I love Carol Shields. I had read the Stone Diaries last year and had been excited to pick this up. I am happy to say that it did not disappoint. Shield’s talent is writing a feminist book for a not quite feminist audience. I will recommend this book to every woman I know.

This book can’t decide when the story starts and ends. It doesn’t transition well from actual plot to the musings of the characters. The author also seems to be in love with his own voice. Worth consuming, but get it used.

I put off reading this book for the longest time. Almost everyone I knew had read it and raved about it. I’m really cynical about popular books as they rarely live up to expectations but this one did. It felt like a more tragic Little Women written for a modern audience. The only complaint I can express is that I felt like the character of Nathial was a little one demensional and overdone.

This book was awesome. I loved the themes of the present’s effect on the future and barbarian vs. savage. Beautifully presented and wonderfully written.

This book is not for the weak. For one, this book has no plot. None. It has a story but it jumps around like a cricket on crack in a hot frying pan. Characters come in and out of left field and you’re never quite sure where you are. It’s worth reading for the experience, but it will be awhile before I pick up anything else by this author.

Also, it would be interesting to re-read it and see how many times J.G. Ballard is mentioned. Answer is: a lot.

This is a good book but it needs more meat on its bones. It’s got good stucture and ideas but it needs more substance in my opinion. I did enjoy it quite a bit, though.

This is a beautifully written book by an author I will make sure to read more of in the future. The only thing I had trouble with is that I’v never read anything by Henry James. I’ll have to revisit this book after I’ve consumed something by him.

I had read the reviews and I was not sure what to make of it. On one hand people raved about the story and on the other people couldn’t even finish it due to Roth’s writing style. I am happy to say that Philip Roth is one of my new favorite authors.

This is a good book. I’m glad I bought it and it is worth consuming. That being said this book is pretentious. It’s like a “HEY LOOK HOW MANY BIG WORDS I CAN CRAM INTO A 200 PAGE BOOK” statement. The prose is overbearing and has a tendency to ramble. It’s a book worth reading, but I found myself rolling my eyes a few times.

I met Matt Ruff at a book reading. He’s so nice and it was amazing to hear him read passages of the book.