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The Second Coming
When 13-year-old Jolie Aspern drops her phone onto the subway tracks in 2011, her estranged dad, Ethan, seems like the furthest thing from her mind. A convicted felon and recovering addict, Ethan has always struggled to see past himself. But then a call from his ex makes him fear their daughter's in deeper trouble than anyone realises. Believing he's the only one who can save her, he decides to return to New York with a the whole of his life, its hard-won triumphs and harrowing mistakes...
So begins the intimate epic of Jolie and child and adult, apart and together, different yet the same. Their journey toward each other will face opposition from grandparents and siblings and friends. It will strain connections with roommates and benefactors and a probation officer desperate to help. It will push Jolie out past her depth with a mysterious admirer, and Ethan in over his head with his first love, Jolie's mom. But as father and daughter struggle to find their footing, new vistas from a surf break in mid-'90s Delaware to group therapy during the Great Recession, from an encampment at Occupy Wall Street to a HoJo on Maryland's Eastern Shore, from the heights of the Brooklyn Bridge to horizons seldom seen in fiction.
The Second Coming is at once an incandescent feat of storytelling and an exploration of an enduring Can we ever really outrun the past, stay true to ourselves while still chasing something new? Full of music and pathos and passion, this beautifully attuned work of fiction makes good Garth Risk Hallberg's extraordinary promise.
So begins the intimate epic of Jolie and child and adult, apart and together, different yet the same. Their journey toward each other will face opposition from grandparents and siblings and friends. It will strain connections with roommates and benefactors and a probation officer desperate to help. It will push Jolie out past her depth with a mysterious admirer, and Ethan in over his head with his first love, Jolie's mom. But as father and daughter struggle to find their footing, new vistas from a surf break in mid-'90s Delaware to group therapy during the Great Recession, from an encampment at Occupy Wall Street to a HoJo on Maryland's Eastern Shore, from the heights of the Brooklyn Bridge to horizons seldom seen in fiction.
The Second Coming is at once an incandescent feat of storytelling and an exploration of an enduring Can we ever really outrun the past, stay true to ourselves while still chasing something new? Full of music and pathos and passion, this beautifully attuned work of fiction makes good Garth Risk Hallberg's extraordinary promise.
609 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 28, 2024
51 people are currently reading
4660 people want to read
About the author
Garth Risk Hallberg
11 books487 followersGarth Risk Hallberg’s stories and essays have appeared in Best New American Voices, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Prairie Schooner, New York Magazine, Glimmer Train, Slate, Canteen, and The Pinch, as well as at The Millions, where he’s a contributing editor.
A 2008 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Fiction and a two-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s Balakian award for excellence in book reviewing, Garth teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. Hallberg earned his BA at Washington University in St. Louis, and an MFA at New York University.
A 2008 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Fiction and a two-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s Balakian award for excellence in book reviewing, Garth teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. Hallberg earned his BA at Washington University in St. Louis, and an MFA at New York University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
May 29, 2024
At its heart, the story here is one of domestic despair. A 13-year-old New Yorker named Jolie starts to listen to a bootleg copy of Prince’s “The Second Coming” when she accidentally drops her iPhone on the subway tracks. Before anyone can stop her, she climbs down to retrieve it. But as the next train approaches, Jolie considers the whole dismal ordeal of her life. “All she had to do to change that was to stay here with the calm,” the narrator says, “to close her eyes and still the grasshopper mind and see her research through to what now seemed its logical conclusion: that even a nothing was preferable to this something.”
Fortunately, a bystander pulls her up and out of the way of the subway car at the last second. Her mother wants to imagine that this near-fatal encounter was merely a lapse of judgment — Teenagers and their phones! — but we know Jolie has been drinking and feeling dangerously depressed. Those are conditions well understood by her estranged father, Ethan — “the lord of misrule” — who’s been trying to rebuild his life in California. When he hears of his daughter’s troubles, he recognizes the symptoms of his own drug addiction and self-destruction. Though he hasn’t seen Jolie for several years, he becomes convinced that he can finally help her, that he can prove to her that life is worth the struggle. “Certain kinds of hopelessness,” he claims, “are almost a precondition for a second act.”
Warmed by that naive resurgence of fatherly concern, Ethan comes to New York and — without his ex-wife’s permission — takes Jolie on a Thanksgiving trip so that they can reconnect with each other and his roots in Maryland. As divorced-dad adventures go, this is a madcap opera of dysfunction set in the key of an Amber Alert. Jolie has grown so angry and depressed that she refuses to speak the entire time, and nothing goes as hoped. But the journey provides lots of opportunities for Ethan to reflect on his upbringing, his precipitous slide into addiction and his. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
Fortunately, a bystander pulls her up and out of the way of the subway car at the last second. Her mother wants to imagine that this near-fatal encounter was merely a lapse of judgment — Teenagers and their phones! — but we know Jolie has been drinking and feeling dangerously depressed. Those are conditions well understood by her estranged father, Ethan — “the lord of misrule” — who’s been trying to rebuild his life in California. When he hears of his daughter’s troubles, he recognizes the symptoms of his own drug addiction and self-destruction. Though he hasn’t seen Jolie for several years, he becomes convinced that he can finally help her, that he can prove to her that life is worth the struggle. “Certain kinds of hopelessness,” he claims, “are almost a precondition for a second act.”
Warmed by that naive resurgence of fatherly concern, Ethan comes to New York and — without his ex-wife’s permission — takes Jolie on a Thanksgiving trip so that they can reconnect with each other and his roots in Maryland. As divorced-dad adventures go, this is a madcap opera of dysfunction set in the key of an Amber Alert. Jolie has grown so angry and depressed that she refuses to speak the entire time, and nothing goes as hoped. But the journey provides lots of opportunities for Ethan to reflect on his upbringing, his precipitous slide into addiction and his. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
March 28, 2025
3.5 stars, rounded upwards. Garth Risk Hallberg is the author of the epic, memorable novel City on Fire, which was among my short list of favorites the year it was published. My thanks go to NetGalley and Alfred A. Knopf for the invitation to read and review his new novel, The Second Coming. This book is for sale now.
The story begins in New York City when Jolie, who is thirteen years old, is nearly struck by a train. Her parents are divorced, and she hasn’t seen her father in quite a while. Ethan is addicted, and his cravings make him unreliable. He makes promises he won’t keep, and Jolie has more or less given up on him, but her brush with death convinces him that she is in a darker place than her mother realizes, and that only he can save her.
Heaven help the girl!
The episode is the beginning of a twisted, bizarre odyssey. Jolie’s mother is distracted, not paying a lot of attention to her daughter, and Jolie becomes involved with a complete stranger, young man much older than herself. As a reader, I became frustrated and wanted to shake Jolie’s mama and tell her to wake up and take care of her kid. Just because they look grown at 13, doesn’t mean they are grown.
On glorious display here is Hallberg’s remarkable word smithery. The man has a gift, and he’s not afraid to use it. Portions of this book were a joy to read, simply because his prose is matchless.
For me, however, the plot and characterization of Ethan got in my way. Addicts and alcoholics in literature are becoming a trope, and I had vowed to myself to steer clear of them. I read the synopsis of this one and knew what I was walking into when I accepted the galley; I had hoped the author’s talent and skill would take a tired old plot point and make it seem new. He partially succeeded; I didn’t throw my reader across the room as soon as the addiction material appeared. But I didn’t love it the way that I loved City on Fire. Also, large portions of this are in epistolary form, from letters that Ethan writes to his daughter, and although they have been edited down considerably between the galley I read and the polished, finished result, they still got in my way.
So, this is a competent effort, but not a magical one. If you enjoy fiction with addicted characters, or if you like books about fathers and daughters, this book may be a happier experience for you than for me. However, I was expecting great things, and I came away feeling somewhat disappointed.
The story begins in New York City when Jolie, who is thirteen years old, is nearly struck by a train. Her parents are divorced, and she hasn’t seen her father in quite a while. Ethan is addicted, and his cravings make him unreliable. He makes promises he won’t keep, and Jolie has more or less given up on him, but her brush with death convinces him that she is in a darker place than her mother realizes, and that only he can save her.
Heaven help the girl!
