I was so looking forward to this book set in Iowa and covering years contemporary to my own growing up and leaving home. The first two chapters were great—great short stories—but then the storytelling of this family and their individual lives just bogged down for me and seemed a bit forced to cover all the big themes of the past 40 years. I loved Elizabeth Strout’s 2009 Pulitzer winner Olive Kitteridge, written in the same way, but I just didn’t care too much for any of Thompson’s characters. I found myself skimming to get to the end. Many of you are waiting to read this one.

posted Sep 10, 2011 at 9:40AM

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