4.0 out of 5 stars
By Edita A. Petrickon August 13, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
I won this book during an author-presented giveaway contest some time ago. I didn't get a chance to get into it until this summer. At least for me it read more like a romance combined with some autobiographical material and on that level, it is a fine book. The Kennedy assassination plot/reflections in some places reads almost intrusive but that's because the life and fledgling romance between two senior citizens are far more important and far more interesting. The long stretches of internal soul-searching by necessity have to be a 'narrative' but that's precisely where the story kept stalling for me. Too much narrative and not enough dynamic dialogue/interactions - but those can be just my reading preferences. I think this book is a very thoughtful, emotion-laden metaphorical and physical trip of two people in their senior years who are very real and come across very real communication problems. I became interested in the characters to a degree where I stopped expecting twists of the second plot. If anything, after I finished reading it, I think the book would be greatly strengthened if it became a mainstream or quasi-biographical novel of life, loss, relationships in one's twilight years, reflections on life and such fine emotional triumphs. The way the narrator keeps reflecting back to her deceased husband makes this more an internal-self-study rather than mystery. Were it presented as a literary study, I'd give it 5-stars, as a mystery it would go down to 3-stars and as a compromised I'd rate it at 4.
By Edita A. Petrickon August 13, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
I won this book during an author-presented giveaway contest some time ago. I didn't get a chance to get into it until this summer. At least for me it read more like a romance combined with some autobiographical material and on that level, it is a fine book. The Kennedy assassination plot/reflections in some places reads almost intrusive but that's because the life and fledgling romance between two senior citizens are far more important and far more interesting. The long stretches of internal soul-searching by necessity have to be a 'narrative' but that's precisely where the story kept stalling for me. Too much narrative and not enough dynamic dialogue/interactions - but those can be just my reading preferences. I think this book is a very thoughtful, emotion-laden metaphorical and physical trip of two people in their senior years who are very real and come across very real communication problems. I became interested in the characters to a degree where I stopped expecting twists of the second plot. If anything, after I finished reading it, I think the book would be greatly strengthened if it became a mainstream or quasi-biographical novel of life, loss, relationships in one's twilight years, reflections on life and such fine emotional triumphs. The way the narrator keeps reflecting back to her deceased husband makes this more an internal-self-study rather than mystery. Were it presented as a literary study, I'd give it 5-stars, as a mystery it would go down to 3-stars and as a compromised I'd rate it at 4.
RSS Feed