The episode is the beginning of a twisted, bizarre odyssey. Jolie’s mother is distracted, not paying a lot of attention to her daughter, and Jolie becomes involved with a complete stranger, young man much older than herself. As a reader, I became frustrated and wanted to shake Jolie’s mama and tell her to wake up and take care of her kid. Just because they look grown at 13, doesn’t mean they are grown.
On glorious display here is Hallberg’s remarkable word smithery. The man has a gift, and he’s not afraid to use it. Portions of this book were a joy to read, simply because his prose is matchless.
For me, however, the plot and characterization of Ethan got in my way. Addicts and alcoholics in literature are becoming a trope, and I had vowed to myself to steer clear of them. I read the synopsis of this one and knew what I was walking into when I accepted the galley; I had hoped the author’s talent and skill would take a tired old plot point and make it seem new. He partially succeeded; I didn’t throw my reader across the room as soon as the addiction material appeared. But I didn’t love it the way that I loved City on Fire. Also, large portions of this are in epistolary form, from letters that Ethan writes to his daughter, and although they have been edited down considerably between the galley I read and the polished, finished result, they still got in my way.
So, this is a competent effort, but not a magical one. If you enjoy fiction with addicted characters, or if you like books about fathers and daughters, this book may be a happier experience for you than for me. However, I was expecting great things, and I came away feeling somewhat disappointed.
July 8, 2024
After reading this book, I can't help but wonder is Garth Risk Hallberg the second coming of David Foster Wallace (who I apparently renamed David Wallace Foster in my aging mind)?
So if you like Wallace's work, then this might be up your alley. Unfortunately, while I have slogged through Infinite Jest and The Pale King, I really am not a fan.
This novel follows a father/daughter relationship. The father, Ethan, is a drug user and no longer with Jolie's mom. He hasn't been a big presence in her life, but when she nearly gets hit by a train while attempting to retrieve her cell phone, he determines it's time to get involved.
It sounds like a great premise, and Hallberg does have some interesting observations on human nature, lots of contemporary references and an incredible vocabulary. But sophisticated writing doesn't necessarily make for great reading if the plot has minimal suspense and you don't really care about the characters. Something about the character development felt very flat . . .
My hope is that this book just wasn't for me, but it might be great for others. I read the first chapter and really considered DNFing it because I could tell I wasn't going to love it. But I persisted, and the payoff was definitely not enough given the length. Unsatisfying overall.
So if you like Wallace's work, then this might be up your alley. Unfortunately, while I have slogged through Infinite Jest and The Pale King, I really am not a fan.
This novel follows a father/daughter relationship. The father, Ethan, is a drug user and no longer with Jolie's mom. He hasn't been a big presence in her life, but when she nearly gets hit by a train while attempting to retrieve her cell phone, he determines it's time to get involved.
It sounds like a great premise, and Hallberg does have some interesting observations on human nature, lots of contemporary references and an incredible vocabulary. But sophisticated writing doesn't necessarily make for great reading if the plot has minimal suspense and you don't really care about the characters. Something about the character development felt very flat . . .
My hope is that this book just wasn't for me, but it might be great for others. I read the first chapter and really considered DNFing it because I could tell I wasn't going to love it. But I persisted, and the payoff was definitely not enough given the length. Unsatisfying overall.
March 22, 2024
I was provided an advanced readers' copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
I am a father. I am an academic who is also a former actor. I am a recovering alcoholic. All these parts of my identity made me identify keenly and at times painfully with Ethan, the repeatedly failing father figure at the heart of The Second Coming. Ethan’s daughter Jolie, fights her own battles with alcoholism, self-harm and mental health. And Ethan’s ex-wife Sarah negotiates her own chilly relationship with Ethan, Jolie, and one of the hapless English teachers at Jolie’s high school. All three are forced to wrestle with their individual and collective demons when Jolie almost is hit by a New York subway train and Ethan takes her on a wild trip out West.
The Second Coming (which has nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with the artist formerly known as Prince) was almost a five-star novel. Hallberg is brilliant at inhabiting the characters and voices of his very different protagonists and beyond, from the three main characters to Sarah’s privileged Jewish parents and Ethan’s stoner buddies from high school. He also experiments with mixed media to varying degrees of success (the typed letter on crumpled paper at the beginning of the novel was hard to read on an e-reader, for example). And the last third of the book, an extended narrative about a wild ride on LSD, so successfully mirrored a bad trip that I got bored and wanted to get off the ride. But on the whole, I keenly felt the pain of Ethan trying (and failing) to escape his crippling addiction, Sarah trying to maintain her profession while feeling alone and hopeless at relationships, and Jolie just trying to make it through the hell of being a sensitive kid in the painful throes of adolescence. It made me cherish my sobriety, be thankful for my wife, and hug my kid a lot closer. And that made this book a win for me.
I am a father. I am an academic who is also a former actor. I am a recovering alcoholic. All these parts of my identity made me identify keenly and at times painfully with Ethan, the repeatedly failing father figure at the heart of The Second Coming. Ethan’s daughter Jolie, fights her own battles with alcoholism, self-harm and mental health. And Ethan’s ex-wife Sarah negotiates her own chilly relationship with Ethan, Jolie, and one of the hapless English teachers at Jolie’s high school. All three are forced to wrestle with their individual and collective demons when Jolie almost is hit by a New York subway train and Ethan takes her on a wild trip out West.
The Second Coming (which has nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with the artist formerly known as Prince) was almost a five-star novel. Hallberg is brilliant at inhabiting the characters and voices of his very different protagonists and beyond, from the three main characters to Sarah’s privileged Jewish parents and Ethan’s stoner buddies from high school. He also experiments with mixed media to varying degrees of success (the typed letter on crumpled paper at the beginning of the novel was hard to read on an e-reader, for example). And the last third of the book, an extended narrative about a wild ride on LSD, so successfully mirrored a bad trip that I got bored and wanted to get off the ride. But on the whole, I keenly felt the pain of Ethan trying (and failing) to escape his crippling addiction, Sarah trying to maintain her profession while feeling alone and hopeless at relationships, and Jolie just trying to make it through the hell of being a sensitive kid in the painful throes of adolescence. It made me cherish my sobriety, be thankful for my wife, and hug my kid a lot closer. And that made this book a win for me.
April 1, 2024
This book was painfully written. It was one of the books that screamed, “but I’m intelligent!” instead of telling a good story. Part one was difficult to read, but Part two became a never ending monologue that just rambled on in a manner that made my teeth itch. I don’t understand the appeal of authors/stories that have to cram as many Scrabble words in as possible instead of just giving an entertaining or interesting plot. It was honestly difficult to manage the 15% of the book that I managed. Please write for people that have less than an Ivy League education.
August 9, 2024
My father used to like to tell me a story about growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, in the good ol’ days of the thirties and forties. As I remember it, he’d take a quarter that he earned on his paper route, pay a nickel to take the bus into Brooklyn, walk to Ebbets Field, pay a nickel to see the Dodgers play, pay a nickel for a hot dog at the ballpark, pay a nickel to take the bus home, and still have a nickel left over. When I heard this growing up, I thought the point of the story was about how things used to be cheaper back then – what miraculous things a nickel could do – and also why I wasn’t going to the Mets game. But now when I reflect back on it, and now that I’m a father myself, I think that maybe the point was about independence, about how he was allowed to go and do these things without it raising any eyebrows, and maybe, beyond that, about how independence is the true telos of parenting and that I should just take myself to the Mets game already. I was put back in mind of dad’s nickel story as I read through The Second Coming, a novel about two people, Ethan Aspern and Sarah Kupferberg, who become parents too young, and who struggle to live up to their roles as parents, and who really struggle to allow their daughter, Jolie, to achieve independence. What we get here, delivered to us in a broken chronology, is Ethan’s story of drug use and addiction and fatherhood and escape right up next to Jolie’s pseudo–attempted suicide and drug use and burgeoning addiction and bottomless resentment and desire to escape. Of course, Hallberg’s idea is to show just how parallel these characters’ lives are, and this is done in contrast to Sarah, the overachieving overbearing mother who neither forgives Ethan, who leaves them when Jolie is three to keep the consequences of his addiction from really ruining their lives, nor trusts Jolie. The dynamic, then, isn’t exactly caustic, but is certainly strained, and so when Jolie is rescued from the subway tracks and Ethan comes back from California to check on her, that strain is ratcheted up, and then when Jolie sees one of her teachers leaving the apartment she lives in with her mother (which we understand means that he, the teacher, has been seeing Sarah, which he has), she wigs out, stops speaking, and goes to stay with her grandparents uptown. Oh boy, so and then Ethan, who stays in New York and lives with a guy that his old probie puts him in touch with, wants to spend Thanksgiving with Jolie who hates him and is now not speaking, and he takes her across state lines (a big no-no) to Ocean City, Maryland, his hometown, where he wants to see his sister and her wife and their adopted son and go to a funeral service for their recently deceased father, everything comes to a head. Ethan, though now sober, is back where his addictions began, and his sister is none-too-pleased to see him and he has to keep Jolie way longer than what was agreed to, meaning that now Sarah is getting the old probie involved (oh yeah and he sends his nephew, who he’s never met before, into a diabetic coma at thanksgiving dinner), and he and Jolie accidently drop acid. All of this, all of it, is about parenthood, about how there comes a time at which, whether you’re ready or not, you have to let your kid be independent, which is also the time when if you resist and try to hold on too long or too hard that you start to cause the problems you imagine you’re mitigating by holding on—it’s the nickel story all over again. There are few weeks that pass that I don’t want to call my dad up to ask him something.
