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I think this is my favourite Boyden tale. While Three Day Road is, perhaps, a better written book, this is a story closer to my heart: a tale of early contact between First Nations and Europeans and the devastating effects of disease and cultural change that contact wrought. It is a tale of the beautiful worldviews and complex social structures of the Ouendat, and the brutality of their warfare with the Haudenosaunee. As usual, Boyden doesn't pull any punches in his descriptions of the horrors people can face, and that makes this a difficult read, at times. However, it is Boyden's talent for bringing events to life that make his work so compelling.

I liked it. Although I'd heard of Tina Fey, I wasn't especially familiar with her or her work. I found this autobiography (and its subject) funny, self-deprecating, entertaining, and very likeable.

I was disappointed in this book. I found the characters uninteresting, the storyline disjointed, the dialogue artificial, the foreshadowing clumsy, and the metaphors forced (although there was some good imagery). I think the author shows promise, but needs to refine her craft more or needs a better editor.

One example of the lack of editing--unless I wasn't paying close enough attention and missed something--is that sometimes the cafe in the book is called "The Strange Range" and sometimes it is called "The Gold Range." Whether the former was a nickname the characters used for the latter, they were two different places, or this was sheer carelessness on the author's part is unclear to me. There are also many non sequiturs in the book--details that don't seem to add anything to the story and that should have been edited out, in my opinion.

I was also baffled by the whole subplot of the Berger inquiry. It seemed as if the author was shoehorning her own opinion of development in the north into the novel, instead of making it an integral part of the story, since none of the major characters were directly involved. Because the characters were only occasional observers, the whole topic came across as preachy. Even though I am in sympathy with the ideas expressed, and I think the Berger inquiry was important in real life, I found this subplot annoying, and it added to the disjointedness of the whole novel.

Hay needs to learn to show us, by directly involving her characters in the issue, instead of telling us by having them observe and think about or comment on the issues. There would be a greater emotional impact that way.

This book was just okay, for me. I found it difficult to get into, until I was about halfway through the book. The characters were mostly unlikeable, and their lives and circumstances soap-opera-ish. The writing was predictable and trite, which surprised me, given the author's creativity and inventiveness in the Harry Potter books. *MINI SPOILER COMING UP* For example, Rowling sometimes beat the reader about the head with her foreshadowing of a concept--such as Gavin's feelings for Mary and her reaction to it--making the writing almost clumsy at times.

I was disappointed. It wasn't the worst book I've read--not even close--but it was uninspiring and forgettable. Although I was not expecting this novel to be anything like the Harry Potter books, I was certainly expecting more magic, in the figurative sense.

I read this book because I went to see John Irving when he was on his book tour, promoting this novel. I was so impressed with his discussion of his writing process. It made a lot of sense to me.

However, I should have known better, since I didn't enjoy other books of his much, and this was no exception. In fact, I enjoyed this one somewhat less. It seemed to go on and on, with very little point to it. The characters and situations weren't believable to me, or weren't made so. I don't mean that characters or situations have to be realistic--far from it--but the author needs to create that sense of verisimilitude, and I didn't feel that happened in this book.

The constant worry that one character had over a tragic event that he predicted, causing other characters to be on the run, changing their names, etc. failed to create a sense of suspense in me, because there simply wasn't enough evidence provided that these characters were actually in danger.

Spoiler Alert

Even when this character's worry turned out to be justified, I didn't quite believe it, nor did I much care. I think there was just too much of having a character of questionable sanity constantly tell the reader about the danger, instead of showing the reader that this danger actually existed.

I also felt this book was in need of some serious editing. The whole 9-11 sideline, for instance, seemed thrown into the story without having anything at all to do with it.

And what's with the bears all the time? I guess it wouldn't be a John Irving book without a bear (real or imagined) in it, but I don't get it.

It's a shame. I find the author charming and interesting as a person and a speaker. I know many people who do enjoy his books, so perhaps the fault lies within me. I'm not an Irving fan, although I've tried to be, and this novel only reinforces that.

Possible spoilers.

Meh.

The author did an excellent job of creating and sustaining suspense in the first part of the novel, when the reader wonders if Sarah will get back to free her brother in time.

The story of what happened to Sarah and her family during the Nazi occupation of Paris is compelling and heart-wrenching.

However, the story of Julia is a big yawn, in spite of all the melodrama the author throws into her life. It reads like a soap opera, or like chick lit (which I loathe), and is in jarring contrast to Sarah's story. Julia is a thoroughly unlikeable character whom I just wanted to shake; and I couldn't bring myself to care about her, her daughter, her husband, her in-laws, her sister, or her unborn child. I wanted to shake the author, too, and say, "Tell me more about Sarah. Tell me more about something interesting and meaningful."

Some elements that, I think, the author meant to be fraught with meaning, such as the name of Julia's second child, are eye-rollingly predictable. Others are mystifying and beyond belief, such as when a pregnant Julia abruptly ends a family visit in America to haul her daughter off to Italy in search of Sarah's son. WTF? She lives in Paris, for cripes' sake, which is far closer to Italy than America, so this made no sense whatsoever to me. Nor could I understand why Julia felt compelled to travel halfway across the world apologize to the son for something her husband's family didn't actually do, but sort of witnessed. Huh? She seemed unbalanced to me. Equally strange was her puzzlement over pains in her abdomen while in Italy, even though she had had previous miscarriages. Ummm. Wouldn't her first thought be to suspect a problem with her pregnancy?

The writing is clumsy at times. For instance, I actually laughed out loud when I read these lines: "Then his mobile rang. He answered it. I could tell by his expression it was a woman. I wondered who. His wife? One of his daughters?"(p. 287) So, Julia can tell the gender of a person on the other end of a phone connection, just by looking at the expression on someone's face? Really? That's quite the skill. I mean, I could perhaps buy the idea that someone's expression might reveal that they are speaking with a romantic partner. But even a daughter? Amazing.

Anyway, I think I'll have to stop ranting now, before I move my cursor back up to remove another star.

I gave this book four stars, not because it's not well-written (it is), and not because the story wasn't engaging and the characters weren't compelling and believable. They were.

It got four stars only because I did not like some of the graphic descriptions of torture and the resultant injuries. I usually steer clear of graphic violence when I read for enjoyment. (I read some horrifying non-fiction for work, sometimes, though.) I read this novel because I was so impressed by this author's previous book, although that, too, was an aberration from my typical reading material.

Lam is a great author, and his protagonist, the headmaster, is a completely infuriating, exasperating and yet sympathetic character. I was rooting for him although I also wanted to shake him.

So, I'd recommend this book to anyone who isn't particularly squeamish.