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55thswiss's review against another edition
3.0
I finished the last four chapters of this book on a rainy October morning, my wife and daughter taking a nap after breakfast. I really wanted to, and thought I would have, liked this book more. It did grow on me a little by the end, but in general it left me flat.
The book read as a series of stories, lives that weave together as the pages flip by. Unfortunately, I find ponzi schemes and their stories rather boring, which turned out to be the main story arc in this novel.
Their were however a handful of B stories, characters dealing with the fallout of the shell company's crime, which were relatable and real to me, the chapter about Shadow Country for example, which strengthened my desire to finish this book.
By the end though, I didn't really feel like I'd comes to know anyone very well, and connecting all the account felt strained at times, complicated for complication's sake.
The book read as a series of stories, lives that weave together as the pages flip by. Unfortunately, I find ponzi schemes and their stories rather boring, which turned out to be the main story arc in this novel.
Their were however a handful of B stories, characters dealing with the fallout of the shell company's crime, which were relatable and real to me, the chapter about Shadow Country for example, which strengthened my desire to finish this book.
By the end though, I didn't really feel like I'd comes to know anyone very well, and connecting all the account felt strained at times, complicated for complication's sake.
ct21's review against another edition
4.0
A real treat. Sort of reminded me of paradise city. Love a book that incorporates financial crimes.
bedee's review against another edition
5.0
I don’t say this lightly, but I think the is the best book I’ve read this year and possibly ever.
ewhipple's review against another edition
2.0
I loved Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility (other novels by Mandel), and I had heard that characters from those novels would show up here. I love that kind of thing. But this was an absolute snooze-fest. Nothing jumped out at me. No characters begged me to root for them. I'm surprised I even finished it.
meadowbat's review against another edition
5.0
It wouldn't be a huge overstatement to say this is my platonic ideal of a novel. Ghost story, mystery, socially conscious epic spanning years. It's about the characters—complicit, innocent, and in between—who are affected by a Bernie Madoff-style Ponzi scheme. It's also about...life? Everything? Mandel does an amazing job of weaving threads and motifs and callbacks; I kept imagining a giant bulletin board full of cards and thumbtacks, to track it all the way they track crimes on TV. Coincidence drives perhaps too much of the plot (if it was good enough for Dickens...), but it didn't bother me. The way she plays with time—both on the page, as characters slip in and out of memory and alternate universes, and in terms of narrative strategy—is a lesson in technique.
ashleywinchester's review against another edition
3.0
I really, really wanted to love this in the way that I loved "Station Eleven." But they're two very different books. It felt like the bits and pieces of lives described here, while intertwined, were really separate starts of various short stories and character studies that never quite came together correctly, for me. Meh. Not bad but not a fantastic read, either, which is a shame.