June 17, 2024
This is an emotional piece of literary fiction that skirts the line of experimental fiction with grace. The story is told in a slight epistolary fashion with letters between a father and his daughter. The father, Ethan, is a recovering drug addict that has been absent for much of his daughter’s life. When he hears of an incident involving his daughter, he seems to think his daughter needs more help than the mother is aware of. He packs up his quiet sober life and rushes back to New York to be there for her. Jolie, the daughter, is at a crossroads in life and trying to find her way. The lure of alcohol is leading her down a dangerous road, but it seems like no one can see her pain. Angry at her father for leaving she wants to have nothing to do with him but somehow, they find a way to connect with each other in essays about their pasts and why drugs and alcohol seemed like the only escape. Ethan pours his heart into stories of his past telling Jolie stories about his teenage years and the joy that was meeting her mother and the few years he got to be her father. Jolie cobbles together a narrative of her life as a teenager through stories of everyone around her as well as herself. Understanding is built as the pages turn and we see a father that has messed up, but never gives up. The entire novel takes you deep into their lives and sucks you up in the slow moving trainwreck of their relationship. The letters allow each of them to see their faults, but it also shows the pit of grief they both experienced without the love they so desperately needed in their lives. This book was extremely well written and definitely plays with emotions. It offers a candid look into the lives of those who are broken and shows that there is always a path to redemption, but it is usually hard and takes time.
May 28, 2024
Thank you so much PRH Audio + Knopf for the free audiobook and gifted copy.
My thoughts:
Ok I had a really long winded review and decided to completely erase it. It took me a long while to get through this book… I can’t even count how many times I started… just to take a break from it. Not only is it thick, but it was difficult for me to get through… not my favorite writing style. I ended up listening to the audiobook and that’s how I miraculously finished it but now that’s it’s over… I should have DNFd it. It was a miss for me but maybe it’ll be a hit for you! It’s out today! 5/28/24!
Happy reading 📖
My thoughts:
Ok I had a really long winded review and decided to completely erase it. It took me a long while to get through this book… I can’t even count how many times I started… just to take a break from it. Not only is it thick, but it was difficult for me to get through… not my favorite writing style. I ended up listening to the audiobook and that’s how I miraculously finished it but now that’s it’s over… I should have DNFd it. It was a miss for me but maybe it’ll be a hit for you! It’s out today! 5/28/24!
Happy reading 📖
June 25, 2024
This review is a tricky one for me to write because this book was so middle of the road for me. There were things I really disliked but some parts really spoke to me and I found myself loving.
I really liked the author’s writing style! I think he is a very talented writer and with more editing, this book could have easily been 4-5 stars for me. However, it was way too long. I do not shy away from a long book when it works but this one didn’t need to be as long as it was to get the story told. Even with over 600 pages, the character development fell a bit flat for me. I found myself not understanding the character’s motivations or feeling like I was really getting in their head. The author had some really good insights on human nature at times but overall it seemed like it was pretty disjointed in the story telling. I found myself taking breaks from this book several times during the time I read it.
The whole end was a bit of a slog and confusing too. It jumped around so wildly that I found myself getting lost.
I don’t think this is a book that will work for most people but there will be a few out there that will love it.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc.
I really liked the author’s writing style! I think he is a very talented writer and with more editing, this book could have easily been 4-5 stars for me. However, it was way too long. I do not shy away from a long book when it works but this one didn’t need to be as long as it was to get the story told. Even with over 600 pages, the character development fell a bit flat for me. I found myself not understanding the character’s motivations or feeling like I was really getting in their head. The author had some really good insights on human nature at times but overall it seemed like it was pretty disjointed in the story telling. I found myself taking breaks from this book several times during the time I read it.
The whole end was a bit of a slog and confusing too. It jumped around so wildly that I found myself getting lost.
I don’t think this is a book that will work for most people but there will be a few out there that will love it.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc.
August 4, 2024
I won this from Goodreads. Such a disappointment! I had high hopes for this novel based upon the blurb on the dust jacket, but I just couldn’t get over the incessant rambling in this book. 600 pages of nonstop free association! The author seemed to want to show the reader how smart he is by using words that I had never heard before(and I have a pretty good vocabulary.) The last 100 or so pages I had to skim, but I gave myself permission for this since by then I was 500 pages in and just couldn’t anymore.
August 4, 2024
Can the people we love ever really change?
Know going in that this is not a religious book, despite the title. This focuses on the estranged relationship between a troubled teenage girl, her addict father, and her helpless and hopeless mother. The reading is sophisticated and refined, it requires attention and focus, time to take in each word and page. I found parts to be difficult to get through more because of the writing style that I am not accustomed to, not because of the content. I am impressed by the talent the author has, and found that the style greatly affected the content to be something more grand and profound than another style would not have been able to do. Though it was not an easy read and was oftentimes complex, I was drawn to the story, to the characters and their lives, and to the mental and physical journey daughter and father endure and embrace.
“An intimate epic that plunges us deep into the lives of a teenage girl and her father as they navigate love, grief, betrayal, and redemption.”
#thesecondcoming #netgalley #bookreview
Know going in that this is not a religious book, despite the title. This focuses on the estranged relationship between a troubled teenage girl, her addict father, and her helpless and hopeless mother. The reading is sophisticated and refined, it requires attention and focus, time to take in each word and page. I found parts to be difficult to get through more because of the writing style that I am not accustomed to, not because of the content. I am impressed by the talent the author has, and found that the style greatly affected the content to be something more grand and profound than another style would not have been able to do. Though it was not an easy read and was oftentimes complex, I was drawn to the story, to the characters and their lives, and to the mental and physical journey daughter and father endure and embrace.
“An intimate epic that plunges us deep into the lives of a teenage girl and her father as they navigate love, grief, betrayal, and redemption.”
#thesecondcoming #netgalley #bookreview
September 2, 2024
The author has an impressive vocabulary, which he used extensively to voice one of the main characters, a man who barely got through high school and dropped out of college!
The author also spent so much time trying to be clever in his writing, I didn’t know what was going on in several occasions.
I really should have given up on this book early on, but I kept hoping it would improve. Then I had invested so much time in it, I felt compelled to see how it came out. Not worth it. You -sort of- find out what happens to a couple of the characters years later, but you get no sense of how they got to the end of the 500 page story to the final chapter. Did they face the music, get counseling, run away?
Not a good book in my opinion.
The author also spent so much time trying to be clever in his writing, I didn’t know what was going on in several occasions.
I really should have given up on this book early on, but I kept hoping it would improve. Then I had invested so much time in it, I felt compelled to see how it came out. Not worth it. You -sort of- find out what happens to a couple of the characters years later, but you get no sense of how they got to the end of the 500 page story to the final chapter. Did they face the music, get counseling, run away?
Not a good book in my opinion.
July 26, 2025
A long summer read, but a bit wordy and a bit too long. I felt for both Jolie and Ethan, so good portraits of the main characters.
June 3, 2024
The literary equivalent of a syncopated jazz ensemble; written with confusing depth and timing I was unable to relate to. One of those books I felt as though I was missing something, lots of ramblings without speech punctuation.
