Comments (19)

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Dec 03, 2023BARosen1112 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Beautifully written 2013 novel from National Book Award winner (Charming Billy, 1998) Alice McDermott, an older woman looks back at key moments in her life. The novel jumps many years back and forth, but in McDermott's assured hands the…
Nov 05, 2023blue_cat_2971 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Beautiful- hated to say goodbye to the characters when it ended.
Oct 26, 2023talltimt rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I've read this four times! I can't say that about any other book.
Feb 15, 2022
Cmmmmmmm fella’s!
Feb 16, 2021posie12 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Like visiting the place you grew up, the old ladies gossiping , what they didn't know they made up. A great read.
Feb 26, 2019
I love this book! McDermott is a great writer and I'm glad I found her! I have read four of her books in a short amount of time now and have put a hold on another. I just can't get enough. Growing up Catholic, I am not lost on the many…
Jan 16, 2019Einer2 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I'm always drawn to books that take place in cities I know and love! This tale did not disappoint.
Oct 15, 2018
A lovely, short read that evokes the time and place of her storytelling. This was my first time reading McDermott's literary work and I was drawn in by the way she crafts a narrative. Her sentences modulate between simple to artful.…
booklady413
Apr 22, 2015
Marie lives an average life, but she longs for "someone". As a child of Irish immigrants living in what is now downtown Brooklyn, her story takes us from her childhood until old age. Interwoven with heartache, lost love and family…
madison382
Mar 04, 2015madison382 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I really enjoyed reading this book, I was sooo sad when I came to the end. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time.
Aug 03, 2014annphi rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
This is my first read with this author and it will be my last! The fact that it won a high award is bewildering. The plot eludes me, the characters are one deminsional, McDemott's writing style is disjointed with endless…
Jul 01, 2014
This is my first Alice McDermott novel - really good character development , but rather odd format . I'll read more of her work , though
May 31, 2014molmil8 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This book starts off slow, but it is worth it to stick with it, and it is a good story, a vignette of someone's life. I usually have trouble with time-shifting but in this book it was what made the book a gem.
Jane60201
Apr 18, 2014Jane60201 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A pleasant read. Interesting how the chapters are not sequential in Marie's life.
patienceandfortitude
Mar 08, 2014patienceandfortitude rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A lovely book about an Irish immigrant family in Brooklyn. Very touching and beautifully written.
Tish1NYC
Mar 08, 2014Tish1NYC rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Graceful, touching story of a woman growing up and living in Brooklyn in the period post WWII. Superb and one of the best I've read in a long time.
carrilis
Mar 06, 2014carrilis rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Very good, enjoyable story of random events of one woman's life.
Bierlingen
Nov 19, 2013
So true to life, how the randomness of joy and tragedy touches a life at different intervals. Very nicely written. Very engaging.
Oct 29, 2013diggie rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
best novel of 2013 so far. wickedly funny and deeply moving,absolutely beautiful writing, fine observation, transcendence of the ordinary, etc. tree grows in brooklyn grows up.