From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

Manhattan Beach

Jennifer Egan

Start date: February 15, 2018

Finish date: March 1, 2018

Discussion: Reading List

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

Oct 01, 2017 Jenny (Reading Envy) marked it as did-not-finish

Shelves: reviewcopy, ebooks, national-book-award-nominees

I have previously loved books by Jennifer Egan, so I gave this one more time than I usually would before deciding not to finish. I read the first 35% pretty closely, skimmed up to 50%, and just had to decide this isn't the book for me. I think there were some interesting elements - women working in shipyards, the mystery of the father's disappearance, the sister with health issues - but just when one of these storylines would start to get interesting, the author would divert to more mundane deta ...more

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Jan 22, 2023 Kate rated it really liked it

Took me a few tries to get through the audiobook, but I enjoyed the story of a father and daughter during wartime.

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Jul 31, 2023 Joyce rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: set-in-new-york

This is my second Jennifer Egan novel. I read "The Keep" a long time ago and remember it as odd and weird. This is more or less a coming of age story about a young woman who was very close to her father who disappears one day. Years later she is working at the Brooklyn Naval Yard during World War II and discovers that she wants to be a diver. It is a very atmospheric novel but I was not invested in the main character. She's driven but doesn't feel particularly sympathetic, more robotic than real ...more

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May 20, 2019 Loretta rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, reading-for-craft

Egan is just a gorgeous writer. I loved this. The intertwining stories of the three main characters, how their arcs come together, fall away, and then come together again, the language and description - just, really good.

My one discomfort is with the treatment of the disabled little sister who is basically just there for everyone to project their own stuff onto. This kinda bugged.

the audiobook readers were very good too.

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