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The Dissident: A Novel

by Nell Freudenberger
46 members / 0 friends / 0 groups / 3 reviews / 8 tags

From the PEN/Malamud Award-winning author of Lucky Girls comes a bold, intricately woven first novel about an enigmatic stranger who disrupts the life of one American family.

Yuan Zhao, a celebrated Chinese performance artist and political dissident, has accepted a one year's artist's residency in Los Angeles. He is to be a Visiting Scholar at the St. Anselm's School for Girls, teaching advanced art, and hosted by one of the school's most devoted families: the wealthy if dysfunctional Traverses. But when their guest arrives, the Traverses are preoccupied with their own problems. Cece—devoted mother and contemporary art enthusiast—worries about the recent arrest of her son, Max. Unable to communicate with her husband, Gordon, a psychiatrist distracted by his passion for genealogical research, she turns to Gordon's wayward brother, Phil. Meanwhile, seventeen-year-old Olivia Travers is just relieved that her classmates seem to be ignoring the weird Chinese... see complete book description
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Rated 3.125 stars
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Rated 3.5 stars

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  • pike p's Avatar

    pike p says

    I didn't find the writing that good for all the hoopla the book received; the dialogue was especially poor. I didn't finish it so am not gunna put it on my shelf or review it, but I did want to throw in a quick "I agree" with a one-star rating.

    posted Monday, November 26 2007

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Rated 2 stars

kusscate
185 books / 12 friends / 2 groups
Rated 1 star

I expect better character development in a 400+... more
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1118 books / 7 friends / 0 groups

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