The language is pretty--if that makes sense--but that's about it. I wanted to like the story. It's about an Irish-American family told from the viewpoint of the Dailey children...supposedly. The thing is, through most of the book the narrator is referred to as "the children". There's a brother and two sisters and I didn't even learn their names until near the end of the book. That was unsatisfying. The prose didn't sound like childlike, though, and that was annoying too even though the language was beautiful. The children did this, the children did that. The children missed out on all the secrets of the grownups because they had to go into another room. So I read about someone crying and someone arguing and had no idea why. The kids' mom was unhappy with their dad--"he's not the man I married" or something like that. And yet the man seemed to be a wonderful dad and husband. What's the problem here? The maiden aunt who used to be in a convent meets and marries a man...how wonderful for her! But her joy is short-lived. Why? What happened? It's not explained to my satisfaction. And then there's the shifting between one time and the next. It starts out one summer, then it fast forwards to some point in the future after the tragedy, and then it flips back. All through the book, I wondered: who *are* these people anyway? I don't feel I learned enough about any of them to particularly care. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Posted by Cassie at March 7, 2007 01:59 PM | TrackBack