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The Company You Keep
by
Neil Gordon
Now a major motion picture directed by Robert Redford and starring Shia LaBeouf, Susan Sarandon, Julie Christie, Terence Howard, Anna Kendrick, Nick Nolte, and Stanley Tucci
It is 2006. Seventeen-year-old Isabel Montgomery starts to receive emails from her father, a man who had abandoned her in a hotel room ten years ago when his past finally caught up with him. Why has he...more
It is 2006. Seventeen-year-old Isabel Montgomery starts to receive emails from her father, a man who had abandoned her in a hotel room ten years ago when his past finally caught up with him. Why has he...more
Paperback, 416 pages
Published
June 29th 2004
by Penguin Books
(first published June 30th 2003)
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I am so looking forward to the film based on this book! Gordon wrote the novel as a modern-day epistolary; a series of (incredibly long and well-written) emails to 17 year old Isabel, mostly from her father, Jim Grant, an ex-Weatherman living as a civil rights lawyer, as he desperately tries to clear his name from a murder charge stemming from his past acts. Ironic as he has gone through several names throughout his life. Others - friends, former lovers, a young newspaperman and various key figu...more
Two story devices work well in this that often fail: multiple narrators and modified epistolary novel format; the narrative is built by a very long email chain (in detail that could not possible exist in that format, but it’s so engagingly written that you can suspend your disbelief).
It’s a message to the millennial generation and a reminder to all of American 20th century social and political history; It also wants to echo current events. It’s a mystery, love stories, and both a novel of ideas...more
It’s a message to the millennial generation and a reminder to all of American 20th century social and political history; It also wants to echo current events. It’s a mystery, love stories, and both a novel of ideas...more
I suppose it was inevitable: an epistolary told through the medium of email. I don't guess that Gordon was the first to do it, but The Company You Keep is the first novel I've encountered in this form.
It's an enjoyable read, with some intense scenes. The ending is a bit disappointing in that the results seem too tidy. I had to suspend disbelief throughout the novel because nobody would write emails of the length and detail that readers encounter. Still, the suspension was easy because the stori...more
It's an enjoyable read, with some intense scenes. The ending is a bit disappointing in that the results seem too tidy. I had to suspend disbelief throughout the novel because nobody would write emails of the length and detail that readers encounter. Still, the suspension was easy because the stori...more
Set in the 90s, this dramatic thriller follows civil rights attorney Jim Grant who's in the midst of a custody battle for his seven year old daughter with his recovering drug addict ex-wife. After the arrest of Weather Underground activist fugitive, Sharon Solartz, young, ambitious reporter Ben Schulberg who's assigned to write the story interviews Grant, who refused to represent Solarz after she contacted him. Later, after finding out that Grant left town with his daughter, Isabel, Schulberg so...more
In the end, this book is a magnificent read into life in modern America. Fighting wars we don't understand and frustrated with government, we face the same issues today as the nation faced then during Vietnam. It is told in the epistolary model, however, unlike in old days when these types of novels unfolded through a series of letters exchanged between two or more people, this one is told through a series of e-mails from a group called "The Committee". I don't want to ruin anyone's experience,...more
Was hoping it would be better than it was for me. I think the movie in this case may be better even though I'm sure it will make changes. The book could have done with some editing. I've seen reviews that say it is a well written book; it is in that he knows how to give overlong commentaries with lots and lots of words-he them very well but there are too many. It made the book longer than it needed to be for the story it was trying to tell. It would have been a very interesting story if he could...more
I picked this one up for $3 off the clearance rack and enjoyed it very much. A quick read, it's the story of a 1960s radical who has changed his identity and lives a normal life until he's discovered through a series of events. He goes back on the run but it's evident he's also trying to clear his name so he can one day return to his daughter. I liked how the book wove in real characters from history with fictional ones. I also liked the device for telling the story, which has a number of charac...more
This is my favorite of the 1960s/1970s fugitive-rebel genre. Though less well reviewed than a number of others, all of whose titles escape me, this felt to me the most right; or, at least, the most compelling. Told entirely in emails to the daughter the fugitive hasn't seen since her infancy, to me it gives a real sense of what happened during the Vietnam War era, and what has happened since. It points up how hard it would be for the child of radicals to really understand, or have empathy. It al...more
Dec 29, 2008
Ciara
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
fans of political thrillers, underground fugitives from justice, weather underground devotees
Shelves:
especially-great-novels,
read-in-2008
oooh, i am really into this book. you kind of have to get past the gimmicky fact that it is comprised entirely of e-mails, & that no one really writes that eloquently when they are writing e-mail, but whatever. i'll let it slide this one time. okay, so the story is pretty complex: the guy who instigates all of this e-mail writing is a fellow named daniel. the e-mails are being written to his daughter, who is around 18. she lives in england with her mother, a formerly well-known actress, the...more
It's been a long time since I enjoyed a book so much. I checked out the audio version from the library and loved that it was read by numerous readers, each assuming the role of the character he/she portrayed. The book is told in emails to the main character's daughter, requesting her presence at at parole hearing. Each version tells how the events in their lives led up to this hearing. This is the first book I've read in this format and really worked in this story. There are a couple of unexpect...more
Dull, dull, dull. Admittedly, I didn't finish this. (also, I'm not pals with or related to the author.) Up through chapter 22, nothing had happened, not one single thing, no plot, no narrative drive, no profound human insights. Nada. When I'd read for the umpteenth time a father nattering on cloyingly about his daughter's sweet little toes and sweet little clothes and sweet little blahblahblah, I threw it across the room with great force. Life is too short to finish badly-written books.
