What do You think about Before You Know Kindness (2005)?
I LOVED this book. I don't know why people are saying it was slow moving. I loved the pace. It's a character piece, and the suspense is in the slow and detailed unfolding of their lives and secret thoughts. To me, this book is a lot about what people think every day, but never reveal to each other, and how that affects what they can and can't say (or do) later. And, I liked that the author took a hard stance against animal activists -- not because I have anything against them. Like most of us, I tend to assume that, "Animal activists are GOOD people, becaue they're saving animals, aren't they???!?!?" And, I didn't think less of any actual animal activists after I read the book. It just reminded me that things are always what they seem. An occupation does not define a man -- contrary to popular belief, lawyers aren't necessarily selfish and money-grubbing, actors aren't necessarily narcissistic, doctors aren't necessarily altruistic, and animal activists come in all shapes and sizes and moral character as well. Anyway, I can understand that not everyone enjoyed this book, but I thought it was one of my favorite all-time reads. I loved the dialogue. I thought every moment of the book was packed with meaning. Every detail of every conversation was significant to the story in some small way, I didn't want to miss a word. But, hey, I'm also a slow reader, so EVERY book is slow to me! HAH!
—Jennifer
I was listening to this book on audiobook and was excited about it because I loved The Double Bind so much. However, this book I didn't connect with at all. Bohjalian seemed to try to hard on the complex sentences - William Faulkner he is not. And the plot was just so convoluted. By the fifth disk I felt that I had heard the same parts of the plot at least five times, and I KNEW I couldn't have cared less about the vegetable garden. So, on the sixth disk when the disk seemed to be damaged for at least five of the middle tracks, I decided to put myself out of my misery and just shut it off.
—Jen
Having been a huge fan of all Bohjalian's previous books, Before You Know Kindness was at the top of my list to read when it came out. Taking on vegetarians, vegans and gun control, this book tackels a lot of topics and does so with finess.Underneath all of the central topics, as in most of his books, family and relationships are at the heart of this book. And what tragedy or difference can do to a family, a relationship. What I enjoyed about the book was that Bohjalian did not clearly make a st
—Rob
