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	<review id="76205143">
    <user id="191480">
    <name><![CDATA[Charles]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Italy]]></location>        
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  <id type="integer">1200969</id>
  <isbn>0571201067</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780571201068</isbn13>
  <ratings_count type="integer">1</ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1</text_reviews_count>
  <title>Our Fathers</title>
  <average_rating></average_rating>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181834480m/1200969.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1200969.Our_Fathers</link>
<author>
  <id type="integer">5689</id>
  <name>Andrew O'Hagan</name>
  <ratings_count type="integer">211</ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">73</text_reviews_count>
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    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
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  <read_at>Thu Nov 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Oct 30 08:20:24 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Nov 05 07:02:45 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[As someone who liked O'Hagan's more recent novels very much indeed, I was disappointed by this book. It had all the flaws of a first novel, I found, overwritten, self-conscious, striving for effect. I don't know how much the book draws, if at all, on the author's life, but it had the feel of being based on material that was still too close to be written about without a sort of sentiment that degraded the emotion the author surely wanted to convey (and if it's pure fiction, there is even less excuse). This is not to say that parts of it aren't very moving indeed, but they tend to be those in which observation rather than fine writing takes the upper hand - the two scenes in pubs stand out. The strengths in the book are those which are foregrounded in O'Hagan's later work, to its benefit. So, worth reading, but, in my view, flawed.]]></body>
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