<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GoodreadsResponse>
	<Request>
		<authentication>false</authentication>
		    <method><![CDATA[]]></method>
	</Request>
	
<book id="11045">
  <title><![CDATA[The Spectator Bird]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[0140139400]]></isbn>
  <isbn13><![CDATA[9780140139402]]></isbn13>
  <work>
  <best-book-id type="integer">11045</best-book-id>
  <books-count type="integer">6</books-count>
  <default-description>Joe Allston is a retired literary agent whose parents and only  son are dead, and who feels that he has been a mere spectator through  life. Then a postcard from a friend causes him to return to the  journals of a trip he took to his mother's birthplace to search for  his roots; memories of that journey reveal that he is not quite  spectator enough. Winner of the National Book Award.</default-description>
  <id type="integer">949595</id>
  <media-type nil="true"></media-type>
  <original-language-id type="integer" nil="true"></original-language-id>
  <original-publication-day type="integer" nil="true"></original-publication-day>
  <original-publication-month type="integer" nil="true"></original-publication-month>
  <original-publication-year type="integer">1976</original-publication-year>
  <original-title>The Spectator Bird</original-title>
  <rating-dist>total:526|5:114|4:220|3:163|2:24|1:5|</rating-dist>
  <ratings-count type="integer">526</ratings-count>
  <ratings-sum type="integer">1992</ratings-sum>
  <reviews-count type="integer">709</reviews-count>
  <text-reviews-count type="integer">69</text-reviews-count>
</work>

  <average_rating><![CDATA[3.79]]></average_rating>
  <ratings_count><![CDATA[511]]></ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[69]]></text_reviews_count>
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11045.The_Spectator_Bird]]></url>
  <authors>
        <author id="157779">
      <name><![CDATA[Wallace Stegner]]></name>
      <role><![CDATA[]]></role>
      <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/157779.Wallace_Stegner]]></url>
      <average_rating><![CDATA[4.14]]></average_rating>
      <ratings_count><![CDATA[13047]]></ratings_count>
      <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[2251]]></text_reviews_count>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <reviews start="1" end="20" total="709">
    <review id="28556578">
  <user id="1260474">
    <name><![CDATA[Jim]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Columbus, OH]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1260474-jim?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Jan 29 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jul 28 17:39:12 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Mar 28 12:16:38 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[A short, skillful novel and an improvement over The Angle of Repose.  At first, it seems the story is about aging gracefully with good humor and safety, in spite of the corrosive feeling that in your life, you were a spectator, a valet, to the banquet of life.  But it takes a turn as the husband rea...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/28556578">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/28556578?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="41346499">
  <user id="541318">
    <name><![CDATA[John]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/541318-john?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Dec 30 17:50:30 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Dec 30 17:57:15 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I'd never read Stegner before this book, and now I'm eager to read more. This novel, set in mid-'70s northern California, is told from the viewpoint of an aging literary agent who has sought refuge in a hilly, semi-rural community well outside San Francisco, with his wife and moribund neighbor-frien...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41346499">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41346499?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="71728442">
  <user id="455757">
    <name><![CDATA[Teresa]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Falls Church, VA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/455757-teresa?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Aug 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Sep 18 18:58:28 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Sep 18 19:10:05 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Joe Allston &amp; his wife are getting old, and Joe feels like his life has been pointless.  After receiving a postcard from an old &quot;friend,&quot; Joe agrees to read his wife his journals of a trip they took to Scandinavia after their son's death/suicide decades earlier.  The book is painful, becau...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71728442">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71728442?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="58744258">
  <user id="83144">
    <name><![CDATA[El]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Pittsburgh, PA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/83144-el?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="late20th-centurylit" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Jun 07 09:01:31 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jun 12 17:59:11 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[When retired literary agent Joe Allston gets a postcard from an old Danish friend, he feels the drive to dust off his old diary from when he and his wife traveled to Denmark in search of his motherland back in the day.  Joe's wife, Ruth, did not know he kept a diary at that time and negatively encou...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58744258">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58744258?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="46021489">
  <user id="95646">
    <name><![CDATA[Dan]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Chevy Chase, MD]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/95646-dan?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Feb 27 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Feb 11 06:36:50 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Feb 27 13:55:07 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This book bored the hell out of me.  Which is a shame, b/c Stegner is a wonderful writer and a decent storyteller.  The protagonist of the story is a retired literary agent living out his life in Northern California (having retired from New York).  A postcard from an old friend sends the character l...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46021489">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46021489?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="54945943">
  <user id="590221">
    <name><![CDATA[Marcus]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Denver, CO]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/590221-marcus?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun May 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon May 04 15:55:52 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun May 17 21:08:49 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[If this book were written by any other author, I would call it great.  But when compared to Stegnar's &quot;Angle of Repose&quot; and &quot;Crossing to Safety,&quot; I can only call &quot;The Spectator Bird&quot; a &quot;good&quot; book.  As expected, Stegner creates extremely compelling characters ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54945943">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54945943?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="68950073">
  <user id="1553970">
    <name><![CDATA[Eric]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1553970-eric?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Aug 26 08:29:08 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Sep 04 06:42:05 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Published five years after ANGLE OF REPOSE, I sense there was some leftover material included in THE SPECTATOR BIRD and that is not a problem. Here we have Joe Allston and his wife, relocated from NY to California, and Joe paging through a journal he kept when they fled the States for a brief Wander...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68950073">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68950073?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="64226701">
  <user id="911217">
    <name><![CDATA[Lois]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Santa Cruz, CA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/911217-lois?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jul 20 09:48:55 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jul 20 09:55:45 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is the story of two people, after many years of marriage, facing old age and its infirmities. Joe Allston, a retired literary agent living in the Los Altos hills with his wife Ruth, is &quot;just killing time until time gets around to killing me&quot;. Without ancestors or descendants (their on...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64226701">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64226701?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="56748886">
  <user id="85362">
