Member Profile
| Name : | Karen D. |
My Reviews
This was our book club's first book. It helped us to get an idea what book clubs are all about. Almost everyone related to at least one of the characters in the book. And their stories gave us a lot to talk about. The only drawback to the book was that there are so many characters that it was challenging to keep the names and stories straight. But it was worth the work.
This is one of my favorite books. You get to piece together the story of a very interesting and likeable man as he copes with the unusual challenge of a genetic condition that causes him to spontaneously time travel. Although it sounds like science fiction, the book is more about romance and the more practical difficulties (and occasionally up-sides) of time travel. I really liked the very normal perspective on a very abnormal condition. The story was funny, sad and certainly different.
I was horrified at the things that this poor man went through as a child. It got worse and worse every chapter. I don't normally stop reading a book, but I honestly just didn't want to know any more.
Although I found the book to be just mediocre, it made for good discussions of member's own family Christmas traditions and family dysfunctions.
I was personally a little offended by the implications in the book that all modern Christmas traditions are shallow and fake, while the "old-fashioned Christmas" (which in the book involved quality time and traditions with a hired housekeeper and not actual family) was superior.
It was clear after discussion in our group that although people celebrate Christmas in different ways, the traditions leave lasting and cherished memories - no matter what the traditions might be.
Excellent portrait of the father-son conflict and struggle. Showed the effects of war on a very personal level. A very emotional read. But very well done.
The first chapter of this book was touching as was the premise of a husband writing weekly letters to his wife during their long marraige. However, the bulk of the story was about the couple's children, who were not likeable or real. After the first chapter, the book lost it's charm and never got it back. Too bad, it was a very good premise. And the story had potential. But, I felt the characters were lacking.
Reading this book was an education for me. There was a lot I didn't know about the Chinese culture during the time period of foot-binding (which is totally gruesome). Very engaging story. There was much to discuss about cultural differences on several different types of relationships: mother-daughter, friendship between women, husband-wife, etc.
One woman experiences three completely different cultures within the space of one year. She starts the year as thoroughly depressed divorcee and first experiences the pleasures of Italy, then immerses herself in the self-denying, spiritual culture of an ashram in India, and then finally the very unique culture of Bali, Indonesia.
The only negative to this book was the seemingly too-perfect ending of falling in love in Indonesia. Though it is apparently a true memoir, it felt too contrived to be true even though it may be.
I was looking forward to reading a novel about marraige written from a male perspective. This book didn't deliver. This book did a good job describing young love, but failed completely in describing the complexity of a marital relationship. The pace of the story was very slow. The characters were not well developed. It wasn't horrible, it was just flat, boring.
Since this book covers the life of CeeCee from losing her mom at a young age, through adolescence, adulthood and parenthood, there are a lot of topics to discuss. The choices CeeCee makes as a sixteen year old haunt her in many ways for the rest of her life. And her choices as a parent end up haunting her daughters' lives. What would you have done in CeeCee's shoes at sixteen? Was she a bad mother? Great discussions!
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