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The History Of Now [With Headphones] (2009)

by Daniel Klein(Favorite Author)

3.55 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1433298961 (ISBN13: 9781433298967)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Playaway

review 1: The question I always ask of a novel is this: Does it make me forget that I'm reading a book? Am I so convinced by the story, so caught up in its flow, that I'm taken out of my own existence and woven into the book itself? It's not an easy mark to reach, but this fine novel managed it. I rarely came up for air, staying submerged in the fictive stream, seeing the sights, chatting up the locals, going thru the travails of the characters as if I were one of them. Klein has written a profoundly moral novel, one that makes me long to be a better person, and to stay clear on the happiness every day offers. By coincidence (or maybe not), I've long enshrined the same quote he uses as a touchstone in his book: "Let us be happy while we are happy," from Bergman's 'Fanny and Alexande... morer.' This book hit home.
review 2: The History of Now was a delight for me to read. From the moment I started, I could hardly put it down. It was a near perfect balance of philosophical musings, current events, and history told through some of the most beautiful prose I've read in a very long time.The story is about a snapshot in the present, in a small Massachusetts town, and what happened to get everyone there. Even though the characters are all over the map (e.g. people of both African and European descent, young, old, educated, provincial, angry, exuberant, mad, feet-on-the-ground, frustrated, enlightened, Northern, Southern, Latino, Anglo, rich and humble, WASP and Jew) I never doubted the veracity of his characters for a moment.My only criticism is that he could have probably done with a few fewer threads. That said, I would have been sorry to have not gotten to know a single one of these people.So, why not five stars? I'm not sure that the novel will sustain the test of memory. Despite being such a joy to read, I'm just not sure it has altered the way I'll live my life. That's part of the basis I use for determining the rating, right or wrong.Nonetheless, I "really liked" this book and recommend all my friends think about getting a copy. less

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