Customer Reviews

Some of the Parts

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book will be one of my all time favorites. Sure, there wasn't much plot but, my gosh, those characters will stay with me for a long time. T. Cooper is a gifted writer and I look forward to her next novel. I wonder though, did those who wrote a review on this book "ACTUALLY" read it??? Let me clarify things. Charlie was never Iskak's lover...see page 200. Jack was his long time lover who dumped him. Isak was NOT a lesbian she was transgenered. There's a big difference readers. I did not find Taylor shallow nor a poorly developed character. T. Cooper showed a beautiful young woman who used her looks for almost everything she accomplished in life. She comes to gripes with this eventually. And, Arlene? She came into her own too. I just can't say enough on how well written this book was. T. you Rok!!

I missed this book after I finished it, all the characters and their endearing, converging stories, their fluid, poignant, sometimes really funny observations and emotional perspectives. One of my favorite things is how some of the storylines are somewhat offbeat and quirky, but feel so down to earth and highlight how life is really just the way each person lives and looks at their own day-to-day. Also that the instinct to maintain our ties with who we love is a common and enriching thread for humans, no matter what kind of pain in the butt it can be. And the writing - so enjoyable, and it just felt very real. Such a good read for people who tend to reject/judge people they might really enjoy, and such an intimate look at an array of gender and sexual perspectives, which thank god the world seems to be opening up to more and more so that people can feel easier about just being who they are.

Deeply emotional, sharply funny. Crying and laughing at the same time. Couldn't put it down. Read Some of the Parts with my book club. It sparked incredible discussion around mortality, family, life, sex, and friendship.

Some of the parts caught my eye as a Barnes and Nobles "discover great new writers" feature. Though this book does not appeal exactly to my "demographic" (adolescent hetero male) i did find the characters vivid. Cooper's use of contrast in her prose (conversations aand descriptions can go from zero to sixty in a sentence) is excellent, but the lack of a well crafted plot to drive the theme left the book somewhat monotonous. Taylor as a character, i believe, failed miserably. Crying or smiling to express emotion, and rarely doing anything in between, she was mostly one-dimensional. Contributing to this was the use of first person narration in every chapter but the "Taylor" ones. Though i'm sure T has her reasons for that narration, i don't think they were succesful. I'm sure for someone closer to the intended audience this was a wonderful book, and touched gracefuly on the oddities and uncertainties of the lifestyle, but i could only appreciate it for its writing and plot.

... with an interesting mix of characters. Be patient; they open up to you as you go. There is a little bit of everything for everyone in this story. I appreciate how the author doesn't turn the book into an issue-based book, like HIV, or transgenderism or sexuality, and only write about that. It is so much more and then some. I found this book at a small bookstore, and read it because of what's on the back cover. The book does say something new about the state of families these days, but it's not all depressing. There are some really funny scenes and personalities too. Just a great read all around.

Typical minimalist prose novel marketed to pomo urbanites. Some of the characters are interesting and on the whole the book was vaguely entertaining. However the "plot" (was there one?) was cookie cutter cliched and unsatisfying. The good part was that I was able to tear through this book in an afternoon since the writing is in no way adorned with literary devices or descriptions.

I liked this book. The prose, the elliptical storylines, the way the characters interacted. Arlene is the owner of a small shop in Providence. Her daughter Taylor is beautiful but lost. Her brother Charlie is HIV+ and living in New York with his lover, Isak, whose gender identity is fluid. All the characters were clear and well-defined except for Taylor - the only character narrated in the third person. The passages dealing with her are awkward and clunky, as if the author wrote a short story about her and then stitched it into the rest of the book. It doesn't help that Taylor is the weakest character - she's beautiful but shallow, and I didn't like her much until the end of the novel. But Isak, Charlie and (to a lesser extent) Arlene stayed with me. I would definitely read more by T Cooper.

A great first novel by an excellent young author and cool person in general. I really enjoyed the character development and how each chapter was narrated from the voice of a different character. The characters were all very interesting in themselves and I found myself connecting with each in some way--seeing aspects of myself in each. It was a bit tough though when the book ended, I felt, a bit abruptly. I was left wanting to know more about how each fictional person's life developed. To me that's a sign of a masterfully written book. And to think this is T's first book!

The four characters of this book lead sad lives. You have "beautiful" freeloading Taylor, who doesn't do anything for herself, because her looks will take care of everything for her, Arlene, the depressed divorcee, bitter, dying Charlie, and Isak the heartless hustler. What sad and horrible people. We never know just how "beautiful" Taylor is because she's never really described. Her story is the only one told in third person, the other three are in first person. We only get to see her through everyone else's eyes.
I give this book three stars becuase it is an interesting read, though there's nothing spectacular about the wiritng and the characters are constantly complaining about how pathetic they are. Despite that, they're interesting. Sad, but interesting.

I found her style of writing contrived and immature which made it hard to have any feelings for the characters. If there's anything underneath the trying to be cool veneer I didn't get there. I suppose it may be interesting to the younger crowd but if you need substance and depth to your reading skip this one.