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skynet666's review against another edition
3.0
This was a book I just picked up off the shelf in the New section at the library. The story takes place in Silicon Valley and makes tons of references to city names etc (not sure why because it didn't seem to add to the story at all). The first part of the book was just ok and although the story was good, I just didn't care about the main character. Then a bit into the book, the author introduces other characters. In my opinion, Cal and Ivy were the best part of the book by far. These characters kept me interested and I enjoyed their story. I'm so glad that the author dedicated as much as she did to Cal and Ivy through the last portion of the book because I really didn't care about what's her name (seriously I can't remember).
mbartonrau's review against another edition
5.0
I was surprised at how quickly this story pulled me in and kept my attention. It was a book that I stumbled on and was glad to have found.
kirstenrose22's review against another edition
1.0
Technically I did not finish this one. I got about halfway through and just couldn't bring myself to go much further. There was too much going on here - too many subplots (grief over a stillborn baby, the struggles of raising a baby born prematurely, an old family scandal, a start-up company......) and too many characters I couldn't keep track of. The dialogue was *terrible*, especially between Lena and Charlie, who somehow never quite manage to finish their sentences in each other's presence and just speak in fragments and clauses - it made me crazy. There were occasional sentences that wowed me, but they were too buried in the rest of the mess.
bahoulie's review against another edition
2.0
Not a book I would normally read - I'm pretty done with family dramas - but it was so well reviewed that I thought I'd give it a chance. So far, I'm not sorry. So far the family problems are not a retread of some other book I've already read.
Now that I'm done, I can say that this book did not fulfill it's early promise. The end was obvious and poorly fleshed out compared with the rest of the novel. Overall a real disappointment.
Now that I'm done, I can say that this book did not fulfill it's early promise. The end was obvious and poorly fleshed out compared with the rest of the novel. Overall a real disappointment.
mbartonrau's review
5.0
I was surprised at how quickly this story pulled me in and kept my attention. It was a book that I stumbled on and was glad to have found.
irena_smith's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't want to like this novel -- it initially seemed too contrived, too self-aware, too "Hi-I'm-an-open-ended-experimental-post-modern-narrative-contending-for-a-prestigious-book-award," and I ended up obsessively thinking about it for many weeks after I finished. It's not perfect -- there are many loose ends and contrived sentences -- but it constructs a gloriously complicated and utterly believable world in which imperfect, wounded, striving people collide and wound each other and come together and drift apart in implausible and, on a deeper level, totally possible ways. Edgarian ends up offering a reflection not only on modern definitions of success -- money, power, a successful start-up -- but also on modern marriage and parenting, on couplehood, on appearances and deceptions, and on the kinds of realities that only a very gifted author can show us.
renflew's review against another edition
1.0
Not a favourite, actually made myself finish the book. Not a fan of the dialogue the characters used - no one really speaks like that. Overall a forgettable book - neither the storyline nor the characters will stay with me.
mbartonrau's review against another edition
5.0
I was surprised at how quickly this story pulled me in and kept my attention. It was a book that I stumbled on and was glad to have found.
cmrink's review against another edition
3.0
Could be three or four stars, this was sometimes funny and insightful and sometimes dependent on cliches.
eandrews80's review against another edition
2.0
Despite some shrewd observations and compelling scenes, this book is terribly overwritten and morose. It's also overcrowded; if the story could have focused solely on Lena and Charlie, a struggling married couple with financial problems and a sick baby, perhaps Edgarian could have created an emotional center to ground the rest of the characters. Instead, we get saddled with Lena's obscenely rich aunt, uncle, and extended family; her former lover; myriad business associates; a family wedding; a failed business venture involving a surgical robot; and endless references to the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Even worse is the dialogue, which tries too hard to be literary and instead sounds stilted and overwrought. I have to admit falling in love with Lena and Charlie's young son, Theo, and the scenes that revolve around their family were the only reason I finished this. So much potential, but ultimately disappointing.