What do You think about As The Crow Flies (2004)?
This is a fairly good 200 page novel, hiding inside 600 pages. It was easy to read, but not very fulfilling. I was ready to quit on it at the halfway point, as I became tired of reading of each shop being purchased with great detail about how much it cost, and what a good deal Charlie got on each one. I continued on, and the story improved somewhat. I never felt anything for any of the characters. They all seemed one dimensional.I did like the way that the story switched perspective from one character to another, filling in the blanks of the story as it did so. That made for more interesting transitions, but became predictable as the story progressed.On the technical side... I read the novel on my Kindle. The hand written notes scattered throughout the book were almost impossible to read.
—Jim Henry
OH my what do I say. This book was published some 20 years ago but truly it is timeless. The joy in this novel is in the story telling -- all 600 pages of it devoted to draw you into the richness of the characters as they are woven into this saga spanning decades. Many authors have made their books long-- but end up just filling the pages with fluff....not so for archer--I relished each page and was sort of disappointed when I reached the end.The character's individual parts are stories within themselves but Archer weaves them into the overall story like the master story teller he is. You will love some and really hate others as Archer brings them to life for you.This is really the life story of a man named Charlie Trumper born into poverty with great dreams and the disposition to fulfil them. This book was a great read and I am a better person for reading it and sharing Charlie's pursuit of his dreams and life....
—Johnny Williams
Depending on which browser I've opened to read this in (I do hate epub books and the Overdrive app that can never remember my login), I've made it to about 50% of this huge chunkster, so I'm counting this towards Mt. TBR of 2015 and the GR reading challenge. 400-500 pages is a full book in my world.As far as I did get - the story begins around the latter years of WWI, and focused around a set of characters in the early years of building a financial empire starting with one store at a time - grocery is the first one. Usually I'd be all over a big fat saga like this, and usually I'd love all the details of the empire building, but this one fell flat for me. The biggest problem was the never-ending flip flop back to the same events, only to be recounted to the reader in another first person narrative from another character. B.O.R.I.N.G.Life's too short, moving on.
—Misfit
