Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 13, 2009

Hannah rated it:

Bef0re: I am quickly and immediately in love with this book. Oriana, you're next!

After: This is the best 0ne by this guy that I have read. I l0ve his f0ndness f0r the w0rd "small," I l0ve the way his characters seem like dearly-bel0ved d0lls in a careful, h0peful d0llh0use, I l0ve the little letters Henry writes t0 himself S0 much (I l0ved these t00 much, in fact--they are the 0nly pr0blem I had with the b00k--I wanted m0re with the little letters . . . ), and I l0ve that More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Dec 27, 2008

Imogen rated it:

Yeah! I like Joe Meno a lot and I think it's nice that here he's taking a swing at the great American Novel. And- this is awesome- I sent an e-mail to his publisher as soon as I found out this was coming out, like Hey can my store have an advance reader copy please? And they were like, Well, there's no bound ARCs, but would you like this 300-pages-of-printer-paper manuscript I've got? So I got to read this thing in a big sheaf of 8 1/2 x 11s. I felt very, very cool.

And the book itse More...

9 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2009

oriana rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

8 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 16, 2009

Jason rated it:

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

So before anything else, let's acknowledge that I have a complicated relationship with the work of Chicago wunderkind Joe Meno; I rather disliked his literary debut, for example, the popular punk-rock coming-of-age tale Hairstyles of the Damned (prompting not exactly hateful letters from More...

12 comments like (11 people liked it)

Sep 12, 2011

Becky rated it:

Reading this book was a way for me to see that so many of the braveries of my life could so easily be seen as cowardices. Still, this revelation came in a warm light with the knowledge that there is still time to change without becoming too much of a different person than what I have built upon for so long. The lessons and realizations of this book came so gently.

As for the book itself, I enjoyed it greatly, obviously. It was well-written. The characters were very much in the rou More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 13, 2011

Holly rated it:

"The Great Perhaps" is a novel that revolves, by chapter, around each member of the Casper family - Jonathan, the science professsor obsessed with the search for a giant squid, his wife, Madeline, whose confusion amidst her mid-life crisis rings through in every scene, Jonathan's father, Henry, and their two children, Thisbe and Amelia.

Jonathan is a professor whos rivalry with the French science team in the search for the great ellusive squid drives him to obsession. He was More...

0 comments like

Feb 23, 2011

Jackie rated it:

Perks

•Meno exibits his experimental story telling once more; the novel contains illustrations, transcripts from old radio serials, and declassified government documents.
•Realistic teenage dialogue and insight that he has more than perfected in his past novels (Hairstyles of the Damned, The Boy Detective Fails)
•In my personal experience, the characters evoked an array of emotions. Just when I begin to think, “Wow, I’m glad I don’t know people like this,” another side of t More...

0 comments like

Aug 17, 2009

Maren rated it:

This is one of those books that I picked up from the library on a whim merely because I've gotten to that desperate, "I haven't read a good book in a while" kind of a place and I'm just sort of grasping at straws. For better or worse, "The Great Perhaps" definitely filled that void but it did little more.

It's the story of a somewhat dysfunctional (but mostly normal) family in Chicago - two parents, both of whom are scientists and two daughters who are, of course, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 25, 2009

Venessa rated it:

"Beneath all of her thoughts and worries, beneath the complication of conflicting identities and needs, maybe it's as simple as loving the way some other person looks when they're sleeping."

Would give it 4 and 1/2 if it existed; not quite a 5 because I'm not sure even Meno can live up to the brilliant high school angst and heartbreak that is one of my favorites: Hairstyles of the Damned!

Jonathan has a unique problem: he faints whenever he sees a cloud, or someth More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 11, 2009

Pam rated it:

The members of the Casper family are pulling its existence apart at the seams. Running headlong in four vastly different directions, John, Madeline, Amelia and Thisbe each seem to embody one faction of American society in their own convoluted ways.
John, a paleontologist, is on a frenzied nautical life-mission to track down a prehistoric, giant squid. He faints at the sight of clouds of any form unless he has taken a pill. When we find him, both predicaments have worn thin on the three wom More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 18, 2010

Anne rated it:

Oh my word! This is a difficult book to review, it is so unlike anything I have read before and I doubt that I would have even attempted it if I had not been sent a review copy from the publisher. I'm left wondering and pondering by the whole thing - I have greatly enjoyed reading it, but have to admit that some of the concept and ideals have passed me by.

