Can't remember when a book has moved me so much (for all its sometimes heavy-handed plot twists). I teared up on the subway, and actually cried a little at home. How can such a sad book not be dreary? I don't know, but Malamud manages beautifully.
Perfect vacation reading. Lots of twists I hadn't seen coming. (A few times it perhaps goes too far in trying to be twisty, shocky). Sophie Hannah is no Ruth Rendell, but this book had everything I was hoping for, but didn't find, in Little Face (the previous book of hers I'd read).
Wonderfully witty and amusing (and silly and profane). Read this (the 2nd in a trilogy) without having read the first, but to no apparent harm. Recommended.
There's nothing wrong with this book, I just don't feel compelled to continue with it. Actually, there IS something that rubs me the wrong way, a shallow demonization of the contemporary upper-middle classes. It might improve, I just think there are better things I could be reading.
The sexual politics (and sexual neurosis) in this novel are tricky and fascinating, even more so than in other Simenon's I've read. Would make a good book club book.
This is confirming my belief that contemporary short fiction just isn't for me.
Disappointed. Had heard very good things about this writer. Not bad at all, just not standout.
This took a while to get going, but as it progresses, it reveals surprising depths and truths about love. I sort of wanted to dislike it, but it won me over in the end.
This author comes recommended, but the book was fairly banal. Not a difficult read, though.
Surprisingly well (and not wankily) done. A long view that makes a case for each song & its place in the development of musical styles. A formalist approach that I don't always understand but that I appreciate.