happy_hiker's review
2.0
The story of Walter, going back and forth between his teen years, when he is aspiring to be a ballet dancer but is really not very good, and the present, when he leaves his job selling dollhouse furniture in NYC to become an English teacher in small town Wisconsin. In the childhood winter he is cast in a crappy production of the Nutcracker in Rockford (while his friends star in the show in Chicago), his brother struggles through terminal illness and Walter has his first homosexual experience. The family summer home on a Wisconsin Lake finds it way into both decades, as does his friendship with Susan (one of the ballet stars). This book was OK, it moved along OK, the story was OK, but it isn’t something I would rush out to recommend to a friend. I have enjoyed other books by this author.
kerry_connors's review
5.0
loved it - I'm amazed at how well Jane can write in the voice of either a female or male character. Very interesting story of a misfit and how tragedy at a young age impacts this boy's world view.
emmyreading's review against another edition
4.0
oak park author, takes place in an oak park named something else. about a teenaged gay ballet dancer. i liked it.
jdgcreates's review
3.0
This is my favorite of hers so far. It's not as depressing as Map Of The World and not as narrow-minded as Disobedience. I appreciate Hamilton's ability to convincingly express the voice of the character through the entire book, even if I don't really care for the voice that comes through.
danabrown's review
3.0
I evidently don’t have the patience for this book right now. I got more than half way and I’m walking away.
eyegee's review
2.0
I Loved Jane Hamilton's "A Map of the World" but I just couldn't get into the characters in this novel and made a rare decision to stop reading after the first few chapters.
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