<![CDATA[You Remind Me of Me]]>

false <![CDATA[You Remind Me of Me]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172877450m/227481.jpg 227481 9 With his critically acclaimed Among the Missing and Fitting Ends, award-winning author Dan Chaon proved himself a master of the short story form. He is a writer, observes the Chicago Tribune, who can “convincingly squeeze whole lives into a mere twenty pages or so.” Now Chaon marshals his notable talents in his much-anticipated debut novel. You Remind Me of Me begins with a series of separate incidents: In 1977, a little boy is savagely attacked by his mother’s pet Doberman; in 1997 another little boy disappears from his grandmother’s backyard on a sunny summer morning; in 1966, a pregnant teenager admits herself to a maternity home, with the intention of giving her child up for adoption; in 1991, a young man drifts toward a career as a drug dealer, even as he hopes for something better. With penetrating insight and a deep devotion to his characters, Dan Chaon explores the secret connections that irrevocably link them. In the process he examines questions of identity, fate, and circumstance: Why do we become the people that we become? How do we end up stuck in lives that we never wanted? And can we change the course of what seems inevitable? In language that is both unflinching and exquisite, Chaon moves deftly between the past and the present in the small-town prairie Midwest and shows us the extraordinary lives of “ordinary” people. 241217 2004 You Remind Me of Me total:922|5:167|4:316|3:304|2:105|1:30| 922 3251 1378 149 3 2 false false Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu Apr 26 13:15:49 -0700 2007 Thu Apr 26 13:16:13 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 1 false false Wed Dec 31 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 06:30:43 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 02 14:02:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Sep 30 13:38:26 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 21:58:54 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 30 13:38:26 -0700 2008 1 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Feb 21 07:01:40 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 21 07:12:31 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 2 false false Tue Feb 06 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Sep 27 13:33:05 -0700 2007 Tue May 27 11:38:08 -0700 2008
And not ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 01 09:57:53 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 29 10:45:07 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 18:23:39 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 13:08:56 -0700 2007
This was an interesting read. The book is written from the perspective of 3 people and over 3 different time periods. At first I wished I had been writing out my own timeline to reference whe...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jul 16 20:15:06 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 20:19:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jan 13 06:11:29 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 13 06:11:29 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 08 20:27:07 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 14:52:03 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 13:50:22 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 13:50:57 -0800 2009
If his mother had gotten treatment for her mental illness, his life would have been different, he would have made different choices, had different relationships with the people in his life and this would have been a different story...

This is the 'what if?' book. What...more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 10:43:17 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 10:49:06 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Aug 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 19:26:39 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 19:41:24 -0700 2009 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anti-climactic and meandering...

I have never skimmed bits...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 10:52:34 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 12:03:52 -0700 2009 1 Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon I also discovered that I had a copy of his previous book, You Remind Me of Me on my TBR shelf. So, before I received my First-Read selection, I read his earlier work which had some how or other managed to slip between...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu Jul 05 09:13:07 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 05 09:13:46 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Mon Jun 18 21:43:03 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 18 21:47:43 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 true false Wed Apr 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 02 20:12:58 -0800 2008 Wed Apr 16 19:06:27 -0700 2008 The characters are all so pitiful with really unfortunate lives, yet each story is poetic in its honesty. It sort of has an awareness like: "Life sucks but the sun still shines." Anyway, it was a nice book.
In fact, it is the ...more...]]> 4 0 false true Sat May 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 27 07:27:11 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 11:49:52 -0700 2009
The book tells the intertwined tale of two brothers (one of whom was given up for ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Nov 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 16:51:19 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 17:22:57 -0800 2009 1
For one with no expectations, I was more than pleasantly surprised. I was amazed at how I got into the story....more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:25:46 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:25:46 -0800 2009 Already recognized as a gifted short story writer, Chaon has been compared to such luminaries as Ambrose Bierce, Shirley Jackson, and Russell Banks. In crafting his first novel, Chaon's short story sensibility pops up from time to time, particularly in the pacing and fragmented structure. Yet despit...

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