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edgeworthstan2000's review
2.0
The ending is strong but the beginning and middle are meandering and don't feel real. It doesn't feel like a story and it goes in boring circles and the characters and their developments also don't seem real. Did not love.
rebeccabiega's review
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bookeared's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
annie76's review
3.0
This was a beautifully written WWII-era tale of Jewish refugees in New York. But... I just didn't get emotionally attached to any of the characters. And, I should have. Given the subject matter... the refugee family torn from everything they've ever had, the teenage orphan trying to make her way in the world, the former child celebrity trying to be a functioning adult... I just didn't care all that much. Beautiful but rather dry with no real surprises or resolutions.
jayshay's review
4.0
I am not usually one of those people who can read a book for the language. I'm a story guy. These days I seem to read more fantasy and science-fiction than the lit category. Ozick is one of the exceptions though. I find how she writes, while not the showy pyrotechnics of other far less interesting writers, to be simply delightful. The Glimmering World is another example of this.
Do I get all the connections between the Karaites (Jewish Protestants? anti-offical interpretation of the Jewish holy texts, please forgive my deeply ignorant summation) and the Bear Boy? Nope. But the brief flights of either the father going off on his historical/philosophical/religious sermons or the sections of the Bear Boy going through a Christopher Robin hell are more than worth the price of admission.
And then there is the whole messy family of refugees, the Mitwissers, driven from Nazi Europe. And then frustrating, ultimately slimey Bertran and the idealogue Ninel! Perhaps the least interesting is the conduit character who serves as the view point for the entire novel - Rose.
Do I get all the connections between the Karaites (Jewish Protestants? anti-offical interpretation of the Jewish holy texts, please forgive my deeply ignorant summation) and the Bear Boy? Nope. But the brief flights of either the father going off on his historical/philosophical/religious sermons or the sections of the Bear Boy going through a Christopher Robin hell are more than worth the price of admission.
And then there is the whole messy family of refugees, the Mitwissers, driven from Nazi Europe. And then frustrating, ultimately slimey Bertran and the idealogue Ninel! Perhaps the least interesting is the conduit character who serves as the view point for the entire novel - Rose.
tee_tuhm's review
2.0
Took way too long to get to any sort of point, with little satisfaction along the way. Disappointing because I love Ozick otherwise, especially "Dictation." Don't bother.
carmenghia's review
2.0
I never cared for the cast of characters and the end was such a disappointment. The world created never glimmered for me.
alijc's review
2.0
It was overly long. Or rather, the overly descriptive language, which might have worked in a short story, dragged a novel down to an excruciating pace. The characters were interesting - or maybe they were simply pointlessly quirky. And none of them were particularly likable.