Really liked this book. I finished it like every English major does in school. Sitting down at 8:30 and not getting up at night till it's done.Great symbolism, and themes. It is about family, race, father/motherhood, and how the draft of the Vietnam war can affect men as they head to college.G...
It isn't often that I am crying at the end of a novel, but this beautiful book left me shattered. I have to admit that I most definitely did not see the ending coming.I liked the transposed chapters between the present and the past. The elderly Billie is someone I really like, while the young hou...
Bodies of Water by T. Greenwood is a great book club selection, but if you are looking for a light beach read, my suggestion is to pass on this one. It was just too melancholy for this reader. It is a riveting story though, providing a glimpse into the 1960(s) and the role and treatment of women....
I really, really liked this book. It's not a "thriller", it doesn't have a ton of climatic scenes, etc. BUT, I adored the author's writing style and how she REALLY seemed to get inside every one of the characters. As I read, I felt like she had a real grasp of what each character was going throug...
I think this is the more human book and close to reality that I have ever read. My feelings changed throughout the book for all the main characters. I know this is kind of a love or hate, as I saw reading numerous reviews. So when I started reading it I wasn't sure what to expect and it was good ...
"He sleeps so deeply sometimes that his silence wakes me up...""My childhood is like an amputee's phantom limb. It's not something someone intact can understand.""There's something nice about having a shared childhood with someone. You don't have to explain a lot of things to each other.""In a ye...
Despite what Melanie had alluded to during their walk, neither one of them seemed remotely suspicious as he dropped them off at the mall entrance.“Just call when you want me to come get you,” he said through the open window. “It shouldn’t take me more than an hour.”“You sure you don’t need a pedi...
I stood outside her door, attempting to coax her out, first with words and then with bribes. I brought home the things she loved: éclairs, maple candies, a brand new pair of tennis shoes. It was pathetic, this groveling, but I didn’t know what else to do. And nothing worked; she just wouldn’t tak...
Luckily, the ones that Crystal hadn’t stolen were still there, with Mrs. Kennedy’s cell number right on the front. She scratched the number down on a piece of tape she pulled from the roll on the register. “Howard?” she said. Howard, like a dog, came wagging his tail over to her. “I need you to k...
It looked barren, stripped. Like a victim of some violent act. Pillaged. It had been raining nearly every day, and the driveway was just a rushing river of mud and gravel and debris. For two weeks he and Maury had spent every spare minute working on cleaning up the yard and making the repairs out...
Instead it’s one of the few adults who seem to run the pool and the park. He’s Ruby’s dad’s age, and there’s no way on earth he’s going to let her leave in the middle of swimming lessons. When she tells him she’s not feeling well, that she needs to go home, he shrugs and says, “Sorry, kid. Why do...
When I walk into the kitchen, Effie is on the phone with Devin. “I’m so proud of you,” she says into the phone. “This is amazing.” A little pang, a sharp sting. I haven’t told her yet about Jake. About what happened between us at that Irish bar. I haven’t told her that everything has fallen apart...