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Most Helpful Reviews
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Liked It “Loved this, really funny, especially if you like reading about american writer's. Very Catcher in the Rye and Vernon God Little.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Having gone to school in Amherst (UMASS, not the Seven Sisters), and having grown up near Wharton's and Melville's homes in the Berkshires, I really wnated to like this book. Never quite happened, and I had to abandon the book less than halfway through, and I honestly never do that. |
Newest Reviews
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“a little cooky and mostly a book about liking (or not liking) books, but very funny and with apt observations about modern, suburban life... well if that life is plagued by crazies who want to burn down the victorian homes of their anti-heroes and drunk dads who adult children pass off as fake stroke victims to save dealing with grown up parents. ”
Lesli F wrote this review Saturday, October 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Loved this, really funny, especially if you like reading about american writer's. Very Catcher in the Rye and Vernon God Little.”
Jenny U wrote this review Monday, September 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Interesting, but strange. Very strange.”
Christine S wrote this review Saturday, August 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Well-written, in the narrator's style of babbling on about things, going on tangents, and musing on the meaning of things in retrospect. It's about love, lies, truth, and the importance of stories and what they do to you underneath the story of a guy who just gets in his own way and messes up everything. It makes you think, but doesn't answer any questions for you. Most of the time you just follow Sam's questions and just continue to wonder to yourself.
Coco wrote this review Saturday, August 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
However the poeple in this book are SO DYSFUNCTIONAL. Everything that could go wrong, does. Sam is a self-proclaimed bumbler which is heartbreakingly true. The back cover of the book claims it to be "heartbreakingly hilarious", but I didn't find anything hilarious about it. I found myself caring about Sam, and each blow to him stung. Here and there I chuckled at what he did, but only in the way that you do when something is so messed up that you can't do anything else but laugh at it. ”
“Read for book club. The blurb on the back of the book is better written than the actual novel. I did not find this book funny, entertaining or challenging. The book was the victim of my own arsonists hand after reading.”
Kari H wrote this review Monday, August 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“A personal favorite for the high quality writing.”
Eliza S wrote this review Friday, July 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I always fall for books when the author: a) has grand intentions, and; b) the writing gets better as the story progresses. 2 for 2 ain't bad. Saw this on a shelf at a local book seller.”
Mike T wrote this review Friday, July 17 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Witty, well written, funny, compelling and I hated it. I hated the main character with a passion I couldn't explain. Had to force myself to finish the book. When I look at objectively, I'd give it 4 stars. Subjectively, I can barely manage 2. ”
Lori K wrote this review Friday, July 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“In all technicality, Clarke's writing does everything right. His humor is biting, his sentences are artistically constructed, and he forcefully elicits a response out of the reader.
Michael R wrote this review Wednesday, June 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Unfortunately, the response most readers will feel is frustration, especially halfway through the book. I literally shook my fist in the air at times and swore not to finish it because of Clarke's deviantly self-destructive protagonist, as mentioned in other reviews. When I forced myself to complete the book I found the ending to atone somewhat for the rest of the book's agony, but it's probably too-little-too-late for a lot of other readers. ”
“Parts of this book are brilliant and made me literally laugh out loud. It is not for everyone--some in my book group found it hard to follow. The tone is dark comedy. But I loved the literary references and the dark truths it reveals about what motivates us to hurt the people we love and how we maintain our public personas.”
Angela C wrote this review Thursday, April 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
