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Message from Dean - May 8th 2007
I am currently testing out a new version of the APF Bridge Component - If you notice any errors within this demo store please drop me a line.
Rating:  -
First of all has no one noticed this book is a poorly written version of Hamlet almost literally?! I got a feeling it was quite a bit like hamlet when Edgar ran off into the woods but though "No he wouldn't just totally rip the plot off of Shakespear, that would be insane." All the major plot lines in the book are mirror images of Hamlet. Man kills brother (with poison) Man gets with brothers wife, Son runs away into woods to plot revenge, Large dramatic event, everyone is dead, literally or emotionally.
I thought it was rather confusing how Edgar could seemingly see ghosts, or spirits... I really didn't feel this was a book that had that much of a place for the supernatural, it was interesting with Ida because she was mysterious, but out and out talking with and seeing ghosts and having visions, some of which had literally nothing to do with the plot and had no reason to even be in the book, was bizzar and seemed out of place. Because this was billed as a "mystery" I thought maybe the twist was he really was crazy and something totally unrelaited was going on, or some sort of twist like the movie The Villiage, because it was honestly the only thing I could think of. I was wrong there was no mystery other then "Did the ghost tell the truth?" which frankly doesn't warrent a mystery in my oppinion.
I thought the portrayal of the dogs was at least interesing while he was in the woods, although I thought the scenes from Almondine were strange and much of her interactions confusing especially in the beginning where she kept asking things around the house what the mystery was, I'm still not sure what she was asking about. Also I thought the descriptions about the dogs somewhat vague in comparison to the tedious detail everything else was explained in. For example, you are just given the general color and breed of the dog "some type of shepard" but later in the book the author spends almost an entire page explaining what the garbage inside a shed looked like, literally garbage.
The only character I truly liked and found quirky and interesting, because he was a side character and didn't expect to learn everything about him was Henry. For much of the book I thought Edgar was an overly dramatic, possibly insane teen aged boy who was simply refusing to deal with reality. Trudy I thought was cold and somewhat pushy and bossy. Gar you don't really learn much about other then he liked to stand outside during storms. Claude, I was particularly unimpressed with this character. There was NO reason or explination for why this man was in anyway so manipulative, we were given no motive. Several times it was mentioned the reasons were in the past and the other chracters didn't know what they were, everytime you thought it was being explained it simply went off onto some new topic revealing nothing.
In short if you want to read a book that will have you bored to tears and confused and leave you unsatisfied, this is a great book, especially if you love Hamlet.
Rating:  -
This book should come with a warning: May cause severe depression. Not to give anything away, but this is NOT an uplifting story. I consider myself relatively literate (as a Russian history major I read many of those equally unhopeful classics) and I agree with the other reviewers who say that this story, while exquisitely, almost poetically, phrased, starts in middle and never gets to a real end. Storylines start and stop, seemingly randomly, with no real resolution or even explanation, making this a somewhat frustrating read. And despite the real, raw and undeniable talent of this author, the ending, which I don't want to give away, seems almost as lazy as the "it was all a dream" premise employed on soap operas. It's like he took us so far down the road and then didn't know where it went after it was clear there was no going back. I wasn't looking for a happy, all-loose-ends-tied-up-neatly, happily-ever-after conclusion but the forgotten/abandoned plot points were glaring to me and hindered my overall reading experience, irrespective of whether I "agreed" with the authors choices for his characters.
I will say it's not a difficult book to consume--despite its length and high quality prose I finished it in about three days--but I can't say I see the utter genius of, say, a Wally Lamb, which seems to me like what this author is being touted as.
Rating: -
I too was taken in by the hype and stellar reviews of this book, however after reading it I'm no longer impressed. I can appreciate the writing style of the author and I found the story compelling. But it is so full of symbolism and unexplained happenings I found myself lost a good bit of the time. The ending is such a disappointment, with out giving anything away it left me deflated. So many parts were left dangling at the end. I would have loved to have a few of the stranger parts explained in more detail. Much of the book is left for the reader to interpret the meaning of the events. In my opinion, skip it and wait for the movie.
Rating:  -
I can't imagine how this book got ANY 5 star reviews. The author can write words but needs to learn how to tell a story. The ending left you scratching your head. What happened to the dogs and Trudy? The characters were never really developed. I should have been sufficiently warned. It was an Oprah book club pick. I never like any of her picks.
Rating: -
It was a great story with wonderful hidden gems. But, the incessive detail, that had no baring on the story, was tedious.
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