow manage to get by anyway. Privilege helps. They shrug off events that would have devastated people who didn’t come from the white, middle-class security that this book inhabits. Yet some of those mistakes do hit, and those left standing don’t recover easily, but they do recover. In the end, though, reading about these characters is an utter delight. You are taken in by their quick, lacerating, and sometimes obnoxious banter so that by the end when someone says “I love you, you fecund slut,” it’s as funny, infuriating, and moving as the whole of Doxology.
Zink’s characters hit the same touchstones in their lives that everyone remembers, but never in an annoying overly referential way, simply one that reinforces their situation in a time and place. Zink trusts the reader to understand why a line like “she looked up the Green Party of the United States on Facebook” pulsates with its implications.
It’s an odd thing to say, but Zink is especially good at the economic developments of these past years, and how that gets reflected in everyday life. She has a strong hold on how the very fabric of working life changed and strained against the contortions of recent history, always filtered through an incisive voice that edges right up to sarcasm, without ever crossing the line, like when the family becomes indirect victims of their landlords’ short-sighted investment strategy: “When the bubble burst in March 2000, they took an $80,000 loss of their own free will as if they could punish [Amazon] by divesting. They raised Daniel’s rent $800, an increase of 100 percent. It would bring them an extra $80,000 over seventeen years.”
The main protagonists are sympathetic and witty but with real flaws that sometimes made me wonder how much I should really root for them. Zink doesn’t have a Girls-type withering disdain for her characters. Instead she skillfully walks a tightrope, giving a clear-eyed view of people who are generally whip-smart about life but still do some really stupid things, especially when it comes to sex. It’s the journey of people who don’t exactly know what they want (and what they do want is impractical, ridiculous, and unfulfilling) and how they somehow manage to get by anyway. Privilege helps. They shrug off events that would have devastated people who didn’t come from the white, middle-class security that this book inhabits. Yet some of those mistakes do hit, and those left standing don’t recover easily, but they do recover. In the end, though, reading about these characters is an utter delight. You are taken in by their quick, lacerating, and sometimes obnoxious banter so that by the end when someone says “I love you, you fecund slut,” it’s as funny, infuriating, and moving as the whole of Doxology.
ichirofakename's review
4.0
Another great Zink. Funny, touching, thoughtful. Interesting, deep, appealing characters. Girl runs away to NYC, starts a punk band, becomes a programmer. Her daughter gets into politics, Trump is elected. She can't pick a father for her coming child, the end.