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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Michael Chabon

Start date: March 1, 2010

Finish date: March 31, 2010

Discussion: Chapter 3: Literary Fiction

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Chapter 3: Literary Fiction

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* Books Worthy of Oprah -Chapter 3 book list
By MJ , Idiot's Top libriarian · 13 posts · 682 views

last updated Jun 09, 2009 09:30PM

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ** Book Club Selection: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS **
By Tera · 27 posts · 120 views

last updated Nov 13, 2012 02:37AM

What Members Thought

Oct 13, 2008 Paula rated it liked it

Shelves: based-in-the-old-times, read-in-2010, read-on-ereader

i seem to be stuck in a 3.5 rut. Can't decide what to give it. more later.

edit:
I still don't know. I feel like I had been waiting for so long to read this book that my expectations got built up really high. (Especially considering that it is one of my best friend's favorite books and he is/was constantly talking about how fantastic it is). And well, for me there was just something lackluster to it. I turned each page, hoping for my heart to explode with beautiful writing and fantastic stories th i seem to be stuck in a 3.5 rut. Can't decide what to give it. more later.

edit:
I still don't know. I feel like I had been waiting for so long to read this book that my expectations got built up really high. (Especially considering that it is one of my best friend's favorite books and he is/was constantly talking about how fantastic it is). And well, for me there was just something lackluster to it. I turned each page, hoping for my heart to explode with beautiful writing and fantastic stories that my friend always talks about, and instead, I found that I didn't really care about any of it.

There are two exceptions to this, which is why I was stuck on what I wanted to rate it:
-Oyster: My goodness, everything about that dog broke my heart. Although he was a small character, there was just something about him. I think he was the only thing that really brought Joe to life for me. Throughout the book Joe was just a character on a mission to save his family, and there was nothing more to him than that. Until there was Oyster, who saved his life, who he betrayed, and then nothing came out of it. Oyster, who survived, was killed by his friend for nothing. And that just brought me to tears.
-Ethel: There is something about her character that I just love. I think I have a thing for characters like her. She reminds me of Ursula from One Hundred Year's of Solitude and Joy from Dead Like Me (TV show...so good). All these characters are women (and mothers) who have lost, Ursula fights a never ending battle to keep her family together and Joy has to deal with the death of a daughter that she never particularly liked. Yet there is something really strong about them. Ethel lost her husband and left her family in Europe, she raised her son on bad cooking and tough love. And man. She really made me laugh. If the book could have been centered around her, I would have LOVED it. (even though that completely turns it into another book...)

The rest of the story was just okay with me. And I was honestly kind of happy when I was done. ...more

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Sep 11, 2007 Joanie marked it as to-read

Shelves: in-the-pile-on-my-nightstand, unfinished, 1001-book-list

I started reading this while I was pregnant and was enjoying it but then got to a sad part and I was crying in the doctor's office so I decided to put it away for a while, I need to pick it up again soon. ...more

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