The O'Briens

I'm surprised I actually finished this book. I didn't feel like I connected with any of the characters. all of the compelling storylines were never fleshed out. Why was isault in love with the yogi? I didn't even know how she felt about joe going off on benders until she up and left him. Was margot......more

Writing a saga that spans 70 years is not the easiest thing in the world. There’s always a balancing act: how much “play” to give each of the many characters, what events to spotlight, how to believably depict the changing of time. Peter Behrens, fortunately, is a word craftsman and, in elegant and c......more

It would seem the greater the sweep of history encompassed by a novel, the more confined the writer. The facts of history are many and easily called out, the settings, characters and dialogue are well-defined by their eras and the more years a story covers, the shallower the characters can become as......more

A wonderful epic. It kept me glued all weekend long. -page 372 "They shared a double bed on that train, his body heat provoking a mash of feelings in her, mostly anger, resentment. He was trying to annihilate her. Putting on a wrapper, she spent the first night and most of the next in the lounge car i......more

Well - that was disappointing. What started out as a great premise with a couple of very strong characters seemed to peter out to loosely (or not at all, in some cases) vignettes in the life of some members of this family. Scenes which may have been important vanished into the text with no follow-up......more