Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Captivating, a must read!, July 2, 2011
This review is from: The Great Lenore (Paperback)
The other reviews on here are right on. You won't want to put it down & you will continue thinking about it long after you have finished it.
The characters are complicated and well developed; you feel like you know them, like someone you went to school with, by the time it's all said and done. The concept is captivating enough to make you want to start reading, and the story keeps you begging for more. The writing itself is superb. I am not exaggerating when I say (type) I felt inspired while reading it, similar to the way your favorite song inspires joy and creates energy in you. Tohline describes settings, moods, and feelings as though it is effortless, but with such perfect description that you really can envision yourself in the room, watching the story play out right in front of you.
For anyone who enjoys reading, enjoys stories, or just enjoys the art of quality writing, this is a must read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The GREATEST Lenore., August 4, 2011
This review is from: The Great Lenore (Paperback)
To be completely honest, a lot of this book irritated/frustrated me. There was some repetition of phrases and some characterization that I didn't quite enjoy - especially of Lenore herself, who is constantly described as being perfect without ever truly justifying that description with her actions.
That being said, this book was incredible. I found myself engrossed in the unraveling mystery, completely fascinated by this obscenely wealthy First-World setting and its utterly believable characters, without the usual feelings of disgust for whiny rich people. Each reveal was more powerful than the last, and at the end, this book left me with a subtle nagging feeling - the kind of feeling one experiences when reading authors like Virginia Woolf or Ernest Hemingway. In fact, this novel is written much like a more palatable Hemingway novel, and very much employs his "theory of omission", which is to say, J.M. Tohline does not make the truth of his novel apparent. Instead it dwells subtly beneath the surface, waiting to creep into your thoughts and take up residence there for the rest of your life.
Read this book. Stop reading reviews, just read it. It's worth it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I almost missed my massage appointment, July 9, 2011
This review is from: The Great Lenore (Paperback)
I waited with anticipation for the release of The Great Lenore as soon as the announcement from Atticus Books began. I, like the other reviewers, read the first chapter on Tohline's blog. I was intrigued. I read this book today, stopping for about an hour an a half for my massage appointment, which I almost missed because I was so engrossed in the story. I thought that the novel opened and hooked me right away but then there was this lull when Richard goes to Boston with Sandy Banucci. It meanders and felt slow, shallow....but in retrospect it captured perfectly the idle, bored life of the uber wealthy. These offspring of magnates who can't figure out how to make their mark in the world, spend most of their time drinking or drunk. They are a bunch of malcontents and while they affect a blase attitude while surrounded by wealth and beauty....they are all REALLY unhappy and oblivious to their surroundings.
The Great Lenore....this phantom of a woman who has entranced the whole cast of characters....we are supposed to like her....LOVE her....want her...adore her. And yet....I didn't. The narrator, Richard Parkland falls under Lenore's spell like everyone else, he fights it. He knows he is captive, prisoner and held against his will. Things are just not quite right and what Lenore is doing bothers Richard. She leave this wake of devastation. And while she seems genuine, she also seems unperturbed by the mayhem she causes and the hearts she wrecks. She's like Teflon. Blameless. Untouchable. But she isn't. Richard refers to her as a muse...but I think of her as a siren, luring the unwitting and unsuspecting onto the rocks and crushing them. It's not her fault, right? The rocks did it. The fool who recharted his course so as to get closer to Lenore made the mistake....it's his fault.
Tohline masterfully captures the atmosphere of this family, setting the story between Thanksgiving and Christmas on Nantucket. Grey, winter skies, churned up sea, snow and freezing rain on the sand. And these two mansions by the sea: The Palace (the retreat home of Lenore's in-laws) and the Banucci Manor, the empty home of Richard's friend Sandy. Richard is supposed to be writing his second novel, his first being widely acclaimed. But Richard is stuck. And he digs a bigger hole by staying drunk and high and eventually falling under the spell of Lenore. And while he knows he is entranced, trapped in the Snow Globe controlled by The Great Lenore...he can't do anything except ride it out and stand witness to the tragic consequences of life tiny decisions.
It is the small decisions we make that alter the course of our lives...not the weighty, well-planned, heavily pondered decisions. It is the split second impulses that flip destiny and send us careening out into space.
Buy The Great Lenore. Order it for your friends. Pick it for your next Book Club selection. A fast read and filled with topics for discussion.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
