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gagne's review
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, War, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcoholism and Classism
ostrowk's review against another edition
Picked up for me tremendously with Nate's introduction. Felt so tenderly toward him—and to Charlotte and Henry Graves, each idealists in their own way. The portrayal of Doug and our colossally fucked-up system of finance capitalism was humane and poetic without ever looking away from its wrongness, without ever equivocating on how much they're to blame. Charlotte's war with the system was doomed for the start, but you better believe I was rooting for her. Couldn't compare to IMAGINE ME GONE (how could it?), but still a great read.
katehow11's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rebeccagee's review against another edition
2.0
In a post-9/11 world of finance, loans and gambling what you don't have, over the background roar of the invasion of Iraq, 'Union Atlantic' failed to make me care very much about anything anyone said. Even the hard done to Charlotte was, frankly, very one-dimensional; her sad doomed love story was the only real character building throughout the entire book (and it's a fairly hefty book, if in dense prose alone). There were elements of something I liked; the descriptions of Iraq, the parallels with the 1980s, the use of the banking bubble to represent the power of The Man. But the constant clumsy prose left me cold, the odd, predatory homosexual relationship seemed like an attempt to be shocking as opposed to being an integral part of the story. What could have been a really interesting, emotional read was, quite frankly, a bit rubbish.
beccajdb's review
Interminable stock market and hedging sections that seemed like the author was regurgitating research and feeling pretty smug about it.
michaelwalek's review
5.0
Just finished Adam Haslett's debut novel. I literally could not put it down. He definitely lives up to the promise of his amazing collection of short stories, You Are Not A Stranger Here. The book with it's intricate plot lines and sometimes obvious twist and turns didn't bother me because of the strength of Haslett's prose. Someone once said to me that it's not the haystacks that make Van Gogh a great painter it's the style, and Haslett has style in spades. The writing is beautiful, especially the prologue and the memory of Charlotte's first love (which seem like short stories). Though I wished the main character Doug Fanning would have been more fully fleshed out and for Charlotte's ending to not be so foreshadowed, the novel made me stay up till two.
sophronisba's review
3.0
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I liked the theme and the ideas behind the book, but something about the characters left me cold.
stevestoneky's review
4.0
Liked the grand-sweep novel that has characters that tie into the credit crisis and the "suburbanization" of the United States.
sarahc3319's review
2.0
Disjointed at times and frustrating because the two parallel stories were individually intriguing, but neither seemed to get enough time to develop. Perhaps it is unfair to compare this novel to the brilliance of his stories, but I couldn't help doing so, and this turned out to be a disappointment.
emmastia's review against another edition
3.0
Not a perfect novel for sure, but different and interesting, with lots of great writing.