Saturday, September 15, 2012

2012 book 250

Mark Helprin's In Sunlight and in Shadow
Ah god, this book. It might have been great if it was half as long--it's 700 pages, and while the writing is beautiful, the plot can best be described as plodding. It's kind of Winter Tales-ish, in that it revolves around a love affair in New York in 1946, complicated by wealth, Judaism, and the Mafia, but it just moves so slowly. And then halfway through, we suddenly get the guy's WWII experiences, which takes almost a quarter of the book (I admit to skimming this, having lost patience long before). And then the last quarter . . . I can't even.  This book defeated me. B-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released October 2nd.


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