A review by bookapotamus
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
3.0
Late to the party again! But again, better late than never! I'm getting though a lot of Need-to-Reads these days and this one has been on my list for a while! (Another 6 month library wait!) Manhattan Beach has been everywhere and I was really excited to read it. It's a really good, fairly solid story, but (unpopular opinion alert!) I found myself really bored in the middle and struggling to get through parts!
I love how this made me feel like I was in an old Hollywood movie. The settings and scenery, all the war talk and praise of the soldiers, the nightclubs and dancing, and of course, Anna, a girl with Gumption! I loved her story initially, living with her family, mom, dad and crippled sister (not sure what she added to the story but a significant amount of the story focused on her), in New York near the Navy Yard. Anna dreams of becoming a diver for the Navy. I was reminded of the Men of Honor movie where Cuba Gooding Jr. aspires to do the same, being an African American, facing similar struggles. The story starts with this bond she has with her father from very young. He father appears to be doing some shady business and taking Anna along keeps him "grounded" - but then, one day, he disappears.
Anna delves into taking care of her sister and her mother, and eventually beings her career at the Navy Yard and starts to pursue her diving dreams, when she see a man from her father's past, possibly a gangster, and decides to see what she can dig up about her missing father. Here's where I feel like it starts to fall apart. I didn't understand some of the choices Anna makes,and had a hard time believing she would have made them. I felt like more character development was needed for these main players - I just didn't understand a LOT of what made their minds tick. And then abruptly - we dive into her father's story - which is chock full of characters we don't know nor care about, and I didn't feel like most of it added to the story. I struggled through the middle and then thought the end was just, meh.
Don't get me wrong - it was a cleverly-crafted story, the writing is INCREDIBLE, I just wanted more. I felt like the OMG moments that could have been, at parts, were dry, and lacking some much-needed suspense or build up, and I just wished there was a bit more of a faster pace as well.
It's a story filled with dreams, regret, redemption and family. I liked it for the most part, but I didn't love as much as many people did. I do look forward to reading more of her work though!
I love how this made me feel like I was in an old Hollywood movie. The settings and scenery, all the war talk and praise of the soldiers, the nightclubs and dancing, and of course, Anna, a girl with Gumption! I loved her story initially, living with her family, mom, dad and crippled sister (not sure what she added to the story but a significant amount of the story focused on her), in New York near the Navy Yard. Anna dreams of becoming a diver for the Navy. I was reminded of the Men of Honor movie where Cuba Gooding Jr. aspires to do the same, being an African American, facing similar struggles. The story starts with this bond she has with her father from very young. He father appears to be doing some shady business and taking Anna along keeps him "grounded" - but then, one day, he disappears.
Anna delves into taking care of her sister and her mother, and eventually beings her career at the Navy Yard and starts to pursue her diving dreams, when she see a man from her father's past, possibly a gangster, and decides to see what she can dig up about her missing father. Here's where I feel like it starts to fall apart. I didn't understand some of the choices Anna makes,and had a hard time believing she would have made them. I felt like more character development was needed for these main players - I just didn't understand a LOT of what made their minds tick. And then abruptly - we dive into her father's story - which is chock full of characters we don't know nor care about, and I didn't feel like most of it added to the story. I struggled through the middle and then thought the end was just, meh.
Don't get me wrong - it was a cleverly-crafted story, the writing is INCREDIBLE, I just wanted more. I felt like the OMG moments that could have been, at parts, were dry, and lacking some much-needed suspense or build up, and I just wished there was a bit more of a faster pace as well.
It's a story filled with dreams, regret, redemption and family. I liked it for the most part, but I didn't love as much as many people did. I do look forward to reading more of her work though!