May 26, 2024
This would have absolutely been a 5, but I really struggled to get through it. The writing was beautiful, challenging at times. The story took us through three generations of a family. It was a good book, but slow. So so slow. Maybe it was the heaviness of it all. The darkness of the characters and what they are hiding. The lack of timeline or mixed up one. I’m not really sure. I do know that I did enjoy this epic, but also disliked it in many ways.
Jolie is a teenager, the product of two other teenagers, now divorced and estranged. While her father, Ethan, is hiding out on Catalina Island in the Pacific Ocean, and her mother is hiding in plain view, Jolie is struggling to keep her life together. She’s recently found alcohol to be her best friend, blurring the realities of her world in New York City. Jolie is unhappy. Her father is gone, her mother virtually absent, and here she is, trying to navigate her teens, feeling all but alone.
Throughout the novel we will find out how Jolie’s parents got together. How her father ended up hiding out on an exclusive island off California. The grandparents, Albert & Eleanor, and their reluctance to accept their son-in-law, and their adoration of their granddaughter. Father Ethan’s long since passed mother & father, and his sister. The people who pass through all their lives and somehow shape Jolie’s in the process. And finally, how Jolie eventually finds herself.
As I said, this was an excruciatingly hard novel to finish. I don’t know why it felt like slogging through mud the entire time. Especially since the story was, in many ways, really quite amazing. It gets a 5 for the story, 3 for the pace. A novel that I’m happy I read, but glad I won’t be reading again.
Jolie is a teenager, the product of two other teenagers, now divorced and estranged. While her father, Ethan, is hiding out on Catalina Island in the Pacific Ocean, and her mother is hiding in plain view, Jolie is struggling to keep her life together. She’s recently found alcohol to be her best friend, blurring the realities of her world in New York City. Jolie is unhappy. Her father is gone, her mother virtually absent, and here she is, trying to navigate her teens, feeling all but alone.
Throughout the novel we will find out how Jolie’s parents got together. How her father ended up hiding out on an exclusive island off California. The grandparents, Albert & Eleanor, and their reluctance to accept their son-in-law, and their adoration of their granddaughter. Father Ethan’s long since passed mother & father, and his sister. The people who pass through all their lives and somehow shape Jolie’s in the process. And finally, how Jolie eventually finds herself.
As I said, this was an excruciatingly hard novel to finish. I don’t know why it felt like slogging through mud the entire time. Especially since the story was, in many ways, really quite amazing. It gets a 5 for the story, 3 for the pace. A novel that I’m happy I read, but glad I won’t be reading again.
February 25, 2025
It's been a decade since Garth Risk Hallberg wrote one of the finest debut novels of recent memory, City on Fire, about the New York blackout of 1977 and the beginning of the punk era surrounding that summer. This second novel bounces us in time among 1997, 2001, 2011, 2021, and a couple random eras, zooming between various New York boroughs and some forgotten small towns near Ocean City, N.J. We are introduced to the extended families of Ethan Aspern and Sarah Kupferberg, mostly to give us context for the brilliant daughter they spawned, one Jolie Aspern, who would remain the primary protagonist were not dad always trying to steal the spotlight. It's disheartening to see many reviewers give this a meager three stars, the curse of the dreaded sophomore slump. I thought the writing was hilarious and compassionate, and only awarded four stars instead of a full five due to the presence of Ethan Aspern, a kind-hearted soul who nevertheless begs us to have him arrested and anointed at the same time.
The first 100 pages or so of the book are packed with such beautiful descriptive passages and such biting sight gags, one might expecf this to be a shorter version of Hallberg's debut, were it not for the fact that every few pages, the unsinkable Ethan makes another strategic error, giving the reader the rolling eyes one experiences in Mr. Magoo episodes or in the muckups of Karl Ove Knausgaard's multi-volume autobiography - Oh, Magoo/Karl Ove/Ethan, you've done it again! It might make Ethan just another sad sack, were it not for what his probation officer realizes early on: The addictive personality (which Ethan most definitely is), and the narcissistic half-sociopath (ditto) is formed in adolescence, or just before, often partially as the result of trauma. But the self-centered being that doesn't realize he can play any causative roles in the lives of those around him is a problem child that is formed between ages 3 and 6, so Ethan is stuck well before he ever discovers drinking or drugs. It took me long enough in my own life to find empathy for the addictive personality or the narcissist, and I still struggle with keeping that empathy front and center. In the case of Ethan who does not truly recognize other people, I almost never turn empathy up past the simmer stage.
Was losing his mother to cancer in his teen years a factor, or maybe the fact that she was working on an odd video project called Other People? Maybe, but Ethan is definitely not a changeling destroyed by trauma. Sarah, unlucky enough to accidentally fall in love with the still-teenage Ethan during a surfing excursion, has to learn to make excuses for him just the same as his sister and parents have, until everyone gets tired of making those excuses.
When Jolie is 13 going on 14, she engages in adolescent self-destructive behavior that is quite the norm for many of her age, but Ethan (who has been an absent father for a while) takes this as his project to "save" his daughter. The bulk of the novel hovers around the shape this salvation takes, with Ethan's actions becoming less and less excusable, while at the same time we realize Jolie is gaining a lot of resilience and useful insight by going along with this vastly-misdirected makeover project.
The penultimate section of the book, "The Music Must Change," deserves special mention, because Hallberg has brought together stories from the different eras as the miniature anecdotes of songs from an imaginary mixtape, allowing segments of the story to live under the declarations of "Love Will Tear Us Apart," "Bigmouth Strikes Again," "Call the Police," "Raised on Robbery." The fact that Jolie takes control of her adult life at the dedication of her dead grandfather's boat, by playing the violin riff from The Who's "Baba O'Reilly," sounds like it might be the corniest scene in the world, but it works well enough to make the reader cry (at least if the reader knows most of the songs from this mixtape). Yeah, we are still left with the mess that is Ethan Aspern, but at least he makes a cool getaway in the midst of keystone cops giving chase.
Jolie gets a final word in the epilogue of the novel by revisiting her grandmother's Other People video as a new mother in 2022. The suffering never goes away, but our lives are not our own. Jolie is giving voice to my firm belief that psychologists and motivational speakers are utterly wrong when they say you own the story of your own life. Your story is the sum total of your own experience and those who are closest to you. And if you try to edit out the sad or embarrassing parts of your own life, the people around you have the right to go back and add those parts right back in. This novel misses the grandeur of City on Fire because it never quite moves past the reality of what a dickhead Ethan is. But it is a wonderful work, showing us how adolescents can achieve a new kind of maturity in acknowledging Other People.
The first 100 pages or so of the book are packed with such beautiful descriptive passages and such biting sight gags, one might expecf this to be a shorter version of Hallberg's debut, were it not for the fact that every few pages, the unsinkable Ethan makes another strategic error, giving the reader the rolling eyes one experiences in Mr. Magoo episodes or in the muckups of Karl Ove Knausgaard's multi-volume autobiography - Oh, Magoo/Karl Ove/Ethan, you've done it again! It might make Ethan just another sad sack, were it not for what his probation officer realizes early on: The addictive personality (which Ethan most definitely is), and the narcissistic half-sociopath (ditto) is formed in adolescence, or just before, often partially as the result of trauma. But the self-centered being that doesn't realize he can play any causative roles in the lives of those around him is a problem child that is formed between ages 3 and 6, so Ethan is stuck well before he ever discovers drinking or drugs. It took me long enough in my own life to find empathy for the addictive personality or the narcissist, and I still struggle with keeping that empathy front and center. In the case of Ethan who does not truly recognize other people, I almost never turn empathy up past the simmer stage.
Was losing his mother to cancer in his teen years a factor, or maybe the fact that she was working on an odd video project called Other People? Maybe, but Ethan is definitely not a changeling destroyed by trauma. Sarah, unlucky enough to accidentally fall in love with the still-teenage Ethan during a surfing excursion, has to learn to make excuses for him just the same as his sister and parents have, until everyone gets tired of making those excuses.
When Jolie is 13 going on 14, she engages in adolescent self-destructive behavior that is quite the norm for many of her age, but Ethan (who has been an absent father for a while) takes this as his project to "save" his daughter. The bulk of the novel hovers around the shape this salvation takes, with Ethan's actions becoming less and less excusable, while at the same time we realize Jolie is gaining a lot of resilience and useful insight by going along with this vastly-misdirected makeover project.
