Picked up at Friends of the Library sale.

Passed on to Rebekkila after we did a release walk at the Charleston Food + Wine Festival. She is leaving Charleston to return to Michigan, and this audio book will keep her company as she travels.

I have a hard copy of this book, which I am going to give to Bookczuk next week for the Oh, the places we can go challenge. I will listen to this soon.

Sending out in Booklady331's CD only audio bookbox.

Taking from booklady331's audio bookbox.

Heard good things about the movie. Looking forward to this book!

I just realized I never journaled this after reading it!

This book reminded me of two other books I dislike: The Great Gatsby and The Bridges of Madison County. There are pretty much no likeable characters in this book. Some you can stand just because they're not as bad as others. Some you hate just because they are so damn normal you can't help relating to them. But there's no one you really like. There isn't even much that the characters themselves like--no goal, no dreams. Just people living in this place and time and what they get up to... and what happens when it goes horribly wrong (as it absolutely must, because some of these people are terrible... terrible and realistic). The book is also pretty misogynistic at times (I like to think of large portions of it as a male fantasy).

The one thing that kept me reading was how absolutely beautiful the words were. It was magic the way the words came together so incredibly well to form such startlingly gorgeous pictures of life and truth, of observations that opened my eyes and revealed secrets. I adored the words.

I just wish the words had come together as a whole to make a story and characters I could also enjoy.

The book absolutely lost me at the portion where April is telling her husband she wants to move to France and get a job to support him to give him time just to think and find himself and be himself, because he's the most amazing thing in the world. "What's that?" he asks. "Oh, don't you know?" she replies. "You're the most special thing ever. You're a man!" ugh.

The end was pretty shocking and sad. I just wanted to hug the kids. That's pretty much all I felt--sad about human nature and a desire to hug the poor kids. Oh, and relief when the book was over. I'd hoped to see the movie... but now I'm not sure I want to.

Sending this off in an audio bookbox. I hope it's enjoyed by its next reader!

This book came back to me in the recent round of HI77’s Audio Bookbox. Thank you for playing!

Enjoy