I thought I would be ga-ga over the moon for this book. It has all the ingredients I’m usually such a sucker for – coming-of-age; first-person narratoI thought I would be ga-ga over the moon for this book. It has all the ingredients I’m usually such a sucker for – coming-of-age; first-person narrator; dysfunctional family; humor; the mother and daughter relationship; it’s even set in Canada during a time period that should make me feel nostalgic. I really liked it, parts of it work amazingly well, but overall I’m left feeling empty and a little cheated. It’s like I was promised a real, live, bloody beating heart and then after being led down the garden path a few times I was handed a cut-out of a black and white diagram from a 1960s biology textbook. Or remember this ad from a few years ago? The expression on that kid’s face perfectly sums up how I’m feeling right now (a little cheated, a little mistreated).
The structure of this novel is impressive; Kirshner’s control of language is enviable and she is obviously a talented writer (hence the 3 stars). But here’s the thing: even though all the technical aspects of the novel are firmly in place – plotting, pacing, characterization, metaphors, analogies, foreshadowing, the works – most readers are searching for more than technical proficiency when they sit down and open a book. I don’t like to feel manipulated by literary devices and tricks of the trade. I want to be swept away goddamn it, and be pulled out of my own life for awhile. I want to live and breathe a story and totally believe in the characters I’m reading about. I want to feel their pain and cheer for their success. There is just something a little too contrived and … I don’t know … kitschy about the struggles in this one.
The first 1/3 of the book sort of reminded me of Running with Scissors – the dysfunction is such that it reaches almost the level of parody. Surely the narrator is taking liberties with memory and exaggeration. In the case of Where We Have to Go, I found myself struggling with the way Lucy’s parents related to her and spoke with her. Things are said that left me scratching my head thinking: “would parents really talk to their 11 year old kid like that? Even an only child?” As for Lucy, her precociousness is so over-the-top, her insights so keen, I could never really buy her as “just a kid”. Her “beyond her years” wisdom is jarring and unconvincing when we also consider she’s prancing around in ALF merchandise (not even realizing it’s long off the air and she’s watching it in syndication).
Other things that left me unsatisfied: (view spoiler)[Lucy’s mom and her friend trying to set Lucy up with a boy when she’s TWELVE YEARS OLD. Huh??? Really? I know young girls are growing up faster than ever these days, but do you really need your mother pimping you out? I also felt the “anorexia” bit kind of a throwaway part of the novel; it lagged and didn’t ring true for me. It felt like forced drama attempting to add “depth” to Lucy’s coming-of-age trials. I also did not appreciate the quick death of Lucy’s mother at the end. I felt emotionally manipulated. There’s nothing more tragic or devastating than dying mothers battling cancer. It felt like a cheap ploy and made me angry. (hide spoiler)]
Overall, while the novel is technically proficient and reads very strong in places, I find myself not able to recommend it. ...more
This book starts out slow with not a whole lot happening. It’s definitely one of those reads that sneaks up on you in an amazing way, and you are so gThis book starts out slow with not a whole lot happening. It’s definitely one of those reads that sneaks up on you in an amazing way, and you are so grateful to have stuck with it by the time you reach the end. Strachan uses a lot of Welsh idioms and dialect which takes a bit of getting used to. The first half is on the lighter fluffier side as the characters that populate Gwenni’s young life and a small 1950s Welsh town are introduced.
Told in the first-person, Gwenni is a precocious and imaginative child, her narrative voice colorful, innocent and sweet. As the town and her family begin to deteriorate around her, it is painful to watch this young girl try and find meaning in the chaos and make her way through it to the other side. When Gwenni becomes an easy target for a cruel, selfish mother who is possibly suffering from a serious mental break, all I wanted to do was protect Gwenni from the hurts and confusion and whatever it is she’s going to uncover.
This is a book about loss – of innocence, of love, of one’s mind. It is a coming-of-age story beautifully told, wrapped in mystery and shot through with tragedy. I fell in love with Gwenni’s Tada and Nain who cherish her and are there for her in ways that Gwenni’s mother is unable to be – some of it out of pure selfishness, most of it due to a tragedy in her own past that haunts her and has crippled her mind. ...more
**spoiler alert** I feel like I must have missed something with this one because it just didn’t grab me; whereas my girlfriends have all given it four**spoiler alert** I feel like I must have missed something with this one because it just didn’t grab me; whereas my girlfriends have all given it four and five stars. I found it to be a bit of a slog and it took me way too long to finish. If it wasn’t for book club, I likely would have abandoned it and moved on to something else. A 2-star review posted here on goodreads argues: " Too much description of the unimportant things, not enough of the ones that affect the story." I couldn't agree more.
I felt Dinah’s first-person narrative voice to be long-winded and like any Biblical story worth its weight, over-occupied with who begat who. The first half of the book dedicated to Dinah’s four mothers and her plethora of brothers reads too much like a Bible story for me and I know that’s supposed to be the whole point, but I found the method off-putting. The excruciating details about the Red Tent and the trials and tribulations of women during this time should have been riveting, but instead, all the dense descriptive passages remained... well... excruciating.
