false 4 0 false false Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 08 07:20:34 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 07:27:20 -0700 2009
Yet, when one is good, it is very very good and that's what I got from this book. The main narrative, of Joseph, whose father invents the "teddy bear" (and I was WAAY into this story before I realized that I actually had the question with Morris Michtom at trivia just 2 weeks ago.) (And actually the fact that Hesse took real people and utterly fictionalized them was slightly annoying, one of the things that knocks this down to 4.)

However, pretending that they weren't real people this is a great story, about 2nd generation immigrants, about turn of the century Brooklyn. And the touch of magical realism, while slightly confusing, offers a lot of satisfaction for a sophisticated reader.

Highly recommended. AND the fact that I finished it at 4:30 last night during a bout of insomnia, in which 10 pages usually puts me under, was another credit to this book and its strong writing. (Also....short chapters!)

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