Helpful Score: 2
This book won a Nobel prize, so it would, of course, be a worthy read in the purely literary sense.
However, I did not care for this book. I found the characters irritating, and their motivations conveniently inconsistent so as to make any number of plot changes possible. Perhaps a more generous assessment would call the characters layered and complex.
Nevertheless, the bottom line was that I did not enjoy spending time with these people, nor did I find their stories compelling. Perhaps others would resonate more with this story, but this is one of the few books I would not recommend.
However, I did not care for this book. I found the characters irritating, and their motivations conveniently inconsistent so as to make any number of plot changes possible. Perhaps a more generous assessment would call the characters layered and complex.
Nevertheless, the bottom line was that I did not enjoy spending time with these people, nor did I find their stories compelling. Perhaps others would resonate more with this story, but this is one of the few books I would not recommend.
I don't think this is one of I.B. Singer's best novels. I found it very dark and disheartening and without very much merit. The main character is not very likable in that he is a cheating womanizer and if this is supposed to be humorous, I did not see the humor. I think more time could have been spent on better character development and plot.
