Helpful Score: 3
I found this book to be quite boring. It followed the dull life of a boy whose hopes were smashed after tragedy stikes the family. The years span from 1967-2001 and the author jumped around in multiple years in the same chapter with flashbacks, which had a tendancy to make it hard to know exactly what time frame you were reading about. Dull and depressing.
Helpful Score: 2
I have to be quite honest. This was a quick read because the author has an easy flow to her writting. However, the book was, in my opinion very boring. It accounts the life of a teen boy who works in a clothing store, whose bright future was crushed by a family tragedy and breakdown. The tragedy doesn't even become apparent until the middle of the book....The back of the book leads you to believe it will be quite gripping, however i have to disagree... I hate giving "bad" reviews, but this one is just so-so. Still, I cannot wait to read Flock's other 2.. (Emma & Me and But Inside I'm Screaming)..i think they will make up for this one!
Helpful Score: 2
Boring, boring, boring. I kept with it hoping it would get better but it just didn't. Bouncing back & forth from decade to decade just makes it worse.
Helpful Score: 1
Found this book very hard to read. I read into 50 pages and coulnt go on. It was very boring. I typically really love Elizabeth Flocks work just couldnt get through this one.
Helpful Score: 1
I absolutley loved Me and Emma, also by Elizabeth Flock, and I was so excited to read this book from her. It was a huge let down, and not the same grade of book at all. Very boring, plot less book about a guy's daily life. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it never really did. I hope "But Inside I'm Screaming" will be better.
Helpful Score: 1
This book was quietly depressing. In some ways, it reminded me of the movie _Garden State_, but without the humour, the romance and the redemption. Henry Powell's life of quiet but intense desperation was well written, but in the end there was no real hope for him. This novel was more of an elongated character study than anything else and while there was wrong with it per se, it was just too depressing to really enjoy.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED ELIABETH FLOCK AFTER READING, "ME AND EMMA" HOWEVER, THIS BOOK IS NOT EXACTLY THE SAME CALIBER IN MY OPINION. WHILE IT TRIES TO KEEP THE READER INTERESTED BY OFFERING DIFFERENT VIEWS INTO THE MAIN CHARACTERS LIFE, IT GETS QUITE CONFUSING. I WOULDN'T SAY IT IS THE WORST I HAVE READ BUT BY FAR, NOT ONE OF THE BEST.
I had to sleep on this on before I wrote this review...That being said I didn't hate it but, I felt compelled to finish it-I wanted to know what happened to this main character.
I guess it had a message of not letting life pass you by....too close to my own reality.
I would love to know what other people think of this book.
By the way-I like Elizabeth Flock's writing because I did get sucked into the story....
I guess it had a message of not letting life pass you by....too close to my own reality.
I would love to know what other people think of this book.
By the way-I like Elizabeth Flock's writing because I did get sucked into the story....
Henry Powell, the middle child of a family with three sons, is destined to lead a sad and meaningless life when he is responsible for the death of his younger brother when he is very young. His father is ultimately a failure as a businessman, a father and husband. Henry's mother is an alcoholic whose aspirations to becoming part of a "higher" social status fail and her life spins out of control following the death of her youngest child. Henry shows early promise as a high school athlete, but his athletic scholarship to a noted university is thwarted when he is needed at home to care for his mother, and ultimately becomes her primary caretaker. He settles permanently into what was a part-time job at a men's clothing store while he was in high school and remains there until he is middle-aged and the store closes. Henry is constantly astounded by the rapid passage of time as he reconnects with former classmates who have succeeded in life. This is a tragic story of a life never fully lived with the recurrent theme of what might have been for Henry.
To everyone on the outside, the Powells are a happy family, but then a devastating accident destroys their fragile facade. When seven-year-old Henry is blamed for the tragedy, he tries desperately to make his parents happy again. As Henry grows up, he is full of potential - a talented sportsman with an academic mind and a thirst for adventure. However, Henry soon begins to question if the guilt his parents have burdened him with since childhood has left him ultimately unable to escape his anguished family and their painful past.
Most people might not enjoy reading books with depressing plots, but I am not one of them. I enjoyed this book very much and found it to be very well written. It was perhaps a little slower to get into than I would have liked, however in my opinion, the plot picked up appreciably about halfway through. I will say that I felt intensely sorry for Henry and all that he went through in his life. I give Everything Must Go by Elizabeth Flock an A! and will certainly be on the lookout for more books by this author to read.
Most people might not enjoy reading books with depressing plots, but I am not one of them. I enjoyed this book very much and found it to be very well written. It was perhaps a little slower to get into than I would have liked, however in my opinion, the plot picked up appreciably about halfway through. I will say that I felt intensely sorry for Henry and all that he went through in his life. I give Everything Must Go by Elizabeth Flock an A! and will certainly be on the lookout for more books by this author to read.
I was looking forward to reading this book, especially after I read Me & Emma. However, this one lost me fairly early on. I just wasn't pulled into the story as much as I was hoping for. It was very dry & boring to me. I only read a few chapters which I had to force myself to finish that much.
