The Burgess Boys, Elizabeth Strout (2.5)
This book centers around two brothers and their sister and
how a tragedy early in their lives influenced their personalities and actions
in present day. There are a few things about this book that I didn’t like.
Firstly, the main ‘surprise’ seemed rather obvious from the beginning.
Secondly, the majority of characters, while having ample time to be fleshed
out, still came across as two-dimensional. I do think the story had a timely
subject: small towns dealing with the large influx of immigrants. And the
author looked at both sides of the issue fairly. Unfortunately, the cartoonish
main characters overshadowed some of the more interesting characters (the
Somali shop owner, the female minister). I’m surprised this book was a New York
Times bestseller, but the author did win a Pulitzer for her other work, ‘Olive
Kitteridge’.
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