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Dec 04, 2018
Jessica
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Hm. I both couldn't put this down because I loved the writing, and was becoming steadily more frustrated and even depressed by it. It's a very current book, dealing with politics, social mores, and climate change . . . which is the depressing part. But while I appreciated what she was saying, and agreed with it, it became so overwhelming and increasingly so preachy, that I was left very unsatisfied. You don't need to tell me over and over that the president is a buffoon and that our economy and
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This was not my favorite Barbara Kingsolver book, but I did like it. Perhaps the setting had something to do with it. I grew up in New Jersey and lived a few years in south Jersey, not too far from Vineland. I had no idea that Vineland had that history. Our move from New Jersey to Virginia was a lesson in culture shock so I could relate to the shock Willa Knox found when she moved from Virginia to New Jersey. However, it did seem that all the current ills that many people are experiencing now fe
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Hard to read when I disliked so many of the characters, plus the "house falling down" trope stressed me out. Willa annoyed me so much from the beginning - we start off learning that she never needed anything from her husband other than to be hot and funny, because she always had her mother to rely on, which irked me. (Her husband indeed seemed to be useless.) Then she spends two months refusing to call her grandson by his name because she doesn't like it (she eventually finds a nickname she can
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Feb 14, 2019
Kate
marked it as lost-interest-didn-t-finish
I may return to this at some point. I was a bit distracted by the (author's) tone narrating the audiobook. I was hoping for the richness of The Poisonwood Bible; almost the entire first chapter of this book is exposition. And it all seems very heavy-handed. I will try again when I'm in a different mood, perhaps.
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Wish this was just about the Mary Treat/Thatcher Greenwood storyline.
Oct 17, 2018
Chrissy
marked it as to-read
Oct 21, 2018
Kate
marked it as to-read
Oct 24, 2018
Rachael
marked it as to-read
Mar 27, 2020
Flynn
marked it as to-read
May 21, 2023
Soren
marked it as to-read
Dec 18, 2023
Hutch
marked it as to-read
May 03, 2025
Wkd
marked it as to-read