Le roman des illusions perdues. La maturité des activistes des années anti Vietnam. Sous forme d'échanges de lettres, chacun raconte à son tour les événements de sa jeunesse militante, la clandestinité, la peur de perdre l'amour des siens, l'abandon. Ce n'étaient que des gamins, amoureux, inconscients...et manipulés. Le roman est construit comme un roman policier, à chacun de deviner avant la fin, un peu mièvre. Tous les ingrédients pour faire un film magnifique, personnages, amour, forêts du No...more
A really enjoyable book, although 5 stars might be a bit much. What I enjoyed was how the author developed numerous perspectives on the events of the 1960s/70s related to the Vietnam War and protests stateside, while also propelling a very enjoyable intrigue related to several key fictional players in said events. Also, I enjoyed the sense of humor that pervaded, by and large, the entire book.
May 07, 2013
Karen
added it
A story about the Weather Underground of the 70's and the people who belonged and tried to force the government to face the fact we should not have been involved in the Viet man war and Cambodia. Much of the book is placed in Ann Arbor so that was fun. It is a movie with Robert Redford. I want to watch it.
The politics, history and presentation of argument were good. I personally was not convinced by the convenience of the plot threads among the main characters. The structure of the novel was another strong point. Overall it was a strong work, albeit too convenient in the end.
A carefully constructed novel about the Weathermen, combining fictional and non-fictional characters. I enjoyed reading about the techniques of fugitives, as well as the thoughts and rationales of Weathermen terrorists, but the book is just too slow and repetitive.
Three stars instead of 2 because at one point I couldn't put it down, and it takes place in my neck of the woods in upstate NY. But, like so many other stories that start out promising, the finish gets mucked up on itself and the end is too unbelievably pat.
As almost always, the book is do much better and more complex than the movie. Gibes a glimpse into the Weatherman movement (which I knew nothing about) from the perspective of 40some years later. Written in emails to a daughter of one of them by various ex-members they stitch together an interesting quilt of idealism and ideas, honesty and compromise but always a sense of loyalty.
For anyone who experienced the unrest of the 60s & has spent time reflecting on the idealism, the violence, the subsequent wars, this is a book to read. On another level, it is also an exciting story with interesting characters.
Loved this book!! Thank you Robert Redford for making this in to a movie otherwise I would never have found out about the book( movie tie in)now my only problem is how am I going to get my hands on Neil Gordon's other titles???
I'm very excited to see the movie, but I am not sure I would recommend the book. I think this is a rare occasion where the movie will be better than the book. I was very intrigued by the mystery of the book, and really enjoyed the unique element of it being told through a series of emails from several different characters. I feel like some of the characters, and James/Jim in particular, would go on and on about things that really didn't progress the story at all. Overall, it was an interesting s...more
I didn't love this guy as a teacher, but this book is a great read. It has all the makings of a book that keeps you flipping pages and stays in your pocket everywhere you go.
Admire the email conceit. Admire the attempt at political balance. Hate how all the characters are superhuman. All of them. Not a true to life character in the bunch.
While I should be reading baby books, I got sucked into this one. Great glimpse and well researched fiction re: the underground/Weathermen movement of the 60s/70s. Wonderful storytelling and vivid characters.
Well told story of the intertwined lives of radical leftist from "back in the day". Read this prior to seeing Redford's new movie based on the book. Enjoyed both.
Story of the weather underground as told via e-mails. Political, vietnam background, but takes place in modern day. Well written.
This was super fast read. I live in Michigan near Ann Arbor where the story takes place. I enjoyed the story and the setting.
Political, romance, thriller. Based on happenings of the Weather Underground during the Vietnam era. Great book.
I just watched the movie and just wanted to go trough the story one more time - very good book, excellent movie.
Wonderful book providing lots of food for thought - but as we are on holiday no time to do review until I return home.
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