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	<review id="36545983">
    <user id="21628">
    <name><![CDATA[Chrissy]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Nacogdoches, TX]]></location>        
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  <body>I need to make some serious headway here. I am digging this book, but it's taking me forever to get through it!</body>
  <chapter type="integer" nil="true"></chapter>
  <comments_count type="integer">0</comments_count>
  <created_at type="datetime">2009-04-23T14:23:36-07:00</created_at>
  <id type="integer">669162</id>
  <last_comment_at type="datetime" nil="true"></last_comment_at>
  <page type="integer">306</page>
  <updated_at type="datetime">2009-04-23T14:23:36-07:00</updated_at>
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  <body>I want to leap through the page and strangle Howard, before it's too late!... Too late.</body>
  <chapter type="integer" nil="true"></chapter>
  <comments_count type="integer">0</comments_count>
  <created_at type="datetime">2009-04-19T19:22:16-07:00</created_at>
  <id type="integer">652132</id>
  <last_comment_at type="datetime" nil="true"></last_comment_at>
  <page type="integer">306</page>
  <updated_at type="datetime">2009-04-19T19:22:16-07:00</updated_at>
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  <body>Smith is a very good writer. So  many full, interesting and distinct characters make this long book a fast read.</body>
  <chapter type="integer" nil="true"></chapter>
  <comments_count type="integer">0</comments_count>
  <created_at type="datetime">2009-04-16T06:11:05-07:00</created_at>
  <id type="integer">638111</id>
  <last_comment_at type="datetime" nil="true"></last_comment_at>
  <page type="integer">234</page>
  <updated_at type="datetime">2009-04-16T06:11:05-07:00</updated_at>
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        <user_status>
  <body>Just over 100 pages in and so much has already happened! Drama, drama.</body>
  <chapter type="integer" nil="true"></chapter>
  <comments_count type="integer">0</comments_count>
  <created_at type="datetime">2009-04-07T06:29:19-07:00</created_at>
  <id type="integer">600094</id>
  <last_comment_at type="datetime" nil="true"></last_comment_at>
  <page type="integer">125</page>
  <updated_at type="datetime">2009-04-07T06:29:19-07:00</updated_at>
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  <body>Not at all what I was expecting, but very good nevertheless.</body>
  <chapter type="integer" nil="true"></chapter>
  <comments_count type="integer">0</comments_count>
  <created_at type="datetime">2009-03-24T08:45:26-07:00</created_at>
  <id type="integer">543415</id>
  <last_comment_at type="datetime" nil="true"></last_comment_at>
  <page type="integer">63</page>
  <updated_at type="datetime">2009-03-24T08:45:26-07:00</updated_at>
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    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <sell_flag>false</sell_flag>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="2009" />
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[fans of literary fiction, academia, and social issues.]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Oct 30 06:49:03 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon May 04 13:15:39 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count>1</read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Wow. Zadie Smith sure knows how to work the words. This is a pretty long book, but it never feels long. It tells the story of the Belsey family, headed by Howard, a college professor and Rembrandt expert, his wife Kiki, and their three children - Jerome, Zora, and Levi. Smith expertly weaves together plots and subplots, sex and race, adultery and epiphanies, broken hearts and the drama of academia, all while making sure the reader cares about her complex and flawed characters. There were moments when I wanted to reach through the pages and shake the characters (Howard and Zora, especially) just as they were on the verge of a particularly tragic mistake. Alas, mistakes have to made for a good story, and this is definitely a very good story. <br/><br/>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36545983]]></url>
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