sam
This book suffers from unnecessary length. The middle of it is a bit of a slog, and to me it didn't carry the same power and imagery throughout as some of Stegner's other books. Still, there are moments where you remember how incredible of a writer he is – enough of them for the book to be worth reading.
I'm a huge fan of the TV show, but this book might be better. The characters are different than the show to some small extent, but mostly the same. The writing is superb and the story is as captivating as I knew it would be from watching the show.
I found her writing style and the organization to be a bit of a drag. Very awesome story, though.
2.5 stars. I read it in less than a day and a half. Yet it didn't feel particularly well written and I never felt particularly attached to any of the characters. A good vacation read.
Full of sensical ideas and does a good job of arguing against the “reform” ideology. That said, I would like to see some more data/quantitative analysis behind the arguments. I could see rebuttals being made easily given there's not necessarily hard proof of these concepts given here. Still, a vital and necessary book, especially in these times.
3.5 stars. Very interesting history on Sauvies Island with plenty of humorous anecdotes sprinkled in. The author started to lose me a bit when discussing how superior the white folks were to the Native Americans in terms of using the land. An unfortunate part of the book. But otherwise, a solid read.
I feel like Weir is a master of this genre – sci-fi beach reads. The writing doesn't feel particularly good to me, but I get sucked it to all of his books and this one was no exception.
Absolutely terrifying book given what's happened in the last few months. I couldn't recommend it more.
I found the whole thing to at times ever too much into “college stoner” territory, and it could have been more succinct in general. But the language is certainly beautiful, as is the message.
I'd really give this more of a 3.5 - a fascinating book about a man I knew nothing about (and I suspect many others are the same). To me, the most interesting parts were the ones detailing his adventures in South America, and how he impacted George Perkins Marsh, Ernst Haeckl, and John Muir. There was a lot in the middle of the book, coinciding with AH's middle age, that was honestly a slog. Also, the way that Wulf uses (or doesn't use) commas just bothers the crap out of me for some reason.
I love Pollan's writing style. While I'll admit to feeling a bit tricked by the synopsis (spoiler: he doesn't build the place truly on his own), in the end, the book got me thinking about aspects of place and space that I rarely do.
A beautiful book about life, death, and friendship. Wallace Stegner is such an excellent writer and tells a relatively simple story with such intricacy and grace. Truly a pleasure to read.
I didn't dislike this book, but it felt like it could have ended after 100 pages and been just as good. And as many others point out, the constant comparisons and stories about T.H. White seem odd and mostly out of place.
It's a thought provoking read. At times, Postman sounds extremely out of touch with reality. Then again, that's kind of his point – that reality is changing and not necessarily in a good way.
I would give this 3.5 stars if I could.
A pretty good read about a complicated man/myth. As someone else mentioned, this seems like it may have been a pet project of Stegner's and thus didn't get his full attention. At times it was a bit of a slog but overall it was a well written book with some beautifully written moments we all know Stegner was so capable of crafting.
Incredible writing and character development in a relatively short book that somehow covers an entire lifetime.
