Helpful Score: 5
If you've read the magnificent "House of Sand and Fog", this might be a bit of a disappointment. Many of the characters feel "revisited" form the earlier novel, (ie. the young woman living on the edge, the angry young man). There is, again, no pure delineation between good and evil--except for a blameless child. But---who serves up the disenfranchised better than Dubus?? He certainly kept me reading, and the intertwining of lives with 9/11 was ingenious. I would recommend this despite the caveats.
Helpful Score: 4
I am ambivalent about this book. I liked it, didn't like it, liked it, etc...alternating between the two until the end when it D-R-A-G-G-E-D on bit too long. The premise was interesting, some of it was predictable. I am saddened to think that Andre Dubus III may be a one-trick pony. Loved the House of Sand and Fog. This one I could have gone without reading and still have a happy life.
Helpful Score: 2
My book club read this book and it provided us with an extremely lively and thought provoking discussion. The main characters were well developed and the plot of the book was chilling. It's certainly not a happy story but it will give you something to think about.
Helpful Score: 2
I couldn't put this book down! His writing style is so engaging...seemingly unrelated characters come together in a way that is both riveting and disturbing.
I found this book very easy to read and it kept my interest. I wanted to find out how each main character tied together at the end. I was disappointed with the ending as I feel it was unfinished in some way. Each character had their ending; yet the connection of each felt insignificant to the other. There also seemed to be a lot of fill in the writing, which I know makes for a novel but this one just seemed to have too much and could have been a short story. If there would have been a better ending I could have given it 4 stars.
Garden of Last Days is an incredible novel that kept me engaged to the last page. I hesitate to call it a thriller because all of the action happens inside the characters' minds. Dubus' genius is reminding us that we all have stories -- every single character who is reduced to a stereotype on TV has a story, even terrorists, strippers, and kidnappers.
