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The O'Briens (2011)

by Peter Behrens(Favorite Author)

3.57 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0887842291 (ISBN13: 9780887842290)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

House of Anansi Press

review 1: An epic novel following an Irish-Canadian family through six decades. Real love and marriage takes work and Behrens realistically depicts this. I didn't give the book five stars because I wanted more. Behrens decides to focus on key situations in his characters' lives and often leaves what for me was an important place, to venture on perhaps ten years into the future. The ending is abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying. Again, I wanted to learn more about these complicated people.
review 2: I loved this book. The early sections (Irish family in Canada in the 1880s; Venice, CA, in the early 1900s) were my favorite. By the time you get to the sections involving World War II, you realize what a sprawling saga of a novel this is. The place where the novel ends (1960, Ma... moreine) felt nearly arbitrary--like it could have ended fifty pages earlier or later. But I say that not as a complaint--there's something wonderful about creating a family so complex that they can just continue on forever. I was definitely engrossed for the entire read, and now want to read everything by him. less

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