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pammella's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to this as an audio book. It was fine for the drive to and from work,but I don't think it would have been worth the time had I actually read it the old fashioned way. I didn't really care for, or about, any of the characters.
katzreads's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful book! A bit too heavy (literally--my hands got tired holding it!), but worth it.
asurges's review against another edition
3.0
Wow. It makes me so sad to give this book three stars. "Three Junes" is one of my favorite books of all time, and I met this author, and she's this wonderful person, very warm and engaging. I wanted to love this book. But I just didn't. It felt like too much was being crammed into it, and none of the characters really resonated for me. I pretty much read it to see when Fenno was going to show up.
newfylady's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not sure why but I couldn't finish this book. Maybe there's been too much going on in my life. Maybe there are too many characters and I haven't made a connection to any of them. I may try it again some other time.
dianametzger's review against another edition
4.0
This was an epic tome I burned through fairly fast. Super character based which I love. For most of the story I had moments of wondering why these characters at this time and by the end that question didn’t really matter because a big event happened and the interest was still wondering what would happen to these particular people. I cared deeply about these characters even when at times they annoyed or frustrated me. That’s really skillful, honest writing.
katekrzyz's review against another edition
1.0
I gave up. The book didn't hold my interest and the characters were dull. It was too long of a book to read, when I there are piles of books that I actually want to read.
emilyisreading2024's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't really care what happened, wasn't into the baking stuff, and was annoyed by the provincialism.
k_cavacini's review against another edition
5.0
I had this book sitting on my shelf for a long time and never read it...and I'm not sure why. I really loved this book, the characters were interesting and I really enjoyed all of their perspectives and the interconnected storylines. The majority of the novel takes place in the year before September 11, in New York and New Mexico, and you get to experience 9/11 with the characters, all of the fear and uncertainty of the time. It was interesting to experience 9/11 with the characters and to see how the events of that day effect them and decisions that they make. A really great read.
heartofoak1's review against another edition
4.0
a great story about how the accidents in our lives shape our destinies. the main character, greenie duquette is a successful pastry chef, mother of a precocious 4 year old and wife to a chronically underemployed therapist who seems to be in the midst of a mid-life crisis. the lives of all three change dramatically when the governor of new mexico offers greenie a job after he tastes he most fabulous coconut cake while dining at the restaurant of greenie's good friend walter. the story grows as does the cast of characters; there's walter, the aging gay restaurateur who is looking for a "true" relationship, there's "saga" a woman who suffered a traumatic brain injury who is trying to make her way as best she can through the daily confusion of life, Uncle marsden who tries to "protect" his family there are far too many to list. the last 100 pages used the events of 9/11 and its aftermath to force the characters into realizing that life is fleeting and changes in an instant and it was done amazingly well. for me it brought back, clearly, the feeling that life as we knew it had changed and that some things once considered SO important were, simply put, not.
aurigae's review against another edition
4.0
This book is 560 pages long, a sprawling, leisurely journey through the lives of its half-dozen intertwined protagonists, and I never wished it would be a single page shorter. It's not a page-turner, so it takes a while to get through, and its plot is wandering and occasionally confusing and full of loose ends, but it's wisely and intelligently executed. The story is about everything - career and family, infidelity and parenthood, friendship and family history - and nothing. The characters experience personal and professional evolutions and upheavals, day by day, against a backdrop of weather and food (one of the central characters is a chef) and animals and New York City, so that even the more tragic and challenging twists in the plot seem calm and measured. By the end of the book, everyone and everything - even, as this book spans roughly 18 months beginning in the spring of the year 2000, New York City itself - has changed, and yet time continues to move forward, days pass and relationships shift, and life is still reassuringly the same. This is the most realistic book I've read in years.