It was difficult for me to read this book.
923839
In the summer of 1953 I contracted polio,  Houston Texas.in 1953 was as fearful as the Newark of 1944 recounted in Nemisis.  I couldn't read it without integrating my own experience. None of my friends got it that summer and my case was mild.  Although some of the experience was then and contnues to be painful including the excruciating pain of the spinal tap, being in isolation more than three weeks, learning two weeks into isolation to the question why was I there from a callous orderly "don't you know,you got polio," and then being one at least another week b, and then going into a crowded ward with more victims, some of whom were in iron lungs,I discounted it because I had no apparent lasting physical effects.  The perspective in this book was interesting.  No chapters.  Even though it was not lengthy I wonder if it couldn't have been more spare. There were some jewels and if I were at my computer and not my Kindle I would elaborate.  I'd like to talk to Phillip Roth about this book. I was fortunate to have chatted with him after a preview of We Bombed in New Haven maybe 50 years ago. Glad we're both still around
3957623
A tough read for me anyway.  Got to have patience, it's a long book.  John
4278136
I found this book difficult to read. Difficult to stay with. Difficult to want to read. Difficult to want to even keep going which I didn't do so I have no clue how it ended.  Sorry
1478502
struggled to read this set.  It kind of dragged for me.
1302825
This book was a hard read for me! It had slow periods and therefore challenged my decision to continue reading. The end started to get a little more interesting and I forged ahead.
3463468
It was hard to follow the story.  It took a while of reading the book before you were able to put the pieces together.
203880
had a hard time getting into this book. i think it was to technical for me. maybe it was just me?.
3462536
It was hard for me to get in to this book for some reason.  I found it hard to relate to the characters, and the story was just not to my liking.  I finished the book because I always finish a book I start, but it is not a book, I would say to myself, I will put this on my I want to read this again in 5 years list which I do with favorite books.
1619414
the writing style of this book made if very difficult to read. I didn't make it past the first chapter.
1789674
Granted, it was the first book club read after I had my baby, so she was about 2 months old, leaving me little brain space to read.  But I tried reading this well before I was pregnant, and I still couldn't get through it.  I ended up watching the movie so I would be able to participate slightly in book club, and from what I heard, I'm glad I didn't use my limited time when my screaming howler monkey child was sleep to read this.  I found the writing plodding and difficult, so it just wasn't my thing.
4513352
I had a very difficult time following this book.  The story caught my attention & I really waned to know what happened, but the writing style was very difficult to follow.  I had to keep re-reading passages to figure out what the author was actually trying to say.  It took twice as long to read as it should have.
635104
Rather involved reading.  I found it hard to pick it up if too much time passed between readings.
883985
I found this book very  difficult to read.  He goes on on and and I had difficulty keeping up with this thought patterns.
4769945
This book was a very tough read for me, and not in a good way.  Mrs. Tickle's writing is very difficult to follow.  The narrative of her story (this happened and then that) is clear enough.  But the substance of the various spiritual awakenings and growing understandings that I was really reading the book for are terribly difficult to figure out.  Just when you think you've waded through and a revealing point is coming, it gets cloaked in so much ambiguity and curcuitous reasoning that you're left uncertain what it is that was learned or what was momentous about that moment.  (And for the record, I am a reader with a degree in Literature and am a member of Mensa.  If I found the book this hard to follow, then it's hard to imagine that others won't struggle with it as well.)

Also, be perfectly frank, at times the substance of Mrs. Tickle's life was rather hard for me to deal with.  She had such a charmed upbringing and young life, yet never seems to quite realize how different this is from so many others.  I had to put the book down for several days after a section where she begins to understand original sin while sorting through the hundreds of wedding gifts she and her husband had received.  Along this vein, despite being set in the south during the 40s, 50s and early 60s, there is no mention of race or segregation in the book until the last few pages when she speaks a bit about MLK and a conversation with an old missionary about the sameness of tribalism in Africa and racism in America.  I know from talking with other relatively privileged white Southerners of that era that the issue wasn't really part of their awareness.  Yet, one would think that a person writing an autobiography about that era would at least have something to say about the very fact that they were so unaware of the injustice happening just beyond the comfortable sphere in which they moved.  In fact, there was one section extolling the ability of Southerners, by and large, to accept the underdog Jewish people into their midst as something of kindred spirits.  I was more than a little surprised that there wasn't so much as a caveat regarding the unwillingness to accept the even more downtrodden African American population into their midst.

The book is at its best when the messy, painful and unpredictable lives of the people residing just outside Mrs. Tickle's own sphere intrude.  The stories of dysfunctional neighbors and the town where her husband first worked as a doctor are by far the best parts of the book, in my view.

All in all, I am glad I made it through the book.  I can't say that I'm sorry to have read it.  And it certainly wasn't a complete waste of time.  Even if one can only figure out half of what it is Mrs. Tickle is trying to communicate about her spiritual journey, that half is thoughtful, sometimes provocative and interesting.  However, the frustration and confusion of reading the book makes me wish I had spent my time reading something else.
2191328
It wasn't the "easy read"  I hoped for. At times it was tedious and I pushed myself to get through it.
915466
I can only critique the writing and organization of this book.  The content was very hard for me to follow.  First I am not a lover of history.  This is a bookclub selection and I had to read it. I found it disorganized and difficult to follow a storyline.  There were so many names and so many manuscripts.  I wish I had counted the many characters that are discussed----way too many.  I finally followed just the main character.  People came in and out of Poggio's life too fast to keep up. I realize the failure is mine, but I was  glad to reach the end.
4218526
I did not like any of the characters in the book which made it a difficult read for me.