yuck.

I'm cheating by putting this in my read shelf. I read...half of it...which was brutal. I've never been so bored and unmotivated to read anything for "pleasure" in my life. I'd prefer a root canal...at least at the end of the torture there's a constructive ending.

Astonished at just how much I came to enjoy this book! Were the characters flawed, yes! Did I want to shake most of them 99% of the time, also yes! BUT they were written in such a way, that although I felt that, I kept coming back for more, completely and utterly enthralled with the people of Atkinson. The reason being that we know, and are, someone who at some point needed to be shook by the shoulders. Morris takes you into this small Vermont town and makes you feel what many people there feel, makes you yearn for things to get better, for things to stop, for people to grow...

I am a sucker for books that end happy, with all the problems resolved, and all my questions answered...this isn't one of those books, and yet...

I truly and thoroughly enjoyed it, from start to finish. Morris made me feel like a visitor, like I'd walked in on everyones life and was permitted a front row seat, but my time there had an expiration. It's like I left and they kept on with their lives...

I wonder what they've been up to.

I actually ended up liking this book --- although it ended abruptly. It reminded me a lot of Carson McCullers or even a little Flannery O'Connor or Faulkner-like -- because it's a collection of these misfits --- the focus is on a family, but we also get glimpses of all the characters in this town. They're all so pitiful, lost, eccentric, etc. It took me a long time to read the book, however. I could only read about 25 pages a day, but I kept reading because I couldn't figure out how it would all end. I knew that there was no escape for these people and that their mundane lives would just continue on --- so I was intrigued how the author would wrap it up. The book's a little depressing. I would recommend it as a good read -- It was an Oprah book several years ago and I had bought it and stuck it on my shelf. Would love to chat with someone about it.

A slow and arduous read for me. I really had to force myself to keep going at points.

I wanted to like this more than I did, because some of the writing was nicely done, and the plot was interesting (if drawn out). But, overall, this book just wore me out.

There was little character development. Depictions of their behavior were more repetitive than revealing, so they came off as two-dimensional, dysfunctional and unconvincing. Much of the dialog was nearly the same over and over again, adding little insight to the characters or the story. For me, it was too many trips around the same pathetic circle.

One last thing: The ending felt like the author was just ready to quit, as was I by this point.

Although I was compelled to finish this book and the writing was superb, it was so unbelievably depressing that I can only give it 3 stars. This book had it all, poverty, alcoholism, murder, deception, swidling, robbery and false accusations. A bit too much to handle during a dreary, cold March.

For some reason, when I started this book, I checked out what other readers thought on Goodreads. I don't usually do that, hoping to make my own decision about the book. But this book had a somewhat low rating 3.69.
It seemed as if every review said: it is an incredibly depressing novel and it is an Oprah's Book Club book and she only picks incredibly depressing books.
I said to myself, well that's silly. Let's give it a try. I'm now on page 165 and reluctant to pick it up. I forgot to mention it has 740 pages. It is incredibly depressing. I'm pulling the bookmark out.

This is not a good book.

I love a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng book and at 700+ pages, this was great. There was time to flesh out all the characters, time for sideline plots to come to fruition. I even dreamed about the Fermoyles one night! A really good read, with carefully and accurately drawn characters.

**In reading other people's reviews, I see that many gave up near the beginning of the book or complained about subplots - the subplots to me are part of the point of the story, the interwoven nature of small towns and the inescapability of poverty and reputation for the people who stay in them.

740 pages of stunning writing, story and character. This book was just as good the 2nd time through. I felt for everyone of these characters, well maybe not the dastardly Omar Duvall. But Marie and Alice and Norm, Benji..even Sam and Renie. So good. So full.
P. 138
“I love you, Normy,” his father choked.
“Okay, Dad,” he said, turning quickly from this helpless man who hadn’t been sober in weeks, this father who had lost control of his own life, yet still, bewilderingly, remained so fast at the helm of everyone else’s.
p. 469
Had it been a life he had chosen? Yes. Yes, she (Alice) had no doubt of it. Chosen, whether through decision or indecision, but still a choice: to do or to let happen. Just as all these years he’d known there was something his mother had done to take care of him, to protect him as well from the world as from his sister’s whim and anger. But by not asking he had chosen the blameless realm of ignorance in which he could dwell powerless as a child.

I have been putting this book off for YEARS because it is 740 pages, and all I could think was "I don't have the patience for that..." I am so happy I picked it up and started reading it! I was totally immersed in the everyday lives of everyone in Atkinson. The way Morris formed every character, placed them in each others' paths, and made me feel everything they were feeling was just astounding. Her prose is brilliant. Her characters are mesmerizing. I didn't want the book to end... until the last forty pages when I just wanted to know what was going to happen to the bad guy!

Great book. I would 100% recommend. You will not regret it.