This was almost a good book
919306
Cassidy's review of history was accomplished in the year and a half after she gave birth to her first child.  She was clearly disappointed with her birth experience, and she shows significant bias toward doctors, modern medicine and shows tremendous (and unbalanced) favor toward midwives.  Having worked in the Third World -as well as the US-and seen the horrible results(fistulas, stillbirths, deaths) from no prenatal care/lay midwives attending births/'natural' births....I cannot fathom how she can speak of midwives with such romantic fervor. Its almost as if she idealizes the perfect birth--and feels that it is attainable only if you have the right midwife, the right attitude, and stay away from doctors!
1415559
People sharper than I might have had no trouble with this one.  I found myself thinking, "Should I be taking notes, keeping track of who was what age and when?"  I discussed with my husband my ambivalence about the book and the fact that I'm pretty sure that I found some inconsistencies.  The two I mentioned to him he also felt were inconsistent.  If I cared more, I'd read it again with some of my questions in mind as I read, but there are too many other wonderful books out there which I haven't read and too many other wonderful books which I have read which are more worth a reread than this one.  By the time I pushed through all 500-plus pages in order to be through by book club tonight, I was liking it better than I did at the beginning, but had it not been a selection for our book club and were I the sort to put a book down unfinished, I'd have quit midway, I'm afraid.
659914
I thought that this book had a lot of potential. The storyline and characters were interesting. I wanted to give it 4 stars but I couldn't do it.

There were enough grammar errors to take me out of the story at times, and there was one scene toward the end where I thought one thing was happening and it suddenly did a 180 and there were different characters involved. It was confusing, and I'm not sure if it was too complicated for my brain that night or if the description of the situation needs work.

It's a good story, regardless of my nitpicking, and is worth a read. I'll likely read more in the series, but with so much competition and so little time to read, it won't be at the top of my list.
3809845
I would have liked to have liked this book. The basic idea--a silent movie comedian who has vanished, but kept making films--is intriguing. And it comes fairly close to working, at least for the first half of the book. The last half doesn't work, however. It requires us to believe some of the characters would act in inexplicable ways and it asks us to accept a much too fortuitous timing of events. I can't imagine, for instance, that the protagonist would go back to Vermont and leave his new-found love to join him later. I can't believe that the wife of the vanished comedian is as nuts as she must be to do what she does. Of course Auster is a good writer. There's plenty of evidence for that in his other books. But I don't think he really thought this one through sufficiently. Not recommended.
2342560
I truly wanted to like this book. But I had quite a hard time getting through it. The last quarter is considerably better than the rest, and worth reading through to the end. The plot is good, and the characterizations believable. But there isn't an upstanding citizen among them. In the age of Trump the question of, "how does a good senator serve a bad emperor" hits too close to home.
4246145
The first two parts of the book were good, but the last part deteriated into way to much detail of various sex acts. It almost seemed that she got tired of writing the book.  It is too bad because it had the potential of being a great novel. It did a good job of helping people understand life in Palestinian areas that became Israel. The sex was not necessary to the story, at least not in the detail she continually seem to enjoy writing.
3576046
I really wanted to like this book, and I did like the storyline itself.  But I got very tired of interrupted and unfinished conversations and scenes.  It was beyond frustrating to read, and then the story just ended.  But like I said, it was a good storyline overall, and I did enjoy some of the characters.
4647301
If this author had had an editor it would have been helpful. I think it's a cute, sweet, fantasy, but needs some serious editing. For instance, every time the author meant to say "than" as in "better than", he said "then." This wasn't the only consistent error, but it kind of spoiled the reading for me. I think it's a fun read, but not a page turner.
4110119
The story was enjoyable sometimes.  Some of the plot devices were a little overdone.  It certainly needed a good profreading, not to mention editing--a lot of misused words and "apostrophe's" almost killed it for me.  Self-published authors don't have editors; I get that.  However there are plenty of style and usage guides out there.  This author has a lot of potential as a stortyteller and would really benefit from some nuts-and-bolts work on her craft.
3520295
I wanted to like this book and kept reading in the hopes the story would pick up. But almost halfway into this book I gave up. The premise is a good one and perhaps, as some other reviewers said, the story became interesting, but there are enough books out there that really grab me that it wasn't worth going on with this one.
4109546
There is much to like about this book, but enough lacking that I put the book down about half way down for several weeks before picking it up to finish it.
Not the best sign.

The idea behind the book is excellent, surviving victim of a serial killer whose gaps in memory may let an innocent be executed. The writing is quite good. The characters were also very good, especially our own "black-eyed Susan" Tessa. But the beginning drrraaaaggggged. Yes, the middle picked up and I, for one, loved the slightly unbelievable ending. But I must say this was and example of another book that could have used the Big Red Editor's pen to cut out a fair amount of unneeded and repetitious prose.
126780
This book could have been a great book, but I found it impossible to keep up with the characters and the time lines.  As soon as I would finally really get interested, it would jump to another time and character and I just got lost in the dust.  I did  stick it out, though, and enjoyed the ending.  I am not  giving up on the writer.  I will try another one of her books and see how it compares.
3139870
The author is a talented writer.  I got the book as a loan from the Amazon library, and after reading the first couple of chapters I considered buying it for future reads.  Then I reached the point where the two main characters come together.  The plot seemed to slow, and there was to much about what he thought, or what he thought she was thinking, or what she thought he thought she was thinking, ....  I tried to skim those parts, but finally gave up on the book.

I would like to read more by this author, but would have to be able to read extensive samples before I would buy a book.
3691030
I started out loving this book.  It had intrique, interesting characters, exciting locations, and a promising plot.  I even enjoyed the literary references.  Somewhere near the middle of the book I began to tire of it  all.  Yes, you can feel very clever when you know all the references.  Nonetheless, I still think that a book has to have a compelling plot to  deserve more than three stars.  This book started with a lot of potential  and ended as just an average book.
4094903
I liked the concept of this book, but getting starting this book I was met with so much introspection from the main character it brought the book to a screeching halt for me. This book needs a lot of refinement. It is disappointing as it is now.
4317832
I got through the book, which is more than I can say for most of the self-published books I attempt to read. This author has more potential than many who post a book for sale on Amazon. The premise is a good one. The author did a fine job of exploring the emotions of the various characters. The long run-on sentences made the story harder to follow. I had to keep going back to the beginning of a sentence and re-reading. The point of view kept shifting, which can work in a tale such as this. But the shifts were not handled well, with the point of view sometimes jumping within a scene, and even within the same paragraph. All in all a good story that needs a heavy dose of editing.
2563399
This book had great potential. The story line was good and so were most of the characters. I'm used to SOME homosexuality in books these days but this one went too far ("took his dog to the gay vet?? Really??? he and his partner called each other "baby" all the time????) and it got pretty ridiculous. Again, it was ok and if there was a 2.5 stars, that's what I'd give it.