The penultimate section of the book, "The Music Must Change," deserves special mention, because Hallberg has brought together stories from the different eras as the miniature anecdotes of songs from an imaginary mixtape, allowing segments of the story to live under the declarations of "Love Will Tear Us Apart," "Bigmouth Strikes Again," "Call the Police," "Raised on Robbery." The fact that Jolie takes control of her adult life at the dedication of her dead grandfather's boat, by playing the violin riff from The Who's "Baba O'Reilly," sounds like it might be the corniest scene in the world, but it works well enough to make the reader cry (at least if the reader knows most of the songs from this mixtape). Yeah, we are still left with the mess that is Ethan Aspern, but at least he makes a cool getaway in the midst of keystone cops giving chase.
Jolie gets a final word in the epilogue of the novel by revisiting her grandmother's Other People video as a new mother in 2022. The suffering never goes away, but our lives are not our own. Jolie is giving voice to my firm belief that psychologists and motivational speakers are utterly wrong when they say you own the story of your own life. Your story is the sum total of your own experience and those who are closest to you. And if you try to edit out the sad or embarrassing parts of your own life, the people around you have the right to go back and add those parts right back in. This novel misses the grandeur of City on Fire because it never quite moves past the reality of what a dickhead Ethan is. But it is a wonderful work, showing us how adolescents can achieve a new kind of maturity in acknowledging Other People.
September 16, 2024
The second coming by Garth Rish Hallberg
Dysfunctional relationships in contemporary America
Shifting narrators; shifting times
Written an unborn child of 4th gen!
Prolog to whom it may concern
A 24 year old with a 4 year old who writes poetry and lies to wife, Sarah Kupferberg
Underland 2011
Jolie Aspern of mixed heritages rebels
In a new middle school Broad Horizons Academy; a dance; Precious Ezeobi
Dropping phone on subway tracks and going after it!
Chapter 2 begins with Ethan as narrator; about Alan T, a programing honcho into crystal meth Ethan is Jolie’s father)
Ethan Aspern, age ~29, invited to detox for 3 months at Alan’s Catalina place; then to stay on as caretaker…
Ethan’s recently deceased mother was Johanna Aspern)
Soundtrack to a movie never made…
3 years later Magnolia Doyle arrived in Ethan’s life) with Rerun)
Dinner with Magnolia, Rerun & brother Patrick
Surfing
A call from Jolie’s mother, Sarah
About Jolie’s injuries
The time is 2022, and daughter is writing a book but Ethan is remembering June 1995 when he was 17; his sister Moira watched over
Back and forth
Dad flies East (with Magnolia) for Jolie’s graduation award, and the 7/4 fireworks and J’s 14th birthday but father and dtr don’t see much of each other …
Plans to stay in NYC and asks his parole officer Morales for help
Jolie has friend Grayson at Putney who provides LSD
First she meets De Loesser
Grayson goes much further than Jolie wants to.
Mr K her teacher is seeing her mother!
Ethan’s behavior is weird… stealing but not using and videotaping his client’s drugs
He is now 33, married x 13 years wants an Avalon: Avalon is a mythical island in Celtic mythology that represents paradise, magic, and virtue. It is most well known as the place where King Arthur was taken after being wounded in battle and where his..
Stalking his ex and running into her mother Eleanor Kupferberg..
Why is Jolie staying with her grandparents in Riverdale?
This novel, like Ethan’s life, lurches sideways. There are many, many characters — siblings, parents, parole officers, lovers, spouses, drug dealers, old friends. There is little sense of momentum; the pages never turn themselves. It is so intensely written that it gave me a headache, as if I had been grinding my teeth. I was glad when it was over.
More on Sarah Kupferberg… 11/2011
- [ ] Raising Jolie
- [ ] later.. affair with Brandon Koussoglo
- [ ] Grand Central, his folks -Thanksgiving
Back to Coastal Maryland
Corinne D’alessi: Ethan’s dad’s 2nd wife, a hospice nurse
By 60 % these balls are still in the air:
- [ ] 17 yr Jolie’s mute suicidal intent
- [ ] Sarah’s affair with teacher Brandon
- [ ] Moira’s son’s anaphylaxis
- [ ] Ethan’s taking Jolie in the doggie van
- [ ] Erica PO’s interest in Ethan
Mute (suicidal) kidnappee daughter is at Ocean City amusement park with her Dad
grandparents: Albert & Eleanor Kupferberg
the Rector Aspern & the late Music collector
Sarah’s Ethan. issues differ from parents’
Albert: tikkuning & a bit of philandering
(Jolie had gone to Grandparents after Grayson’s Ablanalp’s assault)
The night on the hill; reconnecting with Natasha and Eddie Sixkiller…
(Martello tower) on Keel Hill
Looping Star roller coaster, Elysian Shores Motel…Sister Moira’s house (where they both once lived)
- [ ] The Erica Morales chapter at the Motel
- [ ] Sarah and Grayson A: find my phone?
- [ ] Jolie and then Ethan each find ways to hide same 2 LSD’s from PO Morales.
Part 6 Timeline
1993?: Ethan 14; Johanna died of cancer; a visual artist who turned to music
1994-1997 Drugs and alcohol
1998: Ethan marries Sarah; Jolie born
2001: Ethan and Sarah travel to Europe; back in time for 9/11
2002?: Jolie 4; Ethan relapsed; Jolie’s parents split
2011: Jolie 13-14; Subway episode; Ethan comes back from CA; dog walking business
2011: that November: Thanksgiving from hell in Ocean City; mute Jolie; memorial service for the rector; LSD trip for 2; amber alert
E rescues Jolie and shares his own prior suicidal ideation with her and offers her hope it can pass
What is the difference between reincarnation and metempsychosis?
It comes from Greek philosophy and resembles the Hindu belief of reincarnation. It differs from reincarnation because metempsychosis holds that the soul chooses a new body in order to have different experiences. With reincarnation, the soul moves up and down a ladder based on how they acted in their life.
Trying to understand Johanna’s movie….
Jolie’s 2021 point of view….in third trimester of a pregnancy during a Pandemic in Chinatown, NYC; with hapless Pete!
Back to when Les McGonagall met Erica Morales outside 100Center St
Back to middle school and learning about sex with Precious Eziobi
Back to November 2011, trying to recover violin from Moira’s house after LSD trip
Back to first trip for Eddie Sixkiller
Back to Magnolia trying to hold the fort at Casa del Sol
Back to the labor
To the violin recovery
To mcGonaagall busted; hit&run on FDRDr
To johanna interviewing Ducky on film
An arrest and rescue by Erica a out 2008….
Erica Morales after her subway event
Jolie explains her dilemma to Izzy.. who gives her a farewell present of a particularVCR https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-book...
Dysfunctional relationships in contemporary America
Shifting narrators; shifting times
Written an unborn child of 4th gen!
Prolog to whom it may concern
A 24 year old with a 4 year old who writes poetry and lies to wife, Sarah Kupferberg
Underland 2011
Jolie Aspern of mixed heritages rebels
In a new middle school Broad Horizons Academy; a dance; Precious Ezeobi
Dropping phone on subway tracks and going after it!
Chapter 2 begins with Ethan as narrator; about Alan T, a programing honcho into crystal meth Ethan is Jolie’s father)
Ethan Aspern, age ~29, invited to detox for 3 months at Alan’s Catalina place; then to stay on as caretaker…
Ethan’s recently deceased mother was Johanna Aspern)
Soundtrack to a movie never made…
3 years later Magnolia Doyle arrived in Ethan’s life) with Rerun)
Dinner with Magnolia, Rerun & brother Patrick
Surfing
A call from Jolie’s mother, Sarah
About Jolie’s injuries
The time is 2022, and daughter is writing a book but Ethan is remembering June 1995 when he was 17; his sister Moira watched over
Back and forth
Dad flies East (with Magnolia) for Jolie’s graduation award, and the 7/4 fireworks and J’s 14th birthday but father and dtr don’t see much of each other …
Plans to stay in NYC and asks his parole officer Morales for help
Jolie has friend Grayson at Putney who provides LSD
First she meets De Loesser
Grayson goes much further than Jolie wants to.
