Clare
This book is not perfect, but I loved it. Sure, it may have been overly long (Amsterdam...), but I whipped through it in a week, never wanting to put it down, always wanting to get back to it. The last 10 or 20 pages really blew me away; I felt profoundly moved by Theo's summing up of what he's really learned in his life - that nothing is really black and white; that art and magic and love live in the in-between space between “reality” and illusion. No truth beyond illusion. The few flaws I can see in it seem almost purposeful - as if Tartt left in some parts that could have been polished up or shortened, to reflect Theo's final worldview. I'm glad I read this book every day for a week, as I've heard from others that it took them a while to get through to the end. Being so immersed in it for seven days made the experience much richer.
I slammed through this novel very quickly, and 10 years or so later after reading and loving The Namesake, I remember how much I love Jhumpa Lahiri's lovely and lilting use of language. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even the heart-wrenching whole of it.
My mom gave this to me one year ago when I ran the Vancouver Marathon and I've just now finished it. Its chapters have helped remind me that I get to choose how I feel about myself and my life situations, and that, yeah, I'm a badass. Thanks, Mom.
I wavered between extreme annoyance with Cheryl and compassion for her. I expected something more from this book, like some kind of epiphany about my own life, but if anything, it did inspire me to be more adventurous. And now I really want to go on a long hike soon.
My uncle raved about this book when I was visiting him last weekend and he bought it for me at Pegasus in Oakland. I know pretty little about Gaiman's work other than I always thought it wasn't my thing, as fantasy isn't a genre I have been able to (or have desired to) get into. But, this writing is great and the fantastical elements of the story gave my mind a different kind of workout than the books I typically read do. I loved the swift pace, vivid imagery, and the emotional/mental complexities and depth he reached very concisely and masterfully.
I'll gather more words later, but I can best compare this to the experience of watching “I'm Thinking of Ending Things” in its dark otherworldly reality-yet-is-it?-ness, but I loved it more. It's the first book I've read in a while that really did much for me emotionally.
Really enjoyed the last third much more than the beginning, but mostly found this to be a little hard to follow and muddled.
I'd like to give this 3.5 stars - it started out really strong, fast-paced, suspenseful, a page-turner, but fizzled out toward the end. I would have liked to know more about Justin's experience, and found the brother's romantic relationship to be an unnecessary addition. Good book, though, that I was glad to read because it made me enthralled in a book again, after spending a couple of months slogging through a book I couldn't get into and ultimately set aside.
I'm interested in any book in any form that explores one's relationship to film (see: love for Philip Lopate, Jonathan Rosenbaum, James Naremore, etc.). This memoir was just okay (many funny parts though), but I enjoyed it quite a bit and here, he says exactly how I've come to feel... Movies aren't, actually, EVERYTHING. “Movies–the truly great ones (and sometimes the truly bad)–should be a drop in the overall fuel formula for your life. A fuel that should include sex and love and food and movement and friendships and your own work. All of it, feeding the engine. But the engine of your should be be your life.”