While the book seems to be wildly popular, I did not like it.

I loved the beginning (about chapter 1-3), which were funny and witty. Yet during the travels through space I didn’t consider very funny. While there was somewhat of a plot it seemed to be mostly pointless. However, there was a great twist in chapter 28 (or was it 29?); the book has only 35 chapters.

Overall: good beginning and good end, but a waste of my time in the middle.

The story takes place in New York partialy during WWI. At its center is a widower and his relationship to his three grown daughters, who are all very different in character.

Of all the Pulitzer price winners, this is so far the one where I least understand how it got the Pulitzer price. The litereary style of Poole is okay, but not outstanding in any way. In fact, the chracters are rather one-dimensional and to a certain degree stereotypic: One daughter finds her joy in motherhood and considers the happiness of her children her number one prioroty; one daughteris very involved in community life and tries to better the life of the people in the city slums; one daughter is only concerned with herself and the fun life can bring.

While neither the plot nor the characters hold any surprises, I still consider it woth reading as it potraits accurately the problems and issues of the era of middle class people of the late 1910s in a large city in America.

I know lots of people love it, but I just have the hardest time with it. I couldn’t even finish it, because so many things in it just don’t make any sense (usually I love imaginative stories).

I guess, if somebody told me what’s so wonderful about it and not just the fact that it is supposedly wonderful then I might try it again. Looking through somebody else’s eyes might help me to discover its beauty. Until the, I prefer to work on other books on my list.