On the face of it, this is a novel about a family, made up of Dad, Mum, two sisters and a Grandfather. To say More...

0 comments like

May 22, 2011

Gretchen rated it:

I have kind of a meh/hate relationship with Joe Meno. As a Chicagoan, I want to love him. I do love Hairstyles of the Damned, but that might be because of sheer cussedness on my part (one of the main characters is named Gretchen and it's about punks growing up). I loathed The Boy Detective Fails, but now I can't remember why. Meno is not a very humanistic writer to me; I sometimes find it hard to identify with his characters, but I'm never sure if that's because they're relatable, but not wr More...

0 comments like

Mar 21, 2009

Douglas rated it:

** disclaimer #1 **
My thoughts below are based on an advanced reader's copy of this novel and SHOULD NOT be considered the final words of the author, Joe Meno.

** disclaimer #2 **
I love Mr Meno's work, most notably, Boy Detective, which I think is a winningly off-kilter book.

That said, the Great Perhaps is a bit of a mess. I am assuming that the final version of the novel will be cinched and tightened up a bit, so my rating above is probably a bit harsh (plus I More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 06, 2009

Michael added it

Joe Meno’s The Great Perhaps is an inventive, startling novel that is equally comic and affecting. It tells the story of Jonathan Casper’s family in dissolution: his daughters Thisbe and Amelia in their struggles with adolescent sex and politics and ambition; his wife Madeline equally troubled by her research into the social behavior of pigeons and her marriage to a neurotic and unhappy man; his father Henry’s haunting by his memories of a World War II interment camp and his work designing war p More...

0 comments like

Jul 05, 2011

Kaycie rated it:

The first half of this book was slow for me--maybe I had a hard time caring about the characters. Oh, another dysfunctional American family story. But, somewhere in the second half, I started to care, and yes, it is another dysfunctional American family story, but I liked it.

I think the turning point may have been one of Henry Casper's (the grandfather) chapters that delved into his past as the son of a German immigrant during WW2. Meno wrote it in such a way that I didn't want t More...

0 comments like

Oct 05, 2009

Allie rated it:

This was my first Joe Meno. He's always been on my list of "Authors I'm sure I'll like, but haven't gotten around to reading yet". The chapters alternate points of view of one family--grandfather, father, mother, and two daughters. Old man flashbacks are included. When I realized what he was doing with the alternating I assumed it would be frustrating because I didn't think there was anyway to do it thoroughly. Plus I was on loads of percocet, so I worried about following everythi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 08, 2009

Scott rated it:

I imagine those people who don't like this book, or maybe don't like Joe Meno, aren't fans of Wes Anderson either. I suppose that isn't exactly fair to Meno. He doesn't dance around in a quirky but very real alternate reality. His characters are kind of quirky, one is afraid of clouds; one is trying to erase himself by speaking one fewer word a day. But he doesn't use his quirky characters for a mad-cap, laugh-a-minute riot. His quirks instead somehow heighten the flaws and the sadness in them. More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 19, 2009

Kasa rated it:

3 1/2 stars, not quite a 4.

Oddly enough, this book reminded me very much of the movie "The Squid and the Whale" a few years back, so I actually envisioned Jeff Daniels playing the lead character. That movie's title engendered quite a bit of comment since there was neither a squid nor a whale, and it was unclear just who was what. There are squid aplenty and a few whales in this tale of a family suffering a collective meltdown. I found the structure was quite inflexible More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 17, 2010

Holly rated it:

I cannot say enough good things about this book. The author Joe Meno is a creative writing Professor at Columbia College in Chicago, and his passion for the art shines in this novel. I would even say that it would be a good Pulitzer Prize contender.

The story is engaging from start to finish. It revolves around one family, each involved in their own complex lives, and ignoring their family ties. As their seemingly unachievable goals come crashing down around them, they all hit rock bott More...

0 comments like

Oct 13, 2009

Susan rated it:

Set in Chicago around the time of the 2004 presidential election, this is the story of 5 individuals within a family. The nursing home-bound grandfather, the academic parents and the 2 high school aged daughters all have quirky personalities but are experiencing ordinary life challenges in a way only slightly exaggerated from what one might call "normal." The relationships among and between the family members are explored. There are some interesting historical sections, recounting e More...

