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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Apr 2006, 272 pages
Paperback:
Apr 2006, 272 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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There's something slightly addictive about this debut novel - something that kept me reading even though not much really happens. it even kept me reading past the teenage sex scene in the first chapter, which should have been enough to put me off (being the mother of two "adolescents-in-training" I find I've moved from having a low-interest in reading such scenes to wishing to skip over them entirely!). I suppose, at the end of the day, it boils down to the simple fact that, despite the odd cliché, Goldhagen describes the family bonds so vividly that it's impossible not to be drawn into her characters' lives. I bet there's many a reader who's finished this novel with a tear in the eye, and picked up the phone to make a long-overdue call to a sibling!
"In this immensely assured first novel, Goldhagen uses a wealth of
skillful techniques to create an indelible
portrait of the flawed but loving Reed brothers."
- Booklist.
"Unsentimental and emotionally riveting, this is a portrait of the love
between people who are not particularly good at loving." - Publishers Weekly.
This review
first ran in the May 3, 2006
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