    <name><![CDATA[Phyllis]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Otto, NC]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/85362-phyllis?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun May 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed May 20 10:19:23 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed May 20 10:30:38 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[My friend Scott Bowersock recommended this book to me, by this California writer whom I've read before.  A literary agent reads to his wife a journal he kept of a trip he took with his wife some time before to Denmark to visit the castle where his mother had been a servant.  It started slowly, but t...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/56748886">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/56748886?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="56566984">
  <user id="1203275">
    <name><![CDATA[Sue]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1203275-sue?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="fiction" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat May 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon May 18 20:16:17 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat May 23 16:08:42 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Stegner's writing is intelligent and intriguing.  Both Spectator Bird and Angle of Repose take place in the past and the present, and they are interwoven nicely.  In this book, he tackles aging (as in AoR) and family roles-- Joe Allston's mother and son have passed away, neither with a sense of clos...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/56566984">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/56566984?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="45589449">
  <user id="977272">
    <name><![CDATA[Kelly]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Pescadero, CA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/977272-kelly?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>true</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Feb 06 14:54:58 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Feb 06 15:00:57 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Stegnar goes to the mother country in search of roots.  Falls in love with, and forsakes a countess for his marriage because... &quot;it seems to me that my commitments are often more important than my impulses or my pleasures, and that even when my pleasures or desires are the principal issue, ther...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45589449">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45589449?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="71047924">
  <user id="902532">
    <name><![CDATA[Karlan]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[New York, NY]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/902532-karlan?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="adult" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Sep 13 07:00:23 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Sep 13 07:06:45 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[  The winner of the National Book Award in 1976 is truly a marvelous work.  The main character is a retired literary agent in CA who is cranky and prefers his garden work to going out to see people.  He finds a 20 year old diary which he kept when he and his wife spent a few months in Denmark and re...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71047924">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71047924?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="37925268">
  <user id="403441">
    <name><![CDATA[Kathy]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[San Francisco, CA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/403441-kathy?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="fiction" />
        <shelf name="reviewed" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Nov 16 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Nov 17 00:04:03 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Nov 17 00:40:23 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is the first bit of Stegner I've read and I really enjoyed it.  It's a little bit of a mystery story once you get into it -- you're dying to find out what's up with the countess, but I think what it's really about is the relationship between an old husband and wife in all its real life glory wi...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37925268">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37925268?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="64764224">
  <user id="752300">
    <name><![CDATA[Amy]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Orono, ME]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/752300-amy-cook?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jul 24 05:33:20 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jul 24 05:35:35 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Not as amazing as Angle of Repose, but still very good.  It is more or less about getting old, but he makes it funny and sad and interesting in spite of all the boredom and ailments people suffer.  He returns to diaries from his earlier years to reawaken his life, so the reader also gets transported...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64764224">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64764224?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="44479587">
  <user id="1275149">
    <name><![CDATA[Cheryl]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Denver, CO]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1275149-cheryl?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jan 26 21:33:45 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jan 26 21:34:15 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Joe Allston, the hero of All the Little Live Things (one of my faavorite books), returns and re reads his journal from a trip to his mother’s homeland in Denmark, and the ways it shaped and affected him.  “He passes through life as a spectator.”  Brilliant writing about the deep soul searching...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44479587">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44479587?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="66021529">
  <user id="1069483">
    <name><![CDATA[Emily]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1069483-emily?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Aug 03 11:58:44 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Aug 03 12:00:58 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Although I wasn't in love with how crummy this book makes old age sound and it actually made me kind of nervous thinking about one day getting there!  I did like this book, it was a quick and fairly light read.  Later on in the book one storyline in particular was definitely a little disturbing, if ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66021529">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66021529?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="45883838">
  <user id="1722865">
    <name><![CDATA[Annie]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1722865-annie?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Feb 09 18:42:21 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Feb 09 18:46:54 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Another Wallace Stegner I love.  He has such a keen insight on relationships.  His words are straight to the point and knock yer socks off!  This one is especially good for people who are aging.  Not that I am, but I thought people &quot;getting old&quot; would appreciate his humor and reality.]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45883838?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="60434204">
  <user id="1036734">
    <name><![CDATA[Wendy]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Bellevue, WA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1036734-wendy?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Jun 26 20:32:02 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Jun 20 13:17:28 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jun 26 20:32:02 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Joe Allston feels that he has always been a spectator in life. He was a literary agent instead of a writer. He finds some old diaries he had written of a trip to Denmark he and his wife had made some twenty years earlier, trying to find his mother's roots. This book is about discovering what it mean...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60434204">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60434204?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="72828786">
  <user id="376511">
    <name><![CDATA[Jessie]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brighton, MA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/376511-jessie-howell?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Sep 28 17:49:20 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Sep 28 17:52:57 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This book is beautifully written, but very male.  It progresses from pleasantly boring into page-turner (no give-aways, but it's much different than other WS I have read).  Very California as well. Worth reading, but has its problems.]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72828786?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="54603581">
  <user id="1017488">
    <name><![CDATA[Erik]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Nyack, NY]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1017488-erik-simon?utm_medium=api]]></url>
  </user>
    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri May 01 11:22:42 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri May 01 11:24:03 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Did I miss something? The first half of this book was exquisite, but then it took such a surrealistically stupid turn in the second half that I feel like I missed something. I usually love his shorter novels, but this one . . . nope.]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54603581?utm_medium=api]]></url>
</review>
    </reviews>
</book>
</GoodreadsResponse>