mrs2a50
Pretty much the best.ever.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2007
- Messages
- 15,178
Jenn - you wanted a more detailed review once I finished this book - I honestly can't recommend it enough if you can handle the subject matter. Short version, without giving away spoilers, there's a lot of physical and sexual abuse contained in this book. And it's brutal, and graphic. But despite this, I can't get over how beautiful the entire story as a whole was. I can't let the difficult passages take over the storyline as a whole. So if you're okay with some harsh portions, you really do need to read this book. This is my Goodreads review (5 stars):
This will forever fall into my "all-time favorites" category. It claims to be about four friends, but really, it's about one man, Jude, and his life, and his friends. It was very much a yin & yang story for me - a beautifully written book about an incredibly ugly subject. Happiness and Sorrow. Love and Hate. Kindness and Cruelty. Hope and Despair. Good and Evil. Friendship and Loathing. It's brutal. It's graphic. It broke my heart in places. But for all the brutality in this book, the beauty of it shines so bright, and so vividly, you can't help but push the ugliness aside and simply enjoy the novel and the characters. And it is the greatest character novel I've read in a very long time, if ever. It's not a light read, but I did find it to be an easy read, despite the subject and it's length. I found myself losing hours while reading it, and wondering where they went afterwards. It's a difficult novel to recommend as much as I want to - if you want happy, this isn't it. But if you want an amazing book that will stick with you for a very long time, read this. I expected to be sad and depressed once I finished this book, but surprisingly, I was left with the Happiness, the Love, the Kindness, the Hope, the Good, and the Friendship. I can't recommend this one enough.
This will forever fall into my "all-time favorites" category. It claims to be about four friends, but really, it's about one man, Jude, and his life, and his friends. It was very much a yin & yang story for me - a beautifully written book about an incredibly ugly subject. Happiness and Sorrow. Love and Hate. Kindness and Cruelty. Hope and Despair. Good and Evil. Friendship and Loathing. It's brutal. It's graphic. It broke my heart in places. But for all the brutality in this book, the beauty of it shines so bright, and so vividly, you can't help but push the ugliness aside and simply enjoy the novel and the characters. And it is the greatest character novel I've read in a very long time, if ever. It's not a light read, but I did find it to be an easy read, despite the subject and it's length. I found myself losing hours while reading it, and wondering where they went afterwards. It's a difficult novel to recommend as much as I want to - if you want happy, this isn't it. But if you want an amazing book that will stick with you for a very long time, read this. I expected to be sad and depressed once I finished this book, but surprisingly, I was left with the Happiness, the Love, the Kindness, the Hope, the Good, and the Friendship. I can't recommend this one enough.
