I thought this was a thoughtful look at how a marriage can fall apart. The beginning was interesting, the setting was interesting, the mini character studies on the two sons was interesting, and even the evolution of the marriage in peril was interesting, despite my dislike of that as a subject. The writing is lyrical, but doesn't devolve into poetic. We switch between Virgil and Kathleen's POV and while I don't really care about Virgil all that much (I'd much rather spend time with Kathleen), there were some clever passages where we see the conversation from different viewpoints and that was fun.
But boy was I ever let down by the last third of the book. It's only 135 pages long, so I guess I don't know what I was expecting, but I sort of wanted closure. I wanted to know if these two sat down and hashed it out. I wanted to know if someone ever figured out why Nicholas was a little sociopath. I wanted to know MORE. I feel like the ending was abrupt and disappointing and it let down the rest of the book. 3/5 stars
Thing I looked up:
Thessaloniki - The second-largest city in Greece, with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of Macedonia. (Seriously, why is my knowledge of geography SO BAD?)
Hat mentions (why hats?):
He played a cowboy, he said, who sat on top of a horse and wore a ten-gallon hat. (page 28)
With the men out of the office, there was no one to complain when Virgil put on his coat and hat, hung the CLOSED sign, and left. (page 63)
The man was wearing one of those old-fashioned wool suits and a brown derby hat, as though about to embark for a day at the office in 1924. (page 67)
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Did you know where Thessaloniki was? Is your knowledge of the geography of the world as limited as mine?
Oooh this is on my list and I'm excited. I LOVE an ending like the one you describe, and I love to think about it afterwards, so I know it's going to be up my alley!
ReplyDeleteThat's funny- I've only ever listened to one episide of Sarah's Bookshelves, and in it she talked about this book. It does sound really interesting but I'm not sure if it's interesting enough to make it onto my TBR. i can't wait to hear what Nicole thinks of it.
ReplyDeleteGeography is the WORST. I have no idea where anything is.
ReplyDeleteMarriages falling apart is a subject I typically avoid, but the way you describe this book makes me kind of want to read it. Hmm.
I don't love infidelity as a main plot line, but I will admit that I thought this book was brilliantly written.
ReplyDeleteAnd actually I did know about Thessaloniki. There are two books in the Bible names after it, in fact (I and II Thessalonians! In Biblical times it was known as Thessalonica.
I would have guessed Greece based on the name but couldn't tell you anything more about it. This does sound like an interesting concept, but ever since "Revolutionary Road," I'm leery of novels about marriage evolution/devolution, as well.
ReplyDeleteI only know where Thessaloniki is because it was one of my study abroad options. I debated between that and Australia and Australia won out. I am terrible at geography. I met a parent of one of Will’s classmates and she is from Romania. She was impressed that I knew Romania was in Eastern Europe but I said do not give me credit because I could not tell you the surrounding countries!!
ReplyDeleteStrangely enough, I do know of that location thanks to the book, I am David by Anne Holm. The world is much too big to not feel stupid when it comes to geography.
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