Customer Reviews

World's End

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My sister and I who live 800 miles apart are voracious readers and share recommendations. I recently introduced her to Robertson Davies and Barbara Pym and she, in return, suggested T. Coraghessan Boyle. I chose World's End because it won the PEN\Faulkner award. Boy, does she owe me! While I will concede that Boyle is a good writer, this is not a good book. I didn't care enough about the story or the characters to try and get the point or to figure out who was who and how they were related to anything.

Either I have a very short memory, or the plot of this book is so confusing that I could neither finish it nor enjoy the parts I did read. I can appreciate his clever use of language, but all of the chronological chaos and generational jumps made it impossible to follow the plot of this book. I shouln't pass judgement since I didn't make it through to the last page, but here's some advice if you try--take notes, or at least draw the family tree.

Of all Boyle's fiction, this pulls his talents together best. It is a sweeping, ambitious epic about the wacky interconnections of three generations of American lives. It contains typically outrageous plot twists and Boyle's trademark high-powered use of language. It's easily his most important novel, and only Water Music compares as a captivating read. If only some of his later works had been able to build on this one

In the mid 1990's, when teachers thought it was very hip to have their students read modern novels, I was stuck with this one. I live in the area and whatever romanticised notions I had about it were crushed with this book. I can't say more than I hated it and I've blocked it from memory. However, one lingering question remains... Did the author have a fixation with feet as George Lucas has with hands?