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alisonjfields's review against another edition
4.0
8.4/10
I really wanted to hate this book because, at first impression, it seemed like exactly the book that every over-serious dude in your creative writing class would give his eye-teeth to write. I mean, it's brutal and beautiful, violent and gorgeous at the same time. It's a book by the privileged scion of a literary family--a consummate insider-- that manages to truthfully evoke the lives on the margins of almost everything.
But hey, it's brutal and beautiful and frequently painful to read, but one of the best things I've read in a really long time.
So yeah, color me impressed.
Nothing I love more than being surprised by a writer.
I really wanted to hate this book because, at first impression, it seemed like exactly the book that every over-serious dude in your creative writing class would give his eye-teeth to write. I mean, it's brutal and beautiful, violent and gorgeous at the same time. It's a book by the privileged scion of a literary family--a consummate insider-- that manages to truthfully evoke the lives on the margins of almost everything.
But hey, it's brutal and beautiful and frequently painful to read, but one of the best things I've read in a really long time.
So yeah, color me impressed.
Nothing I love more than being surprised by a writer.
filiparferreira's review against another edition
4.0
São 4 estrelas do mais duro que há. O avesso do sonho americano, a exploração, a violência, o racismo, a falta de saúde mental, de direitos mínimos, de higiene, entre americanos brancos, emigrantes chineses, porto riquenhos, mexicanos, ex-presidiários drogados e beberrões. Mas um livro bem escrito, sensível, premiado, que vai encadeando o horror, a tristeza e a falta de esperança com um amor inesperado, imprevisível, que nos ilude e embala.
ryanhboyd's review
dark
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
3.5
wdudley89's review
3.0
This is a tough book. The leading characters are a troubled Iraqi war veteran and an undocumented Chinese immigrant, who join their fates on the streets of New York. Struggling to find work, money, and sanity they cross paths with an Irish ex-convict. Trouble ensues. The story and the writing are good enough to pull the reader along. But hope is hard to maintain in the world these people inhabit.
blubberbooks's review
2.0
Åh den her var bare slet ikke mig! Ud fra teksten og anmeldelserne, lød den enormt spændende og medrivende – og det var bare slet ikke hvad jeg fandt. Fra første side havde jeg svært ved at holde fokus og interessen ved lige, og det blev ikke bedre jo længere jeg kom.
ynoirb's review against another edition
3.0
3.5. It has been on my shelf for 7 years, I wonder how 2015 Briony knew that 2022 Briony would go through a doomed love phase?
pino_sabatelli's review against another edition
2.0
Noioso, prolisso, macchinoso, del tutto privo di qualsiasi tensione narrativa. Una prosa grigia, deprimente, che non ha mai un sussulto di intensità o di originalità, che impiega decine e decine di pagine per descrivere dettagli, situazioni irrilevanti e personaggi piatti e prevedibili verso i quali non si prova alcun coinvolgimento. Anche l’ambientazione della storia non va oltre la scontata e oleografica rappresentazione dell’emarginazione sociale e del degrado urbano.
È piuttosto ironico che l’Autore sia figlio di quel Lish che tagliò impietosamente i racconti di Carver: sarebbe divertente sapere se avrebbe salvato qualcosa di questo insulso polpettone.
È piuttosto ironico che l’Autore sia figlio di quel Lish che tagliò impietosamente i racconti di Carver: sarebbe divertente sapere se avrebbe salvato qualcosa di questo insulso polpettone.
manaledi's review
4.0
This book was real. And hard. It didn't fall into any of the feel-good traps of how love solves everything or PTSD will just get better or that immigration struggles eventually just go away. It humanized the people it can be easier not to think about - the Chinese Uighur girl working in the back of a take-out Chinese food joint, or the army vet falling-down drunk on the streets. The book is full of moral lessons about our individual battles and stories, but without hitting you over the head with a "right" way to look at anything. It took me a bit to fully get into the book, but I stayed up way too late finishing it.
debr's review
4.0
This book was moving, incredibly painful, and for the most part extremely well written.