Okay, so I finished this book a few weeks ago, but have been busy with Christmas and Honeymooning!!
I LOVED THIS BOOK!
I was disappointed to find out that this was the second of a trilogy. I don't know how much I missed having not read the first book, but nothing went unexplained. I would love to read the third book as well, but will have to put it off since this list of books is overwhelming enough for now.
The Magnificent Ambersons is a novel by Booth Tarkington, whose name sounded familiar but I have no idea why. Maybe because this book won him a Pulitzer? I'm sure this book is on tons of "must read" lists, I would definitely put it very high on mine!
I was intimidated at first, when Mr. Tarkington was introducing the setting of his novel. His detail was exquisite, and the pictures he drew in my mind where so vivid. My setback was the jargon he used, slang words, and words that haven't been heard in a hundred years. Luckily, I was reading on my shiny, new Kindle and could just put my cursor next to the word and have it defined! I also like to bring things up on Wikipedia if the dictionary doesn't have it, or doesn't explain enough. Plus, with Wikipedia, I could see pictures of the odd mustache styles and clothing fashions. I very quickly became immersed in the turn of the century world.
I absolutely hated George Minafer when I met him. I felt like all the gossiping townspeople, just waiting for his "come-uppance". I began to understand him though, and it became so painful to watch his world falling apart, mostly at his own hands.
I know that I am not anyone to be critiquing books, and I can only hope my writing improves through this experiment, but I cannot say enough about this book. I love the way it is written, the characters, the sacrifices they make. There are only a handful of books I have come across that make me truly care about the people in it, and this is one of them. Read this book! Okay, maybe read the whole trilogy, I know I will someday! Highly, highly recommended!
Next on the menu is The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy...I am almost half way through and all I have to say about it right now is UGG. :)
Happy Reading