Finally Dinah comes of age and the narrative picks up. I thought, at last! Now we’re getting somewhere. Unfortunately, the infamous events surrounding the tragic circumstances of Dinah's betrayal happen in the blink of an eye. It’s shocking, yes, but all too brief and rushed. It didn’t give me time to feel dread, empathy or real pain.
Dinah’s hateful brothers Simon and Levi are so very evil yet I never got a sense of the motivation behind their violent rampage. What fueled their rage and psychosis? I also didn’t buy Jacob’s descent into such a spiteful and degenerate character. Where did that come from? He began his life as such a warm and generous man, successful and honorable. Why did he transform into such a brute later in life? Following the slaughter in Shechem, the fate of Dinah’s mothers is described in a few pages of summary and I thought they deserved more than this.
I found the rest of Dinah’s story as it unfolds in Egypt anti-climatic. Even when her son is sent away to school and becomes a stranger to her doesn’t come across with any great emotion. The fact that Dinah finds her way back to midwifery is not surprising, and that she should find love late in her life is sweet, but the big shocking reveal of crossing paths with Joseph I found to be unsatisfying. That his story should have been filled with such betrayal, shame and violence – that he should have survived his family after being sold into slavery – this should have bonded he and Dinah together, but they remain estranged, and Joseph turns out to be extremely dislikable – shallow, conceited, power hungry. That disappointed me.
The only place in the novel that moved me was the death scene of Dinah’s best friend Meryt. As for the rest of the novel, I remained – like Dinah’s narrative voice – largely emotionless and detached. ...more
I had hoped this book to move me, to bring me to tears, to make me think, to give me pause, to make me appreciate the fleeting nature of life, or at lI had hoped this book to move me, to bring me to tears, to make me think, to give me pause, to make me appreciate the fleeting nature of life, or at least to offer prose that is worth savoring and reading aloud. Perhaps my expectations were just too darn high for such a little book because I experienced none of this. I did not feel connected to the main characters, hence their plight did not elicit the empathy it should have. Oddly a book that should have been so emotional, I finished completely emotionless. Shame really. ...more
Just not my thing ... didn't like the narrator and I have a mental block for any book set in India - too exotic a locale for me I guess - I don't haveJust not my thing ... didn't like the narrator and I have a mental block for any book set in India - too exotic a locale for me I guess - I don't have the context and find it challenging to nail down a frame of reference that works. I will confess this book did not get a fair shake from me, just because I've been distracted by other books on my to-read pile. As I write this I'm gazing lovingly at Pat Conroy's new book, South of Broad. Cant' wait! ...more
Okay, I liked this book, but I didn't love it. It was amusing in parts and Jacobs has a delightfully quirky writing style that kept me engaged and reaOkay, I liked this book, but I didn't love it. It was amusing in parts and Jacobs has a delightfully quirky writing style that kept me engaged and reading. He's a bit of a geek -- who suffers from mild OCD -- but he's also an all-around "nice Jewish boy" doing his best to be a good husband and father. Hence, his dubious ambition to live biblically for a year -- the logic being perhaps living a literal interpretation of the Bible will make him a better person, bring him closer to a God that he cannot admit exists, or at least add an element of spirituality to an otherwise secular life.
It's difficult to take Jacobs' approach with any seriousness -- after all, the changes he makes are temporary and ultimately superficial, because at the bottom of it, all that effort is to serve the writing of another pseudo-memoir that hopefully becomes another NYT bestseller. Let's face it -- this is a bit of an ego trip in a quest for fame that's hardly genuinely holy (and to his credit, I think Jacobs realizes this).
In spite of it all, Jacobs' heart is in the right place and after living his biblical year with gusto, he actually emerges from the experience changed for the better. Not fundamentalist changed (thank God, cause we need another one of those like we need a hole in the head) but a little more thoughtful, patient and thankful for the little things. That's a kind of spirituality I can relate and aspire to.
Jacobs' experiment reminded me that the Bible remains a bedtime story for me -- an interesting, bemusing, text that's caused the world as much grief as it has provided humans comfort. The problem with the Bible is that its messages are too easily twisted to support evil agendas, promote intolerance, and justify cruelty. I'm not a practicing anything and live a pretty much secular life. I think organized religion is fraught with risk and does little to nurture genuine faith and spirituality. But I do long for a more spiritual existence and I imagine to have real belief in a higher power must be very comforting indeed. ...more
I've wasted too much of my precious reading time on this book to waste even more time reviewing it. Dull, insipid prose that just goes on and on like I've wasted too much of my precious reading time on this book to waste even more time reviewing it. Dull, insipid prose that just goes on and on like the Energizer Bunny. Painful! Torturous! I skimmed the last third just to get to the end. How can a book about one of the most fascinating women in French history, who finds herself caught up in the maelstrom of revolution, be so goddamn boring? Avoid this pretentious, winded, piece of shite! Instead, read To Dance With Kings, by Rosalind Laker....more
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