Mr K her teacher is seeing her mother!
Ethan’s behavior is weird… stealing but not using and videotaping his client’s drugs
He is now 33, married x 13 years wants an Avalon: Avalon is a mythical island in Celtic mythology that represents paradise, magic, and virtue. It is most well known as the place where King Arthur was taken after being wounded in battle and where his..
Stalking his ex and running into her mother Eleanor Kupferberg..
Why is Jolie staying with her grandparents in Riverdale?
This novel, like Ethan’s life, lurches sideways. There are many, many characters — siblings, parents, parole officers, lovers, spouses, drug dealers, old friends. There is little sense of momentum; the pages never turn themselves. It is so intensely written that it gave me a headache, as if I had been grinding my teeth. I was glad when it was over.
More on Sarah Kupferberg… 11/2011
- [ ] Raising Jolie
- [ ] later.. affair with Brandon Koussoglo
- [ ] Grand Central, his folks -Thanksgiving
Back to Coastal Maryland
Corinne D’alessi: Ethan’s dad’s 2nd wife, a hospice nurse
By 60 % these balls are still in the air:
- [ ] 17 yr Jolie’s mute suicidal intent
- [ ] Sarah’s affair with teacher Brandon
- [ ] Moira’s son’s anaphylaxis
- [ ] Ethan’s taking Jolie in the doggie van
- [ ] Erica PO’s interest in Ethan
Mute (suicidal) kidnappee daughter is at Ocean City amusement park with her Dad
grandparents: Albert & Eleanor Kupferberg
the Rector Aspern & the late Music collector
Sarah’s Ethan. issues differ from parents’
Albert: tikkuning & a bit of philandering
(Jolie had gone to Grandparents after Grayson’s Ablanalp’s assault)
The night on the hill; reconnecting with Natasha and Eddie Sixkiller…
(Martello tower) on Keel Hill
Looping Star roller coaster, Elysian Shores Motel…Sister Moira’s house (where they both once lived)
- [ ] The Erica Morales chapter at the Motel
- [ ] Sarah and Grayson A: find my phone?
- [ ] Jolie and then Ethan each find ways to hide same 2 LSD’s from PO Morales.
Part 6 Timeline
1993?: Ethan 14; Johanna died of cancer; a visual artist who turned to music
1994-1997 Drugs and alcohol
1998: Ethan marries Sarah; Jolie born
2001: Ethan and Sarah travel to Europe; back in time for 9/11
2002?: Jolie 4; Ethan relapsed; Jolie’s parents split
2011: Jolie 13-14; Subway episode; Ethan comes back from CA; dog walking business
2011: that November: Thanksgiving from hell in Ocean City; mute Jolie; memorial service for the rector; LSD trip for 2; amber alert
E rescues Jolie and shares his own prior suicidal ideation with her and offers her hope it can pass
What is the difference between reincarnation and metempsychosis?
It comes from Greek philosophy and resembles the Hindu belief of reincarnation. It differs from reincarnation because metempsychosis holds that the soul chooses a new body in order to have different experiences. With reincarnation, the soul moves up and down a ladder based on how they acted in their life.
Trying to understand Johanna’s movie….
Jolie’s 2021 point of view….in third trimester of a pregnancy during a Pandemic in Chinatown, NYC; with hapless Pete!
Back to when Les McGonagall met Erica Morales outside 100Center St
Back to middle school and learning about sex with Precious Eziobi
Back to November 2011, trying to recover violin from Moira’s house after LSD trip
Back to first trip for Eddie Sixkiller
Back to Magnolia trying to hold the fort at Casa del Sol
Back to the labor
To the violin recovery
To mcGonaagall busted; hit&run on FDRDr
To johanna interviewing Ducky on film
An arrest and rescue by Erica a out 2008….
Erica Morales after her subway event
Jolie explains her dilemma to Izzy.. who gives her a farewell present of a particularVCR https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-book...
April 29, 2024
I’ve heard it said before that a writer has decades to perfect their first book and a year to write their second. With "The Second Coming," I tried not to set my expectations too high for this novel against Hallberg’s "City on Fire" - a debut novel so brilliant and beautiful it holds a permanent place on my shelf. That proved a taller order than expected, however.
In "The Second Coming" we are dropped into the lives of a single fractured family as they attempt to navigate their way around the destruction small choices and big decisions have when compounded over time. Some of these choices, when it comes to Ethan, the father, have such a profound effect on his daughter Jolie that guilt propels as much as love. Or because of love, the guilt is so massive it overshadows everything else.
I struggled to connect with the characters in "The Second Coming" in spite of how Hallberg cracked open their inner lives on the page. I’m not a parent, or a recovering addict, but I shouldn't need to have those specific experiences to relate to the feelings of characters who are laid quite this bare either.
I did feel sad for these characters. However, the underlying emotions never got the chance to take root before getting lost in a change in narrative direction, or a tonal shift, or even just buried in exposition. If the two-ton brick of a book that was City on Fire had a pacing that was propulsive, The Second Coming feels like an intentional choice to move the opposite direction.
To force the reader to sit and wallow for a large chunk of 600+ pages and not have them give up was a tall order. I found myself glazing over, skimming, setting the book aside. This is a story which requires breaks from both the voice and the characters themselves.
"The Second Coming" is a novel I wanted to like. Should like. There is no question that Hallberg is an exceptional talent. If this was a tighter work, with different pacing, I believe I would have reached a different conclusion and could more easily recommend this novel to a larger audience.
_________
This review was based on an uncorrected proof or Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor. Expected publication date May 28 2024.
In "The Second Coming" we are dropped into the lives of a single fractured family as they attempt to navigate their way around the destruction small choices and big decisions have when compounded over time. Some of these choices, when it comes to Ethan, the father, have such a profound effect on his daughter Jolie that guilt propels as much as love. Or because of love, the guilt is so massive it overshadows everything else.
I struggled to connect with the characters in "The Second Coming" in spite of how Hallberg cracked open their inner lives on the page. I’m not a parent, or a recovering addict, but I shouldn't need to have those specific experiences to relate to the feelings of characters who are laid quite this bare either.
I did feel sad for these characters. However, the underlying emotions never got the chance to take root before getting lost in a change in narrative direction, or a tonal shift, or even just buried in exposition. If the two-ton brick of a book that was City on Fire had a pacing that was propulsive, The Second Coming feels like an intentional choice to move the opposite direction.
To force the reader to sit and wallow for a large chunk of 600+ pages and not have them give up was a tall order. I found myself glazing over, skimming, setting the book aside. This is a story which requires breaks from both the voice and the characters themselves.
"The Second Coming" is a novel I wanted to like. Should like. There is no question that Hallberg is an exceptional talent. If this was a tighter work, with different pacing, I believe I would have reached a different conclusion and could more easily recommend this novel to a larger audience.
_________
This review was based on an uncorrected proof or Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor. Expected publication date May 28 2024.
May 29, 2024
“A Pez-hued pack of American Spirits appeared on the counter, and for once, she had to give props to the fell power of DNA; were even a bag of angel dust to be produced, she saw, she would immediately have tried to snort it, or smoke it, because what did nasal passages matter, what did kidneys of lungs (or for that matter heart), when the disease was life itself?”
The Second Coming by Garth Risk Hallberg tells the parallel coming-of-age stories of Jolie Aspern and her hot mess of a father, Ethan. To call Jolie precocious would be an understatement as, at thirteen, she is having deeper and more conflicting emotions than most adults. She’s also becoming an alcoholic, much like her father, whose location, owing to his recovery journey, is often unknown to her. Shortly after we enter the novel, Jolie drops her cell phone onto the subway tracks. Thinking she has enough time, she goes down onto the tracks to retrieve it. Her is life narrowly saved by a stranger as the subway pulls into the station. At the hospital, she is put under psych evaluation, raising the question – did she mean to die? And later, but WHAT IS she living for? Her mother, Sarah, calls Ethan (who is very much still in love with Sarah), prompting him to return to NYC and try, often fruitlessly, to reignite his relationship with his daughter.
As a writer, I was in awe of this ambitious novel’s prose and style. As a reader, I was a little overwhelmed by its scope. This book is so many things: a love letter to growing up in the city (I say this as a former city kid), an exercise in narrative style, an homage to Prince (seriously, I’ve never seen Prince’s name referenced this many times in a work of fiction), a decades-spanning mediation on trauma and its aftermath, but it’s also very dense. The novel asks a lot of its readers and is not always easy to engage with, but the reward, if you stick with it, is very much worth it!
