∎ PDF Gratis Dissident Gardens 9780224093958 Books

Dissident Gardens 9780224093958 Books

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Dissident Gardens 9780224093958 Books

I'm a Lethem fan but this one was a challenge. It's over-written and a bit of a slog. Sometimes you can be too much in love with your own writing skills.
And then there's the content: Lethem's characterizations strike me as more shallow and one-dimensional than real, and I grew up in that culture in the 50s and 60s. It's fine to write critically of people blinded by their own ideology, but Lethem paints with a pretty broad stroke. You won't find any social crusaders here with the brains to adapt to changing times and still be good people whose actions benefit the world. Maybe it's not a total hatchet job —after all, his characters could all very well have existed —but the overall effect is of a negative, one-sided historical view.


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Dissident Gardens 9780224093958 Books Reviews

Lethem is a writer I respect and appreciate. I wanted to like this one more - sounded like such an interesting story line and characters - but I couldn't connect with the characters. The women especially seemed flat to me even though they are supposed to be fascinating and charismatic. Don't know, maybe it's me.
II really did not like this book or the character. It would have been suitable for the McCarthy era.
This book was a huge disappointment. As other reviewers said, it was work to read. The sentences were either a paragraph long or one word plus there was a great amount of obscure vocabulary. The chronology was confusing well. It is a pity because the story line could have been fantastic focusing on the development and lives of true activists.
I was hoping for a plot-driven novel about the character's lives in various eras of history. While there was some of that in this novel, I felt the stories got bogged down in the imagery and the "bebop" language. I usually regret finishing a novel, as it is like saying goodbye to old friends. I was actually quite glad when I finished this book.
my review title says most of it. i was interested the book book because the characters/era/setting were all things i relate to (NY jewish socialist liberal hippie stuff). the characters are realistically drawn, but somehow i couldn't keep reading it. the writing style is dense and the characters' motivations and psychology overly analyzed moment to moment. maybe it would've gotten better further on, but i didn't have the stamina to continue reading it.
I'm surprised I managed to get through this book, but forced myself to do so for some reason. It never improved. The writing is wandering and rambling; the plot never goes anywhere in particular. The reader develops no particular sympathy with the characters. Overall, I found the author self-indulgent and arrogant to write so much saying so little. Don't bother.
I was frustrated by the first couple of chapters. Perhaps it was my getting oriented to Miriam, the daughter of the Rose Queen of Sunnyside. Perhaps it was adjusting to an author who challenges the reader to adapt to chapters that dont follow chronologically, but rather shift from progragonist to progatonist. Regardless, the more I read, the more caught up I became in the adventure of the lives of this family and their friends. There was humor, sadness/tragedy, insight and even an historical context which added a dimension to the story. Overall, I enjoyed it.
I'm a Lethem fan but this one was a challenge. It's over-written and a bit of a slog. Sometimes you can be too much in love with your own writing skills.
And then there's the content Lethem's characterizations strike me as more shallow and one-dimensional than real, and I grew up in that culture in the 50s and 60s. It's fine to write critically of people blinded by their own ideology, but Lethem paints with a pretty broad stroke. You won't find any social crusaders here with the brains to adapt to changing times and still be good people whose actions benefit the world. Maybe it's not a total hatchet job —after all, his characters could all very well have existed —but the overall effect is of a negative, one-sided historical view.