false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166697218m/16046.jpg 16046 10 If you imagine most writer's bathrooms (and this is probably a mistake) you'd picture damp towels in a clump on the floor, hair in the soap, a few mildewed paperbacks stacked on the counter. But it's impossible to picture Chris Bohjalian's bathroom as anything but an <I>Architectural Digest</I> centerfold: polished counters, not a stray thread on the plush towels, the modulated colors sparked to life by fresh flowers from a neighbor's garden.<p> Bohjalian's eighth novel, <I>Before You Know Kindness</I>, is a beautifully observed, delicately balanced portrait of a family that could only come from the hands of a tireless craftsman who keeps reaching into his story to straighten the tulips or tuck in a shirttail. It begins with two EMTs leaning over animal rights' activist Spencer McCullough's gushing shotgun wound and winds back through the ordinary days leading up to the extraordinary accident, and then forward again as Spencer and his family come to terms with what has happened. As ambitious as other Bohjalian novels, <I>Before You Know Kindness</I> spirals out to encompass the larger issues of Spencer's political loyalties and the heartless, passionate world of political spin. Some readers may find Bohjalian's style too smooth. Others will relish the completeness of his vision and his obvious tenderness for even the most difficult of his characters. <I>--Regina Marler</I> 458901 2004 Before You Know Kindness total:2074|5:261|4:719|3:742|2:286|1:66| 2074 7045 2898 345 5 3 false false Sun May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Thu Jun 14 06:21:32 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 14 06:21:49 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 4 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 05 22:00:39 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 02 09:57:12 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Wed Mar 26 18:38:21 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 26 18:48:01 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 2 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 18 09:30:41 -0800 2007 Sat Mar 29 15:49:17 -0700 2008 The Double Bind so much. However, this book I didn't connect with at all. Bohjalian seemed to try to hard on the complex sentences - William Faulkner he is not. And the plot was just so convoluted. By the fifth di...more...]]> 2 2 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 16 08:12:58 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 16 08:19:33 -0700 2007 2 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 14 21:31:34 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 14 21:31:34 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 21 20:56:40 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 24 19:02:15 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 31 11:35:55 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 11:35:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 08 16:19:20 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 16:26:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 11:56:51 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 12:06:32 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 06 11:56:07 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 11:57:42 -0700 2009
ohjalian's eighth novel, Before You Know Kindness, is a beautifully observed, delicately balanced portrait of a family that could only come from the hands of a tireless craftsman who ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Mar 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 26 16:53:19 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 15:18:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Apr 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 22:05:30 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 13:33:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 15:38:50 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 13:27:13 -0700 2009 I really wanted to like the characters in this more than 400 page novel. I was hoping to relate to, or sympathize, or be intrigued by a...more...]]> 0 0 false true Wed Jul 22 19:29:14 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 11:29:21 -0700 2009 This book is about a family and how they react to an accidental shooting. Daughter shoots father. I read a few reviews about this book before I started reading it. The one that sticks out in my mind is the one that praised Bohjalian’s character development and how d...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 15:56:07 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 16:18:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Feb 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 14 06:07:36 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 19 04:07:22 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:28:09 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:28:09 -0800 2009 Bohjalian, bestselling author of nine novels, knows how to ask the hard questions. Before You Know Kindness touches on family tension and ties, marriage, disillusionment, betrayal, animals' rights, hunting, and gun control. Yet, Bohjalian provides no easy answers to these difficult, controversial is...

more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 15 13:59:30 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 15 14:42:48 -0700 2007 ]]> 2 0 false false Mon Feb 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 07:28:35 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 12 17:29:08 -0800 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=16046