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Thursday, January 15, 2015

A book review

I announced to my sisters and mom and whoever else was around when we were in Nevada that I wasn't doing book reviews on my blog anymore.  I'm not really that good at it.  They protested.  They like them.

Adam and Braeden think they're boring.

I guess this goes to show that my mom and sisters' opinions matter.  (Would you want those women mad at you?  Their combined willpower would melt steel.)

I read this:


It was a Pulitzer Prize winner.

I love every Newberry Prize winner I've ever read.  Pulitzer Prize winners often disappoint me.  (With a few notable exceptions.  Looking at you, To Kill a Mockingbird.)

As I read, I realized maybe the problem with this book (besides being so long and dense that it took me forever to read and I had to pay an overdue fee at the library) was that it was written by a man.

(Adam and Braeden already hate these book review posts--might as well go all out and offend men everywhere.)

Books by men are often more crude and have worse language than those written by women.  I don't know why.  There were whole sections I skimmed because some of the characters (who were supposed to be despicable, but I think that could have been demonstrated in other ways) were crass.

Also, while there was no real happy ending, a "resolution" of sorts came when the main and likable character beat up two of the unlikable characters and the third (really) unlikable character drowned.

It seemed like an ending a man would come up with.  (A woman would have everyone talk at length.)

Now, for the lame book review part of this post:  It's set in Empire Falls, Maine.  It's about a man who's lived there all his life.  He was at something of a crossroads in his life and I kept reading, despite the at times crude language, because I was really pulling for him and wanted to know what he would do.  There were other likable characters and a whole lot of interesting characters and I think I liked it too because I like small towns.  So I don't know if I recommend it or not.  How good are you at skimming?


2 comments:

Geri said...

Keep the book reviews. I almost always get a book idea from them.

Olivia Cobian said...

Thank you for the book review. I miss your star system though. How many stars for this one?

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