0 comments like

Jan 01, 2009

Mickey rated it:

Like Hank Williams, Joe Meno knows that there is no greater adventure than gripping books. Since Meno literally created The Great Perhaps, numerous fans have witnessed the book's process of reinventing itself. More naive fans and freewheeling spirits are trying to design the sculpted Joe Meno, the progenitor of numerous masterworks. Photographs capture Meno trying on pioneer outfits.

In The Great Perhaps, a professor is the author of numerous articles. A hillbilly captures the very b More...

0 comments like

Oct 31, 2011

Twan rated it:

I picked this up due to the cover art and really enjoyed it. About a family, the dad studies, or tries to study giant squids and passes out when he sees a cloud or a picture of one, the mother studies pigeons that are being raped and mutilated. The eldest daughter thinks she is some sort of modern day Patty Hearst while the younger daughter has decided that she wants to find god. The grandfather has decided to limit his vocabulary by one word a day starting with 11. One of those book where not a More...

0 comments like

May 28, 2010

Matt rated it:

One of these days I'll set up an alert on Amazon to let me know whenever Meno has a new book, I enjoy his work so much. But for now, it remains happenstance, with an added air of his books being like aspirin in the medicine cabinet: take one when nothing else seems to work.

This is, I think, the latest book, which mostly matters because it comes after _Boy Detective Fails_, which I think is kind of a breakthru book in terms of defining what kind of writer Meno is, where he really bec More...

0 comments like

Mar 28, 2010

Allen rated it:

I've never had such mixed feelings about a book before. There are aspects of it I really, really enjoyed--really all of the content surrounding directly the main characters. Had the book consisted only of these aspects, I believe I'd have given this at least another star. But then there are side stories -- some of which, I didn't care enough about to bother trying to figure out how they might tie into the book; and while grandpa played a role in the story, much of that was unnecessary. And I h More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 25, 2009

Babs rated it:

So, I'm really kind of at a loss with this book. I wanted so badly to love it because I do really like Meno, and not just because he almost always throws some references to Chicago in his writing. "The Boy Detective Fails" is one of my favorite books and so I expected a lot from "The Great Perhaps".
But really? Really? This is the best you could come up with Joe?
I only finished this book because I kept hoping so very much that this was going to get better. The nex More...

0 comments like

Dec 26, 2010

Lu rated it:

I loved the beginning of this book, adored the ending, and despised the middle. I thought about giving it up, but I’m truly glad I did not. I think that this book celebrates ordinary life and all of the oddities within it, and I wish Meno had kept it at that. The inclusion of some very strange events and details really threw this book for me, otherwise it would have been one of my favorites for the year. I think a lot of people will adore this book, like Jackie did, and a lot of people will More...

0 comments like

Dec 22, 2009

Aaron rated it:

An interesting treatise on cowardice and fear, Joe Meno has written a wonderful novel centering around a family bursting apart at the seams. Johnathan is a paleontologist, so mired in his research that he has neglected his family. His wife Madeline is ready to leave him, an ornithologist, and obsessed with the clouds and where they might be leading her. Their daughters, Amelia and Thisbe, are devoted to their individual causes, political activism and religion, respectively. And then there's Henr More...

0 comments like

Mar 28, 2011

Jim rated it:

This is a review where I wish I had 3.5 stars as an option. This is not my favorite by Joe Meno by a long-shot, but it's worth a read. Probably the most memorable character and greatest singularity that sets this book apart is its attention to German Americans during World War II with a brush into the plight of Japanese Americans. The grandfather who sees his youth in flashbacks as he is losing his memory, or preparing for death, or just getting old, gives a depth to his character that does not More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 07, 2011

Nomi rated it:

Pretty good solid story about a dysfunctional academic couple-each absorbed in his/her own work about mating practices of pigeons and the search for the giant squid-and their troubled teenage daughters, one a radical communist, the other a possible lesbian desperately seeking salvation. I liked these four characters very much, especially the daughters. Unfortunately much of the novel deals with the sick grandfather and the story of his youth during WWII (I think-I found myself skimming here). I More...

0 comments like

Oct 23, 2009

Kamala rated it:

This book recounts the life and times of a contemporary, upper-middle class family in Chicago whose lives are all sort of falling apart. How original. I was originally really into it because the teenage daughters were caricatures of themselves in that completely serious way that teen girls can be. But it ended badly, and most of the exciting contemporary storylines were lost in the mess of the father's family history and boring parental drama. In the end I was entirely disappointed and was readi More...

0 comments like

reviews