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soupwitch86's review against another edition
4.0
I will preface this by saying this book does not really have a plot. But honestly, that is not a major concern for me. I do not need a clear beginning, middle, end with an intro, climax, denoument.
This book is told in four narratives (Taylor's being the only one not told in the first person, interesting). It basically follows the lives of the four characters through a period of their lives. The prose and dialogue is done well and is realistic. I definitely underlined/dog-eared a few lines and pages, there were quotes and passages that were worth coming back to.
One thing I found funny is that the author wrote something about everything going on was like an indie movie, it was all so important but no one could understand why. She was poking fun, but the book is very similar to the movies she was referring to. Maybe that's why I liked it so much?
This book is thought provoking, but still manages to be a quick read as it pulls you in. I wouldn't say I couldn't put it down, but it was almost there.
This book is told in four narratives (Taylor's being the only one not told in the first person, interesting). It basically follows the lives of the four characters through a period of their lives. The prose and dialogue is done well and is realistic. I definitely underlined/dog-eared a few lines and pages, there were quotes and passages that were worth coming back to.
One thing I found funny is that the author wrote something about everything going on was like an indie movie, it was all so important but no one could understand why. She was poking fun, but the book is very similar to the movies she was referring to. Maybe that's why I liked it so much?
This book is thought provoking, but still manages to be a quick read as it pulls you in. I wouldn't say I couldn't put it down, but it was almost there.
lauramotta's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting, occasionally frustrating novel focusing on four characters whose intersecting lives are fraught with loneliness and upheaval. Nicely structured, with each chapter alternately told from the perspective of a different character, the stories ring painfully true. The exploration of these difficult, multi-faceted relationships -- a mother and her estranged daughter, a seriously ill brother and the reluctant sister he's decided to move in with, a couple with an ambiguous romantic status, a faltering new friendship -- is the highlight here.
On the downside, the writing -- which can be so brilliant at times, especially in the dialog -- can be annoyingly bland and contrived. This is particularly true in the first two chapters, where we're meeting the two younger characters for the first time. I only kept reading beyond that second chapter because of the immediacy and strength of the character's voice in the third. This is definitely a worthwhile read. Just get past those first 40 pages.
On the downside, the writing -- which can be so brilliant at times, especially in the dialog -- can be annoyingly bland and contrived. This is particularly true in the first two chapters, where we're meeting the two younger characters for the first time. I only kept reading beyond that second chapter because of the immediacy and strength of the character's voice in the third. This is definitely a worthwhile read. Just get past those first 40 pages.
selenajournal's review against another edition
4.0
Some of the Parts begins with Isak getting the part of the hermaphrodite “gender freak” in a circus. I began to think that the book was going to be like Geek Love but it wasn’t. Each chapter in the book is devoted to the point of view and mindset of one of the four main characters in the story.
"Some of the Parts is about families - the ones we’re born into, and the ones we create."
Isak is the gender freak who once used to be a lovely little girl named Thea. Isak is Charlie’s roommate and it is never really specified though it is implied that they are something more than that. Charlie is a homosexual male who is positive for HIV but living a remarkably strong and healthy life. They both live together in an apartment in New York City. Charlie also happens to be Arlene’s brother. Arlene is a pill-popping middle-aged divorced woman who runs her own antique shop in New Jersey, I think. And last but not least is Taylor, who is Arlene’s perfect, stunning, gifted but bored daughter. Throughout the story, you see how their lives and the little events that happen tie them all together.
I do have to say though, her characters fit certain “stereotypes” and “identities” but I didn’t feel like that was the point. In fact, I felt like that was completely the opposite of what she meant to say. She used these “stereotypes” to show that you could just be hurt and lonely and that was completely separate from the fact that you were HIV positive.
To begin things, Isak ends up leaving Charlie who has just proposed moving to live with Arlene. She somehow ends up in California, with her parents, who can’t stop calling her by her former name, Thea. And that’s where she meets Taylor, Charlie’s niece, for the second time. Taylor is a soul who doesn’t understand a life where she is not wanted as an object. As a sexual thing. But Isak isn’t interested. Together, they drive across the country, not really interacting with one another, just driving. All the way to Arlene’s front step. Where Charlie is waiting with the boy dog named Mary. For both of them.
This book doesn’t have a lot of climaxes, and anyone expecting a really traditional story isn’t going to get it. Through T Cooper’s book we are able to see how interconnected we are, how it can all come full-circle. She writes each chapter through a specific person, sometimes having two characters speak on the same event, letting us feel like we know them and understand them. Maybe even that we are them.
I did enjoy reading this book, in all of its 246 page glory. I’m just not sure that it was enough, if that makes any sense. I finished it, and the story had tied its own loose ends, but it felt like there was something missing perhaps or like I wanted to know something more. I haven’t spent enough time away from it to know what that is yet. I’m sure it will come to me.
"Some of the Parts is about families - the ones we’re born into, and the ones we create."
Isak is the gender freak who once used to be a lovely little girl named Thea. Isak is Charlie’s roommate and it is never really specified though it is implied that they are something more than that. Charlie is a homosexual male who is positive for HIV but living a remarkably strong and healthy life. They both live together in an apartment in New York City. Charlie also happens to be Arlene’s brother. Arlene is a pill-popping middle-aged divorced woman who runs her own antique shop in New Jersey, I think. And last but not least is Taylor, who is Arlene’s perfect, stunning, gifted but bored daughter. Throughout the story, you see how their lives and the little events that happen tie them all together.
I do have to say though, her characters fit certain “stereotypes” and “identities” but I didn’t feel like that was the point. In fact, I felt like that was completely the opposite of what she meant to say. She used these “stereotypes” to show that you could just be hurt and lonely and that was completely separate from the fact that you were HIV positive.
To begin things, Isak ends up leaving Charlie who has just proposed moving to live with Arlene. She somehow ends up in California, with her parents, who can’t stop calling her by her former name, Thea. And that’s where she meets Taylor, Charlie’s niece, for the second time. Taylor is a soul who doesn’t understand a life where she is not wanted as an object. As a sexual thing. But Isak isn’t interested. Together, they drive across the country, not really interacting with one another, just driving. All the way to Arlene’s front step. Where Charlie is waiting with the boy dog named Mary. For both of them.
This book doesn’t have a lot of climaxes, and anyone expecting a really traditional story isn’t going to get it. Through T Cooper’s book we are able to see how interconnected we are, how it can all come full-circle. She writes each chapter through a specific person, sometimes having two characters speak on the same event, letting us feel like we know them and understand them. Maybe even that we are them.
I did enjoy reading this book, in all of its 246 page glory. I’m just not sure that it was enough, if that makes any sense. I finished it, and the story had tied its own loose ends, but it felt like there was something missing perhaps or like I wanted to know something more. I haven’t spent enough time away from it to know what that is yet. I’m sure it will come to me.
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