This might have been a good story, but was hard to read for me
936935
This might have been a good story, but was hard to read for me.  I just didn't like the writing style.  I didn't finish it.
736246
Interesting, but storyline meandered too much for me to recommend.
4857474
The story was weird and could have been wonderful.  However, be warned that the writing style here is disjointed, hard to follow, and felt like it was more work to understand than it was worth.  I stopped several chapters in, because the writing style just got too irritating for me; and that's saying a lot, because normally a good story lets me overlook these type of problems.
3619888
I wanted to like this book more.

It was a very difficult read, and the reading never got better the further along I read.  Disjointed, confusing, filled with peculiar sentence structures.  You had to read, then re-read, think, then try again.  Not always, but enough to frustrate and distract.

Though I rooted for protagonist Quoyle, I was often irritated with him.  What his wife, Petal Bear, did with their daughters was unconscionable.  I was also initially confused with the sudden appearance of his aunt, Agnis Hamm, though I surmise that reaching out to Quoyle was a way to exorcise her own demons.

This book featured so many beautiful brave people.  All of the characters were interesting, and I wanted to know more and more about them.  But the syntax left much to be desired.  Only Petal Bear was written with aplomb.  LOVED those few sentences about her.

Quick synopsis:  Quoyle is the less favored son Guy Quoyle, and husband of Petal Bear.  He has two children - the formidable Bunny and sweet Sunshine.  First, Quoyle's father dies, then his wife soon after.  His aunt, Agnis Hamm comes, and together, they all go to Newfoundland.  Adventures begin.

I like the story.  I just wish the story was written more smoothly.

I like the characters.  Again, I just it wasn't so hard to read.
1782924
The way the story was written confused me. It was hard to follow. Some of the content was a little far fetched. I only finished it because I wanted to see if the story came together to make a little more sense. Sorry, but I wouldn't recommend reading this book.
986798
Sorry, but I just could not get into this story. With the jumping back and forth, it became difficult to keep the story straight.
2543874
I liked the heroine's character and there were a few moments I laughed out loud and enjoyed the story--but the rest made it hard to read. Repetitive scenes that covered things already discussed or that happened, flat dialogue, redundant phrases appearing in the very next sentence, and some questionable motivations and actions for the characters were just a few of the issues I had. It slowed the pacing down, and I almost didn't finish it.
1737612
The story didn't keep my attention, everything seemed to be glossed over, no depth
3356793
I really wanted to like this book.  However, reading a book becomes a lot less fun for me when I have to stop and re-read every section where a character speaks in an accent and then try to figure out what it's supposed to mean in English.  It's a varation of English, sure, but if you're not familiar with that dialect's slang or flow it becomes much harder to read.  Almost all of the human characters, and one of the animals spoke in that manner and it became more of a challenge to get through than was worth it for the story.

I know this book is loved by many, and I don't mean to say that the story wasn't interesting.  It was very interesting and heartbreaking at times, but overall I can't say that I liked it all that much because the translation factor wasn't fun for me.  Some people do enjoy that sort of thing in their literature, and if you like that then you will probably love this book!  I like to read quickly, and having to slow down to figure out what the characters are saying made this book more frustrating than fun for me.
2397624
As much as I like the concept and development of this story, I find the text to be overly complicated English. Now, don't complain, "well, yes, he wrote in another period/country". Yes, I know that. I'm a prolific reader, and have lived in many countries and built up a broad vocabulary. Yet, this was hard for me. If you like dystopia storylines (which I do) and are ready to spend time re-reading and doing dictionary lookups, then you will likely enjoy this. But it wasn't for me.
4428910
I found this to be a very difficult read.  To be honest, I couldn't finish it.  Too many story lines and hard to follow (for me.)
4960597
This is a very complex, interesting story. I give credit to the author for taking a subject that so many have written on and finding a new way to approach it.

As one of the biggest projects in my undergrad work was based on interviews of immigrants into the US because of WWII, I had a special interest in this book.

But, to my chagrin, I simply couldn't get into the story. Why, you might ask? The answer is simple. I cannot read this prose.

There are no quotations around the dialogue.

The tense and point of view switch almost whimsically.

The writer has such a very strange style. I'm sure that she did this on purpose, to heighten the overall mood of the book. I simply didn't want to put that much effort into reading it.

If you're a pedestrian reader, like me, this is probably not your cup of tea.

(*)>
3289820
This book was too confusing for me. It was a very creative story, no doubt but I just couldn't keep up with this fantasy realm. Not for me
4048337
This was a story I simply didn't get/understand.  Maybe I'll try to reread it at a later date if I'm bored with nothing to do but otherwise I didn't like it
2005552
I'm trying to work my way through this book because I am interested in the story. This is terribly hard to read. Author keeps referring every aspect of Ansinger's life to other books, people, poems, whatever. Weirdly told story that should be straightforward. Too hard to read.
704900
From reviews, I thought I would enjoy this book but found it difficult to figure out where it was going. I kept reading, thinking it was just a slow developing story. I found it very depressing with no hope of it improving and so I finally gave it up - unable to finish reading the whole story. I even went back to the reviews to make sure that I was not missing something but found that - yes- the reviewers enjoyed this type of writing. - not me.
4696548
I found it difficult to "stay with the story".  I wound up not finishing it.