Last night, three of us met to discuss the book at a wine bar in Uptown. Normally there are seven or eight of us that meet and so maybe this should have been a clue. At first, I chalked it up to the fact that we were reading it over the holidays, but as we sat there last night TRYING to talk about this book, one of the girls pinned the tail on the donkey.
Who actually wants to read a book about the circus? Hadn't we all at one point picked it up because it had the majestic "New York Times Bestseller" sticker on it, read the back, and then thought, "Yea, but I just don't want to read a book about the circus?"
More than that, how could we possibly get interested in a story about carney love?
And furthermore, it kind of grinds my gears that they cast Reese Witherspoon and ROBERT PATTINSON to play these carney folk in the upcoming movie. I mean, come. on. R Patz? Carney? Its blasphemy! Carneys are dirty and they try to swindle you and steal your money and tears. R. Patz is... well I don't know if I could describe him, but he is certainly NONE of those things.
= 
Honestly, the narration in the book is very amiable. Ms. Gruen does an excellent job at making you feel like she is one of your girlfriends who is relaying this story over dinner, glass of wine in hand. Aside from the love story, parts of the book are told from the perspective of an elderly man in a nursing home. His parts of the book were my favorite as his character is exactly how I imagine a cantankerous old man stuck in a nursing home to be- cranky, witty without trying to be, and a little senile.
I told my mom this wasn't a BAD book per say. I don't regret reading it (Memory Keeper's Daughter, I still hold a grudge against you.) Bottom line: it isn't memorable. I don't think you'll be mad if you pick it up, but I'm just not going to be adding it to my book recommendations list anytime soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment