Customer Reviews

The Twenty Dollar Bill

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you have not read this yet, you should!! It's so inventive and creative. I heard a slight complaint that someone wished they had had more of each person's story, but I think that's what makes this book so great, you get just a snippet of each person's life as they receive and pass on the twenty dollar bill and you have to imagine the ending for them. It's extremely well thought out and well written, I could not put it down. It was like having 20 or so stories all wrapped up in one, but it certainly had a conclusive beginning and end that brought it all together. Great writing!

It's a decent length at about 2500 Kindle locations, and the formatting looked great. The text was free of errors except for one missing comma somewhere. LOL Other than that it looked great on the Kindle.

Plot/Storyline: 4.5 Stars

I loved the idea behind this book. The author takes us on a journey of a twenty bill while giving us brief glimpses of the lives it touches.

I liked the fact that the twenty didn't seem to have a whole lot of effect on anyone. It didn't save anyone's life and no one died over it. Often, it was just given as change for a larger bill. Instead of trying to inject mysticism, the author chose realism.

You would also get to see different events unfolding from different viewpoints. Truth is in the eye of the beholder.

Unfortunately, the book loses some of its cohesive feel towards the end. There were just a few too many 'stories'. However, this is only by maybe the last 3 or 5, not including the last necessary two.

Character Development: 3.5 Stars

I think the author would have been better served to have the twenty cross fewer hands and instead have given more in depth views of the lives it touched. We are given very brief glimpses into people's lives, so brief that good character development is almost not possible.

I will add that the author did develop as much as he could within the boudaries of his format.

Writing Style: 5 stars

Each segment was told with flair. The author did extremely well telling each part through the voices of different characters. His storytelling method is wonderfully condensed while still being informative.

Editing/Formatting: 5 Stars

There were no editing or Kindle formatting problems.

Overall: A terrific book that I enjoyed immensely. I have already purchased another book by this author that I am looking forward to.

Rating: PG for some adult situations

The Twenty Dollar Bill was an interesting, cleverly written book about all the hands a certain twenty dollar bill passes through. We get a snapshot of each person's life and want to know more about their lives. Each person's story is short, but we are able to get a "feel" for the person, whether they are basically good or not so good, and then we can imagine where his or her life is headed. Actual character development was limited due to only a few pages devoted to each person, but for the most part we can see a glimpse of their lives and their moral character.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it has led me to want to read more by this author. The formatting and quality of writing was very good. It was a quick, uncomplicated read and held my interest throughout. I recommend it, and you can't go wrong with the inexpensive price.

Have you ever received a tattered dollar bill and wondered where it has been? Or have you ever paid for something and wondered where that money will go next? Those are the questions that Elmore Hammes attempts to answer in The Twenty Dollar Bill.

The concept is simple, yet intriguing; Hammes traces the path of a twenty dollar bill as it weaves its way in and out of the lives of various people. He takes what could have been a flat story tracing the whereabouts of a particular bill and creates an enjoyable web of characters. In fact, the characters are more important than anything else in this book. There is no continuous plot. The book itself is an interwoven series of vignettes linked only by the presence of the twenty dollar bill.

The journey starts with Claire. She gives her last twenty dollar bill to a homeless man at the bus stop. She stops to hug him and consequently misses her bus. If Claire is late to work one more time she will be fired. As Claire boards the later bus, her fate seems to be sealed, but the reader can't be sure because she drifts out of the picture. Hammes then tells a bit of Joe's story. Joe is the homeless man from the bus stop. He plans to use the money for dinner at Ponderosa, but he loses the money to some young thugs before he gets the chance. The story continues as the bill passes from one person to another.

One of the most interesting things about this book is the variety of people that possess the bill. It starts with an average woman and then passes to a homeless man, onto thugs, and then to an elderly woman. The journey continues through the hands of a gas station clerk, a bouncer, a cabbie, a drug dealer, and a wealthy woman. The bill makes its way throughout the United States and even to Mexico. Then it comes back to America and finds its way back to Claire. Along the way it sees the start of several possible romances, a mission trip, and two people attempting to make a fresh start.

Each person has his or her own brief storyline. As the bill passes on, the cast of characters changes and a new story begins. At times this is frustrating to the reader. There is no real closure with any character or set of characters. I wanted to know what happened with some of the relationships beyond the few moments where the twenty dollar bill was in their lives. Amazingly, I did care about some of the characters despite their lack of development.