The Second Coming by Garth Risk Hallberg tells the parallel coming-of-age stories of Jolie Aspern and her hot mess of a father, Ethan. To call Jolie precocious would be an understatement as, at thirteen, she is having deeper and more conflicting emotions than most adults. She’s also becoming an alcoholic, much like her father, whose location, owing to his recovery journey, is often unknown to her. Shortly after we enter the novel, Jolie drops her cell phone onto the subway tracks. Thinking she has enough time, she goes down onto the tracks to retrieve it. Her is life narrowly saved by a stranger as the subway pulls into the station. At the hospital, she is put under psych evaluation, raising the question – did she mean to die? And later, but WHAT IS she living for? Her mother, Sarah, calls Ethan (who is very much still in love with Sarah), prompting him to return to NYC and try, often fruitlessly, to reignite his relationship with his daughter.
As a writer, I was in awe of this ambitious novel’s prose and style. As a reader, I was a little overwhelmed by its scope. This book is so many things: a love letter to growing up in the city (I say this as a former city kid), an exercise in narrative style, an homage to Prince (seriously, I’ve never seen Prince’s name referenced this many times in a work of fiction), a decades-spanning mediation on trauma and its aftermath, but it’s also very dense. The novel asks a lot of its readers and is not always easy to engage with, but the reward, if you stick with it, is very much worth it!
July 27, 2024
An Extraordinary book
The novel tells the story of an American family principally Jolie and her father Ethan. It is told in a mixture of flashbacks and real time chapters .the story jumps around in time gradually filling us in with their backgrounds. And ultimately focusing on the underlying reasons for their addictions. The daughter becomes hooked on alcohol which she uses to numb the feelings associated with her splintering family, . At the start of this book she is rescued after falling in front of a subway train. It’s unclear whether or not this was a suicide attempt or cry for help what is clear however is that she is drunk when it happens Her father has a long history of drug and alcohol addiction starting in his own youth. The novel looks at the power of addiction and the effect on the addict’s close family and friends .
Whereas the themes in this novel are potentially traumatic and could be triggering for some readers I felt that the author manages to address these issues with great sensitivity and skill. At no stage did I feel I was being preached to which sometimes happens when such powerful emotions and epic themes are covered.The author has a natural understanding of the psychology of addiction .
There is a scene in the novel where the character suffers from a bad trip whilst taking drugs. The way the author writes the scene really messes with the reader’s head .it it that makes you feel like you’re having a bad trip yourself
The author is best known for his City on fire, which I read and enjoyed soon after it was published in 2015. I personally enjoyed this book more than that one.
I didn’t really understand the prologue which has put me off the book right from the start, but I did quite like the authors previous novel city on Fire so I persevered . I was very glad that I did passive as as soon as the first chapter started. I was immediately enthralled by the novel. When I went back and reread the prologue, it made much more sense.
He also has the skill to describe individual characteristics of his characters very precisely and distinctly. Likewise he is able to make the characters develop during the story and their interactions seem entirely real.
I loved the way that the novel weaved around from person to person and time to time. I sometimes struggle with novels of this sort knowing what each section is focusing on but apart from in the prologue, it was always clear to me who I was reading about and what timeframe.
This is a very American novel the author has a distinctive writing style reminiscent of Fleishman’s in Trouble by Taft Brodesser-Akner or A Little Life by hannana Yamagihara . I would recommend the novel to those who enjoy a primarily character based deeply emotional novel.
I read a copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book was published in the UK on the 4th of July 2024 by Granta publications
This review will appear on NetGalley UK Goodreads and my book blog bionic SarahS book.WordPress.com. It will also appear on Amazon UK.
The novel tells the story of an American family principally Jolie and her father Ethan. It is told in a mixture of flashbacks and real time chapters .the story jumps around in time gradually filling us in with their backgrounds. And ultimately focusing on the underlying reasons for their addictions. The daughter becomes hooked on alcohol which she uses to numb the feelings associated with her splintering family, . At the start of this book she is rescued after falling in front of a subway train. It’s unclear whether or not this was a suicide attempt or cry for help what is clear however is that she is drunk when it happens Her father has a long history of drug and alcohol addiction starting in his own youth. The novel looks at the power of addiction and the effect on the addict’s close family and friends .
Whereas the themes in this novel are potentially traumatic and could be triggering for some readers I felt that the author manages to address these issues with great sensitivity and skill. At no stage did I feel I was being preached to which sometimes happens when such powerful emotions and epic themes are covered.The author has a natural understanding of the psychology of addiction .
There is a scene in the novel where the character suffers from a bad trip whilst taking drugs. The way the author writes the scene really messes with the reader’s head .it it that makes you feel like you’re having a bad trip yourself
The author is best known for his City on fire, which I read and enjoyed soon after it was published in 2015. I personally enjoyed this book more than that one.
I didn’t really understand the prologue which has put me off the book right from the start, but I did quite like the authors previous novel city on Fire so I persevered . I was very glad that I did passive as as soon as the first chapter started. I was immediately enthralled by the novel. When I went back and reread the prologue, it made much more sense.
He also has the skill to describe individual characteristics of his characters very precisely and distinctly. Likewise he is able to make the characters develop during the story and their interactions seem entirely real.
I loved the way that the novel weaved around from person to person and time to time. I sometimes struggle with novels of this sort knowing what each section is focusing on but apart from in the prologue, it was always clear to me who I was reading about and what timeframe.
This is a very American novel the author has a distinctive writing style reminiscent of Fleishman’s in Trouble by Taft Brodesser-Akner or A Little Life by hannana Yamagihara . I would recommend the novel to those who enjoy a primarily character based deeply emotional novel.
I read a copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book was published in the UK on the 4th of July 2024 by Granta publications
This review will appear on NetGalley UK Goodreads and my book blog bionic SarahS book.WordPress.com. It will also appear on Amazon UK.
May 11, 2024
The Second Coming by Garth Risk Hallberg is a recommended family drama that examines the minutiae regarding the broken relationship and lives of a father and his teenage daughter.
In 2011 thirteen-year-old Jolie Aspern drops her phone onto the subway tracks and has a near-miss with a subway train when she jumps down to recover it. The thoughtless act was likely due to her drinking, but she is having other emotional issues. It does bring her estranged father back into her life. Her father, Ethan Aspern is a recovering addict and convicted felon. He believes he can help her navigate her problems and set her straight so he returns home to NYC.
The narrative negotiates between multiple time periods and perspectives including the present and in flashbacks following Ethan's relationship with Jolie's mother, Sarah Kupferberg, relationships with parents, his addiction and more. There are many, many details and emotional insights into the characters. There are many keen insights into the raw emotions of both father and daughter, who share, in part, a bond over anxiety and addiction.
But the novel itself is just too, too much. Too full of elaborate prose, too meandering, too long, too expansive, too detailed, too emotional, too overworked, too slow paced, and, well, you get my point. From the synopsis, this is seemingly a novel I would normally relish. Instead it felt like I slogged through it, starting and stopping while losing interest in the characters or the plot. Tighten it up, refine the focus, pick up the pacing, and make us care about these characters. Thanks to Knopf for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/0...
In 2011 thirteen-year-old Jolie Aspern drops her phone onto the subway tracks and has a near-miss with a subway train when she jumps down to recover it. The thoughtless act was likely due to her drinking, but she is having other emotional issues. It does bring her estranged father back into her life. Her father, Ethan Aspern is a recovering addict and convicted felon. He believes he can help her navigate her problems and set her straight so he returns home to NYC.
The narrative negotiates between multiple time periods and perspectives including the present and in flashbacks following Ethan's relationship with Jolie's mother, Sarah Kupferberg, relationships with parents, his addiction and more. There are many, many details and emotional insights into the characters. There are many keen insights into the raw emotions of both father and daughter, who share, in part, a bond over anxiety and addiction.
But the novel itself is just too, too much. Too full of elaborate prose, too meandering, too long, too expansive, too detailed, too emotional, too overworked, too slow paced, and, well, you get my point. From the synopsis, this is seemingly a novel I would normally relish. Instead it felt like I slogged through it, starting and stopping while losing interest in the characters or the plot. Tighten it up, refine the focus, pick up the pacing, and make us care about these characters. Thanks to Knopf for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/0...
