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What Members Thought
This story of a boy's coming of age is both heartbreaking and heart-rending. After his parents' bank robbery and consequent incarceration, Dell is taken into Canada to avoid the foster care system. Here he meets and tries to understand various men and women who live in this cold wilderness. He forms and reforms philosophies of life. Why do they never prove true? The book is plot driven. Reading about Dell's life and his progress in dealing with life as he knows it makes for interesting reading.
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The premise for the book.i.e. what happens to two children after their parents have been arrested and convicted of robbing a bank is more entriguing than it is in practice. That said how each of the childen react and go forward after their parents arrest is somewhat entertaining. The fact that one of the children ends up in Canada allows for the differences in education and way of life for Canadians and their neighbor to the south to come out.
I tried reading this novel twice, but it is just too slow. Painfully slow. I love Richard Ford's short stories, but I had to give up on this novel about half way through. I don't get impatient with pacing very often, but, my goodness, this was just relentless. I feel bad about giving up, but I gave it two shots after all. I'll stick to Ford's short stories from now on.
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Richard Ford is a great storyteller. This is such a unique tale with incredibly vivid characters. I don't know how anyone can make a story about bank robbery and murder seem commonplace - like it could happen to anyone - but he manages. The vast spaces of Montana and Saskatchewan really come alive in this book as well. At times I felt the pace of the book was a little slow, but overall I highly recommend it. ...more
Aug 09, 2017
Juliana Philippa
marked it as to-read
What We're Reading This Summer 2017 — A collection of 25 books recommended by The Atlantic’s editors and writers
www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/arc... ...more
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Interesting fiction, with occasional lagging areas...
My first Richard Ford read. I liked the story & characters, as well as the writing style.
Feb 19, 2012
SarahC
marked it as to-read
Jul 10, 2012
MichelleCH
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Aug 07, 2012
Philippa Smith
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Aug 12, 2012
Vesra (When She Reads)
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Shelves:
literature,
hardcover,
c-yellow,
young-adult,
author-f,
c,
fiction,
mystery-thrillers,
country-canada,
pc-400-499
Aug 27, 2012
Sam
marked it as to-read
Dec 05, 2012
Enthu_Kidlets
marked it as to-read
Jun 30, 2013
Katy
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Feb 01, 2014
Janna
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Jul 27, 2014
Kirsty
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Mar 15, 2018
Idit
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May 28, 2019
Tammy Grimm
marked it as to-read
