I have mixed reactions to the characters and writing style. Unlike others, I found it hard to stick to the book.
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I was immediately involved and as I read on, I fell completely under her spell. In short, I loved this book, and want to re-read it. I was also raising small children in a suburb in the 70ās and so in no way knew Eddie and Ivanās lifestyle, but I believed in it. And I thought the moral question raised by Ivanās desertion of Eddie was powerful. Iāve read Joan Silber before and I like how plainly and strongly she states her truths. This book was full of those simple-sounding but to me very wise statements. I read a great many books, and this is one of my favorites of this year.
I was expecting something different from the description of the book. It was not a writing style that I particularly enjoy; it was a bit staccato for me. It seemed more of a collection of short stories with a tenuous connection. I did not identify with the characters nor find them very likable.
Asking for mercy hereā¦I didnāt care for this book and found the characters difficult to care about and the writing style mediocre. I tried 3 times - starting from the beginning each time, but in the end, decided not to finish.
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I didnāt care for it. I thought it was too disjointed and most of the characters were unlikable.
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I thought the book was perhaps a 3.5 out of 5 stars. I found some of the characters interesting but it was rather disjointed. for me. I would have liked more clarification to everyone4ās place in the story regarding Eddie and Ivan. I also had hoped for a different ending between the two past friends.
I did not really care for the book. I usually like character driven books but there were too many disconnected characters. I kept looking for the connection between all of them and there werenāt really a lot of connections. I did not like the beginning with Ivan but after I got into Astridās story I began to enjoy the book a little bit more.
I did not get out of the book as much as I thought I would. I felt it was just too disjointed the way it was written - and the synopsis lead me to believe that book was much different. While each of the characters know each other in some vague way, their stories are too far removed to have any real meaning in connecting the story and they never were joined by the story ending
I did think Silberās writing was easy to read and understand and she did make her characters live on the page. However the plot was too abstract and removed for me to fully enjoy this book.
I really disliked this novel. I didnāt like the characters or their stories at all.
I genuinely enjoyed the book. I didnāt really think the issue of connections between the characters was terribly significant beyond Ivan, Eddie and Astrid. But I thought there was an overall feeling of tenderness I came away with regarding the mistakes the characters made, the recognition of flawed human beings not always doing there best each day but persevering and learning along the way.
Overall I liked it and found it to be a fast read. My favorite parts were the seedy, dark NYC partsā¦thatās what I wanted more of! I felt that there were far too many additional characters. I think if we went deeper with Ivan, Eddie, Ginger, and Cara that would have been enough āripples in the pondā for a great read. The other characters didnāt have enough depth for me.
I agree with Jessica in feeling that there were too many loosely connected characters in the book. Each chapter felt like it could have been a short story. Therefore I felt little connection to the characters. I did overall enjoy reading the book
Mercy was a difficult read for me. Just when I got invested in characters they disappeared, often never returning again.
I really had a hard time with this book due to the way it was writtenā¦I thought the stories would be more intertwined and connecting. Each story was interesting in its own right, but I was disappointed that they didnāt eventually all come together.