Journal Entry 1 by calvarez4 from Oakland, California USA on Tuesday, January 25, 2005

I've seen this title floating around BCing, but truly know nothing about it!

From Amazon.com:

"The artful construction of this seductive novel and the mature, compassionate wisdom permeating it would be impressive for a seasoned writer, but it's all the more remarkable in a debut. This narrative of the McLeod family during three vital summers is rich with implications about the bonds and stresses of kin and friendship, the ache of loneliness and the cautious tendrils of renewal blossoming in unexpected ways. Glass depicts the mysterious twists of fate and cosmic (but unobtrusive) coincidences that bring people together, and the self-doubts and lack of communication that can keep them apart, in three fluidly connected sections in which characters interact over a decade. These people are entirely at home in their beautifully detailed settings Greece, rural Scotland, Greenwich Village and the Hamptons and are fully dimensional in their moments of both frailty and grace. Paul McLeod, the reticent Scots widower introduced in the first section, is the father of Fenno, the central character of the middle section, who is a reserved, self-protective gay bookstore owner in Manhattan; both have dealings with the third section's searching young artist, Fern Olitsky, whose guilt in the wake of her husband's death leaves her longing for and fearful of beginning anew. Other characters are memorably individualistic: an acerbic music critic dying of AIDS, Fenno's emotionally elusive mother, his sibling twins and their wives, and his insouciant lover among them. In this dazzling portrait of family life, Glass establishes her literary credentials with ingenuity and panache."

TBR. 

Journal Entry 2 by calvarez4 at Controlled Release in Lynn, Massachusetts -- Controlled Releases on Friday, March 11, 2005

Released 7 yrs ago (3/2/2005 UTC) at Controlled Release in Lynn, Massachusetts -- Controlled Releases

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RELEASE NOTES:

off to Apolonia, as part of the bookrelay! 

Journal Entry 3 by Apolonia from Lynn, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, April 07, 2005

Book is here, thanks Calvarez4, I will journal it again once i've read it and passed it on. 

Journal Entry 4 by Apolonia from Lynn, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, May 05, 2005

To clear up some clutter for awhile I am going to offer this as a bookring, then read it after it comes home. I should be sending it out this week.

Please see my bookshelf for list of participants and shipping order. 

Journal Entry 5 by vzfamily from Willard, Ohio USA on Thursday, May 19, 2005

I wish the 3rd June in the book would have centered around either Dennis, David, one of their wives or the English lady that their father met on the trip to Greece. I think she would have made an intereteing character. I found myself very uninterested in the characters in the 3rd part. 

Journal Entry 6 by vzfamily at Postal Release in Willard, Ohio USA on Monday, May 23, 2005

Released 7 yrs ago (5/23/2005 UTC) at Postal Release in Willard, Ohio USA

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Sending this on to DP31 - she's next in the bookring! 

Journal Entry 7 by DP31 from Jacksonville, Illinois USA on Sunday, May 29, 2005

Just received this ring. Will read asap 

Journal Entry 8 by arugh48187 from Minneapolis, Minnesota USA on Thursday, September 01, 2005

Happy Day! I have signed up for one trade and three bookrings for this book and I finally get to read it (after all the other deals fell through). Hurrah!!! It shouldn't take too long. I only have one bookring in front of it. You can track my progress via my bookshelf. 

Journal Entry 9 by arugh48187 from Minneapolis, Minnesota USA on Tuesday, September 20, 2005

I must say I liked this book, though I particularly liked the middle June. The first and the third, though beautifully written did not pique my interest quite as much. Maybe I just found Fenno to be an entirely likeable fellow. I think it kind of interesting that Julia Glass wrote the first June as a novella, won an award for it, and then expanded it to include the other two to make a novel. I did find that Fern in the third June was totally unrelated and only loosely connected to the other two. I think it would have been a stronger novel if Ms. Glass had done something different; what, I don't know.

Anyway, thanks for sharing. It will go out to the next reader later this week. 

Journal Entry 10 by arugh48187 at Post Office at 153rd and Garrett in Apple Valley, Minnesota -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, September 22, 2005

Released 6 yrs ago (9/22/2005 UTC) at Post Office at 153rd and Garrett in Apple Valley, Minnesota -- Controlled Releases

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RELEASE NOTES:

Sending off to Luintaurien who is next on the list. Happy reading! 

Journal Entry 11 by Luintaurien from York, Nebraska USA on Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Got it today. Thank you. Will read and pass on ASAP. 

Journal Entry 12 by Luintaurien from York, Nebraska USA on Monday, October 31, 2005

Couldn't get into it so passing it on 

Journal Entry 13 by morpha from Astoria, Oregon USA on Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Just arrived in the mail today. One bookring ahead of this, I will probably get tto it next week.

Urk! Sorry I didn't get to journaling this right after I read it; I don't recall as much as I should.
As a rule, I prefer cohesive stories that follow particular characters throughout and don't jump around too much from viewpoint to viewpoint. While not too fragmented for my enjoyment, it is clear from the structure of this novel that it began as a short story of one and was later expanded to a book of three. I did find the three main characters connected enough for my tastes, but would have preferred to see more of the Father and perhaps less of the son ( I found his sexual and non-sexual relationships to be unhealthy and depressing and questioned his continual resentment of other members of his family).
This is a beautifully written tale of alienation and redemption, I look forward to reading more of this author's work. Mailed to kucingcuit (sp?) sometime in November or december of 2005.