Life lived, purposefully. Terrifically well written novel.
582014
For those of us over 70, this story is precious, full of a deeper understanding of what is really true, important. As a bonus, this book is creatively, beautifully written. For those under 70, don't despair, as the meaning of life will be clearer, how some live with more purpose. I will read this book again...and again perhaps.
3209634
Absolutely terrific novel. So well written, such detailed descriptions, it was if a movie were running in my head. The plot held my interest and several times I had solved the mystery, only to change my mind a few pages later. Until the very end, I was not certain. An excellent novel that I can highly recommend.
3386315
This novel really hit home. The sub-plot of stealing someones belongings on moving day was well thought out, but the introspection shown by Stanley, the protagonist, as to age, and the evil other people inflict was superb. The antagonist, Nick, was really a piece of work. Being near the age of Stanley made me really think long and hard, as he did, about the growing older, and approaching one's twilight in the life cycle. Great, great book.
2486480
I don't read fiction. Terrible yes, but that's the truth. The Drift of Things, however, made me reconsider my reading material of choice. Schwartz crafts a compelling story; prima facie a simple tale, but one hiding layers of meaning both figurative and personal. Profoundly ordinary in his experience, Norman allows us to see ourselves and those we relate to him for what we all are: people whose lives are, in their mundane complexity, the image of average and exceptional. Norman embodies every kid who left his hometown looking for something that wasn't there, and those who begrudgingly stayed only to discover that where you began is where you belong.

Schwartz's writing style is at once approachable and refined to the point that he breaths life into characters that may otherwise seem devoid of interest. These are people you would see walking through life without a thought as to who they really are, unaware of the richness of their lives. A wealth tempered by the absurd reality in which we all find ourselves. The Drift of Things captures this experience wonderfully in a way that could only be done by an author that feels genuine affection for his characters, and one that has a real talent for conveying ideas and experiences both relatable and profoundly, ridiculously sublime.

As worth your time to read as his time to write.
3439922
This is one of the best novels I've read in quite a long time. I could go on here for paragraphs and still not convey why. In short, though, the writing itself  is stark, simple masculine poetry. The characters, to a one, are richly yet economically defined. More compelling to me, though, are two particularly elements. First, the thread of secret lives that runs through the book, which is covered in several ways (some spectacularly inventive). The compartmentalized life of the lead character (Nat) speaks to me as a reader. The other element that particularly stands out is an  email dialog between two characters which rings truer that any electronic dialog I've seen in fiction anywhere. As one who's conducted life on line for nearly two decades, this alone won me completely over. Yet there's so much more in this fairly short novel. It was so rich that I had to consume it in small bites, lest it end too quickly. As a reader, and a writer, I urge you, go buy this book. And Mister Katrovas, I user *you*, please, continue writing.
2934817
I found the story line in this novel to be enticing, made rich by the characters who were thought-provoking as much as they were engaging.  Realistic, well-researched, and very very human.  On my 'keep-and-read-again' list permanently.
4832082
It's a terrifically ambitious novel...beautifully written with multiple alternative futures for the main character.  The characters are not sketched but lovingly painted with flaws and strengths.  The novel covers a time period from the early fifties on.  For someone of my generation...born in the mid-40s it offers a wonderful walk through much of my own life history.  It's quite different than most of Auster's previous novels, although his main character, as is usually the case, is writer.
713052
What a service Loyola Press has done by keeping alive this Pulitzer Prize winning novel!  One needn't be Catholic to appreciate it, although certainly that provides useful familiarity with the setting.

But the novel is equally about the challenges (and sadnesses) of living as family, with all it's messiness, and about aging and our aims (whether attained, or not, or even attainable).  And in the end it is O'Connor's wonderfully capable portrayal of the humanness of each character, and the reality of the situation, that persists with the reader long after the specifics of the setting fade.

Highly recommended and, I hope, personally helpful to all of us who live . . . in family, natural or spiritual.
2817895
A beautifully written rich novel about the stages of life we all experience in one way or another. Not depressing at all, just satisfying.
1271177
Terrifically engrossing.  I had a hard time putting it down.
1764971
A beautifully written, character-driven Southern novel that follows the lives of some of the residents and staff of the Pine Haven Retirement Center during the course of about a week (with a lot of remembering thrown in).  Chapters alternate back and forth from the vantage points of well imagined, richly drawn characters with intersecting storylines.

When I started reading, I was expecting a cozy sort of ultimately life affirming novel about aging like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel or Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, but Life After Life didn't fit that mold, and is indeed in a class all its own.  It faces hard truths about aging and human nature head on and would definitely fuel some interesting book club discussions. I just finished reading and am confident this story and these characters will stay in my thoughts for some time.
3035060
Loved it.  Cleverly written.  Great character development.
3410639
Really felt a sense of purpose and can't wait to read on... can't wait to read a purpose driven life
22008
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It artfully balances imagination and reality in a story ultimately about people, their needs and their desire to fulfill the needs of others. We play  many roles within a single life.
Schouten draws you in with characters and situations that are credible. They may be fictitious. They could just as easily be real. His scenes are textured with a knowledge of the culture and locations that feels authentic. The motivations and actions of people are not superimposed, but rise up from two cultures and their contrasting beliefs.
Some things are predictable. As in life, far more are not. When you realize how this author's vision ultimately fits together, the outcome may surprise you. But the path to get there has been well constructed and is carefully revealed. Schouten creates personalities that hold together because they are complex and credible.
This novel should not be qualified or pardoned as a "first novel." It has remarkable texture and depth. It suspends itself on your curiosity of each characters' motivations as they gradually expose rather than follow a plot.
1817225
Timely, poignant, touching, sad, funny, well written, nicely paced, the ending offers resolution, quietly. All readers can connect with the narrators life path, travails, and triumphs. Boyne is a fine writer. Ill revisit this book.
250961
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The title became for me a visual pun, since I always carry a book wherever I go, and as I stuffed this one into my backpack, I'd smile as I watched the word "Leaving" disappear. The sections featuring the main character's parents and grandparents are memorable, as are those about his childhood in Beunos Aires. So much about the family and its integration within a larger Argentine community is revealed in the scene where the small boy is seated on his father's shoulders at a Peron rally. Another moment that powerfully affected me occurred during the novel's short (a few pages) Spanish-language section. The statement/accusation/reminder "but you guys left" is rendered in Spanish, even though the speaker (the main character's California-born girlfriend) is presumably using English at the time. "Ustedes se fueron, no te olvides." This single, unobtrusive sentence reveals the survival guilt that underlies the narrator's melancholy. His sadness, pervasive in the novel though never plainly stated, is devoid of false sentiment and reductive theories. Finally, I appreciated the maturity of the main character, especially in his accounts of his love life. His search for a better translation of his own identity as a Jewish Argentine ex-patriot is joined to an almost phlegmatic stability unusual in a quester. Memory is key to his investigations, and the author makes very effective use of repetition of significant recollected images: eucalyptus; the rubber tree; coffee and mate drinking around a kitchen table. If our human mind tends to jump with pathological quickness past moments of departure in order to focus on new beginnings, this novel provides a tonic, causing us to pause and appreciate all that endings may contain.
2597762
Received this book recently and immediately dove into the storyline. After reading the first two chapters, i was immediately drawn to continue on reading. I would surely recommend this novel for its mastery and well thought out delivery. Kudos to the author for bringing such life and interest to something so often overlooked. A must read.