maxperei

I did not enjoy reading this book at all. It was tedious, boring, and lacked consistency. The character of Chuck is perhaps the most interesting part of the book. The character of Hans fails to inspire any sympathy and in fact seems like the meanderings of an unenterprising, uninteresting dull person. The lyrical flights in the prose are contrived, rambling, and obscure. The cricket descriptions are the saving grace; although I differ with the author and believe humidity and wind conditions would have as much impact on a game of baseball. The author gives away the plot in the first few pages and then it's just rambling prose 'til the end. The book jumps all over and digresses into sub plots- which don't necessarily lend any relevance. The issues between Rachel and Hans- although the author keeps reminding the reader- stem from some dislocation caused by the attacks; I failed to see the genesis. It also seems a little unbelievable that the cricket playing West Indians, Pakistanis, and Indians, went about their business unperturbed in the wake of the attacks. Given their long history in the city, one would imagine they would dwell on the issue for at least a moment-especially since the author has us believe that the attacks led to a major disruption in the life of Hans. One would also think, being less insulated than Hans (socio-economically), they would have suffered at least some consequences -but the author has spent no time on that. The description of the occupants of the Chelsea hotel is an effort to introduce some kookiness and is absurd at best. The hype around the book is a tad overblown. The book has its moments -the six point identity incident and the newspaper route Hans worked as a boy -but you have to suffer through the entire book for this brief respite. Just being grandiloquently verbose is not enough, the book needs a plot.

2022-11-14 14:15