In The Twenty Dollar Bill, Elmore Hammes accomplishes exactly what he promises on the back of the book. He provides "a brief glimpse into the lives of ordinary people as they interact with one another." The resulting book is a fascinating look at the world around us that we never really see. It is a quick, enjoyable read that will make you think twice about the bills in your wallet.

I loved this book. I liked the fact it showed small glimpses of so many lives & then just cut off because the bill was passed on to someone else. Some might find this fustrating. Did they ever fall in love? Who won the game? Where did he get that wad of cash? etc etc. I'll give an example of what I mean. This story was not in the book but it should have been.

Let's say a man who has the $20 bill walks into a bar & orders a drink. He sees the waitress & thinks she is perhaps not Hollywood georgous but certainly next door georgous. She reminds him in some small way of his ex fiance' Cindy. He starts thinking about the past & how 6 days before their wedding she was killed in a car accident. He then starts thinking about how many times he has been to that bridge. The bridge that invites him every so often to end his suffering once & for all. "Tonight is the night" he says to no one in particular. He realizes he could never love again even if she was as beautiful as the waitress. He pays for his drink & gives the waitress his last $20 as a tip. No need in the money sitting at the bottom of a wattery grave. Of course he suddenly realizes what if he once again cannot summon the courage to jump. Then he will not even have bus fare to get home. No! He must do it. He exits the bar almost running toward the bridge before he changes his mind.

That would be the end of that portion of the book & it would start talking about the current holder of the bill, the waitress which we'll name Deborah.

This can be frustrating because we never learn if he jumped or not. So many unanswered questions in this book but it sure is a brilliant idea. One I wish I had thought of.

Highly recommended - does a great job of reminding you not to judge people. One of the best books I have read in a very long time - at any price, let alone for under $2!!

Ever think about following a twenty dollar bill on its journeys? Here's your chance. The bill passes from hand to hand. With every new hand, we meet a new person. With every pass of the bill, we see a single incident from two points of view. What do we learn? Judge not... because you can't really know the other, no matter how confident you are in your own judgments (and we are all oh so confident, aren't we?). That little understanding is the dawn of wisdom.

Halfway through I began to wonder how Hammes was going to bring this story home. Bills circulate for years but stories have to end. Suffice to say, he brought it home very nicely. A series of short stories becomes a single story.

I absolutely loved this book. I thought the premise was more than creative and the stories kept me engrossed from one to the next. This is the kind of book I will read again.

Elmore Hammes had a very creative idea and intriguing format for The Twenty Dollar Bill. The book follows a twenty dollar bill and each chapter is a glimpse into the life of the person in possession of said twenty dollar bill. I like to see how the bill changed hands as much as I like to hear about the holder's story. I admit that I was initially a bit wary of the premise but once I started reading I was so glad I gave it a chance because the book was brilliant. I was wary because I didn't know if it was somehow going to be told from the point of view of the twenty dollar bill or if the twenty dollar bill was going to have super powers and save everyone who came to hold it. Neither of these are the case, which I discovered early on and realized how much I was enjoying Mr. Hammes' style and format.

Because each chapter is a new character and new story, I felt the book was a quick read. There was something and someone completely different with each chapter. There were often times where I wanted a follow up on the character in a chapter. I wanted to know what happened after the end of the chapter or where the character wound up. However, I don't think this is a weakness of the book but part of the format. I kind of liked not having everyone's entire story. It was fun for me to decide where they wound up.

The description of the book from Amazon describes the book as "slices of life from the people you walk by every day - glimpses into how ordinary people interact, how they think, how they feel and how they love." And that is exactly what this book shows you in a well written, enjoyable journey.

Mr. Hammes, I look forward to reading more!

This was a terrific quick read! I read it in one long evening, mostly because I couldn't put it down. Although some reviewers said they would have liked to have more development of each character/story, I disagree. A twenty dollar bill changes hands very quickly (I know I never seem to have one very long!)and the pace of the story seemed very authentic. In fact, I'm amazed at just how much depth was included for each character. Each story was told in a way that made me understand the motiviations and troubles of each character. Like all people, each character had positives and negatives to their personalities. No one was all good or all bad. I really loved this book and I know the next time I hand over a $20 bill to someone, I'll be thinking more compassionatly of what that person's life might really be like. I picked this book up because I saw a reference to it on a Kindle forum, and I am very glad I did. There were some formatting issues, but they were not enough of them to take away from the enjoyment of the story.

Very easy to read, I loved the multitude of different characters and then there was also a happy ending.