Behold the Dreamers

I enjoyed this book. It's hard not to root for the protagonists, and the plot moves forward at a good pace. But it could have been so much more. Of all the characters, only Neneh seems to be well rounded and feel real. Although we spend a lot of time with Jende, we are rarely allowed deeper than just below the surface. Most of the other characters are fairly simple, limited by the narrative style that does not let us enter thier minds.

The dialogue is often stilted and sounds and feels more like a middling television drama than a work of literature...entertaining but not entirely fulfilling

Lastly, the novel starts to get tedious in the last third, and although I know this is partially intentional, it still feels like the writer started to lose a little steam, and it shows.

A good book, but not a great one.

This was a great book club pick. Most of our members liked it, and many loved it. Our conversation included so many topics - parenting styles in the US and elsewhere, different perspectives of the characters in the book, appreciation for what we have and are given, cultural differences and how that plays out in interactions amonst the characters and within their own social circles, and so much more. Great read.