Along with the NYT, I counted this as one of my own best reads of 2008--which was, by the way, a complete surprise, since the blurb struck me as wholly unexciting and almost pretentious. However, the book was a thorough delight: gorgeous, tragic, full of a lasting emotional resonance.
I was really hoping for a book based around the ironies that form modern day Dubai, instead, I got a rambling nonsense of facetious observations, pornography, meaningless words and multi-brackets. So, here's an example of one needlessly wordy sentence: " I felt ashamed, specifically ashamed, that ...
What a welcome change of pace! Nescio was the pseudonym of Jan Hendrik Frederik Grönloh (1882-1961), a pseudonym he felt was necessary to protect his career at an Amsterdam import-export house (at least until 1929), where he spent 33 years of his life and where he rose to be the director of the fi...
I don't get it. I like to flatter myself that I'm not a particularly unperceptive reader, but when it comes to this book, I don't get it. I don't get anything about it. I don't hate it, but I have no idea what this book is about. I have no idea why it won so many prizes.I don't get it.(Disclaimer: I...
A truly wonderful collection by a gifted short story writer and life chronicler who is sadly unknown outside of his native Holland. Even this collection, superbly selected and translated by Damion Searls for NYRB Classics, is the first of Nescio’s works to be available in English. Nescio’s gift is f...
This book was ok! I didn't connect with the story when cricket was involved, although I do understand when someone seeks refuge for the world and its problems in a game. But I really liked the parts about Hans' relationships with his wife, mother and friends. Hans seems to be seeking... something...
This is a well written book covering some difficult and very emotive subjects. Joseph O'Neill writes well, though I did find it difficult to connect with some of the characters in the book. Perhaps the events of the book have so much depth and poignancy that it's difficult for the characters to stan...
I see that others loved this book, me, not so much. The main character was just so lethargic, so uncaring of the world around him. Actually, he didn't even seem to care about himself. His wife (another winner! Very self absorbed) left him and he couldn't seem to do anything about it. He had no frien...
I have just finished this tale of a dysfunctional marriage and the challenges it endures as we travel with the characters from London to NYC and back again to London. The main characters approached their lives somewhat abstractedly and I had the feeling that the author attempted to tell the tale in ...
I should have gone with my gut feelings. I checked this book out a while back, when it first came out, and I read a few pages and hated it. I gave it a second chance this week after hearing so many positive comments about it.Something in my book radar has either gone haywire or I just missed it; I ...
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