September 8, 2025
I loved City on Fire and therefore looked forward to this book. having gone through City of fire the length of The Second Coming didn't intimidate me--- in fact I looked forward into diving in to Halberg's latest world.
this book just never took off for me, quite simply. partly I am to blame because after reading the blurb and book jacket I assumed the erstwhile addict father was coming to rescue the lost too -close -a -copy daughter = road trip book.
I really looked forward to a roadtrip cross country with these two and Halberg calling the shots.
but kudos to Halberg for delivering the addict Dad as most crippled economically by his "addiction ". he arrives on a ticket bought by a girlfriend, he has no plan,no resources. this was one thing the author nailed.
the other character tropes-- surfer?-- came off hollow. a scene climbing the brooklyn bridge read completely false.
in city of fire we had two completely red hot passionate believable characters on an odd mission to maneuver the length of Manhattan during in infamous 77 blackout.
in The second Coming we have two characters who have to try to go nowhere,one has stopped speaking, and if you thought the surfing passages were improbable and rang false wait until the double blotter shared acid trip begins eating over 100 pages while leaving you with the worst wet paper taste you could ever imagine.
Halberg is a great writer, he can really sculpt a sentence. he just used the wrong people here to deliver a really beautiful message.
a guy has a baby too soon and becomes an "addict" because his acting dreams turned to waiting tables full time and his overbearing, unstoppable straight edge warrior wife left him.
but this addict can still "score" an affair with his PO?
this book just never took off for me, quite simply. partly I am to blame because after reading the blurb and book jacket I assumed the erstwhile addict father was coming to rescue the lost too -close -a -copy daughter = road trip book.
I really looked forward to a roadtrip cross country with these two and Halberg calling the shots.
but kudos to Halberg for delivering the addict Dad as most crippled economically by his "addiction ". he arrives on a ticket bought by a girlfriend, he has no plan,no resources. this was one thing the author nailed.
the other character tropes-- surfer?-- came off hollow. a scene climbing the brooklyn bridge read completely false.
in city of fire we had two completely red hot passionate believable characters on an odd mission to maneuver the length of Manhattan during in infamous 77 blackout.
in The second Coming we have two characters who have to try to go nowhere,one has stopped speaking, and if you thought the surfing passages were improbable and rang false wait until the double blotter shared acid trip begins eating over 100 pages while leaving you with the worst wet paper taste you could ever imagine.
Halberg is a great writer, he can really sculpt a sentence. he just used the wrong people here to deliver a really beautiful message.
a guy has a baby too soon and becomes an "addict" because his acting dreams turned to waiting tables full time and his overbearing, unstoppable straight edge warrior wife left him.
but this addict can still "score" an affair with his PO?
July 4, 2024
Set in America in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries, this book is essentially a story of a father and a daughter, their individual challenges and the mental health issues that unite them. It's a bit difficult to say more about the plot without just telling the story but I'm sure there are good summaries elsewhere.
In terms of my review, let me start with the good. It's a really interesting premise and it covers some very difficult topics with honesty and sensitivity. The characters are well drawn, even some of the minor ones. And the end is fairly satisfying.
But...it is a LONG book! I don't normally shy away from long books but this felt unnecessarily so. The descriptions were a bit convoluted with words that I sometimes had to look up (and I read quite a lot!). There were chapters, particularly a couple at the end, that felt surplus to requirements or needed further development. And finally, because it's so long, so detailed, and the time period jumps about a lot, if you don't read it quite quickly, you may forget some of the previous sections (I know I did anyway!). I apologise to the author as I'm sure they would've put their heart and soul into it but I just felt like reading this book was a bit of a slog and that's not what reading should be.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.
In terms of my review, let me start with the good. It's a really interesting premise and it covers some very difficult topics with honesty and sensitivity. The characters are well drawn, even some of the minor ones. And the end is fairly satisfying.
But...it is a LONG book! I don't normally shy away from long books but this felt unnecessarily so. The descriptions were a bit convoluted with words that I sometimes had to look up (and I read quite a lot!). There were chapters, particularly a couple at the end, that felt surplus to requirements or needed further development. And finally, because it's so long, so detailed, and the time period jumps about a lot, if you don't read it quite quickly, you may forget some of the previous sections (I know I did anyway!). I apologise to the author as I'm sure they would've put their heart and soul into it but I just felt like reading this book was a bit of a slog and that's not what reading should be.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.
April 1, 2024
OK, this one frustrated the hell out of me. I stopped reading it twice, the second time for two weeks, before I was going to give it one more shot. And I finished it, surprisingly. I didn't think I would. At over 600 pages, this was a commitment. The author clearly is brilliant, has a way with phrases and words and whatnot, but, in my opinion, really needs a good editor. There were times when I read three paragraphs and had no idea who the narrator was and what time frame the passage was taking place. It felt like every thought the writer felt the characters had was tossed out in the manuscript, and it felt a little unnecessary. In my lifetime of reading, I've never had to consult a dictionary while reading more than I did reading this book -- if I had to guess, I reckon I looked up unknown words 30 times.
The book was a varied collection from multiple points of view and multiple timelines, neither of which were always clear. Some people may love this, I didn't.
Like I said, the author is gifted, and has a wonderful way with words. I just hope it that his skill can be slightly tamed in the future.
I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.
The book was a varied collection from multiple points of view and multiple timelines, neither of which were always clear. Some people may love this, I didn't.
Like I said, the author is gifted, and has a wonderful way with words. I just hope it that his skill can be slightly tamed in the future.
I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.
June 13, 2024
The Second Coming
By Garth Risk Hallberg
This is a book about parents and children, addiction, failure and redemption. Ethan and Sarah hooked up young. Ethan was already using drugs and alcohol, but they loved each other and Sarah thought she could save him from himself. They married and produced a daughter, Jolie. Ethan tried to straighten out, but each time he relapses. Finally Sarah has had enough; they split up and Ethan moves to California.
Three years later, Sarah calls Ethan to tell him Jolie was almost killed by a subway train. Sarah is learning that her daughter is in serious trouble emotionally and this may have been a suicide attempt.
Ethan decides to come back to New York to try to help his daughter. Jolie, however, has never forgiven him for abandoning her and doesn't want anything to do with him. As Ethan make repeated attempts to get through to her, Jolie falls further down the rabbit hole with her own addictive behavior. Finding out that her mother is sleeping with her teacher provides the icing on the cake.
The ongoing struggles between father and daughter continue for a further 300 pages. While any parent can relate to the mistakes made and the forgiveness sought, I felt that a reasonably good story was just too long.
By Garth Risk Hallberg
This is a book about parents and children, addiction, failure and redemption. Ethan and Sarah hooked up young. Ethan was already using drugs and alcohol, but they loved each other and Sarah thought she could save him from himself. They married and produced a daughter, Jolie. Ethan tried to straighten out, but each time he relapses. Finally Sarah has had enough; they split up and Ethan moves to California.
Three years later, Sarah calls Ethan to tell him Jolie was almost killed by a subway train. Sarah is learning that her daughter is in serious trouble emotionally and this may have been a suicide attempt.
Ethan decides to come back to New York to try to help his daughter. Jolie, however, has never forgiven him for abandoning her and doesn't want anything to do with him. As Ethan make repeated attempts to get through to her, Jolie falls further down the rabbit hole with her own addictive behavior. Finding out that her mother is sleeping with her teacher provides the icing on the cake.
The ongoing struggles between father and daughter continue for a further 300 pages. While any parent can relate to the mistakes made and the forgiveness sought, I felt that a reasonably good story was just too long.
June 29, 2024
At the heart of this long, very long, sprawling epic is the story of a family longing, but somehow unable, to connect. Teenage Jolie, her estranged father Ethan and his ex-wife Sarah, the woman he once feel so deeply in love with but whom he alienated by his behaviour. He’s been in Jolie’s life only as an absence but when he hears that she’s had a near-miss accident dropping her phone onto the subway tracks in New York he feels impelled to come back into her life. Easier said than done. Discursive, meandering, rambling and so very wordy, going back and forth in time and place, it’s an ambitious novel, there’s nevertheless much to admire here, I felt. The characters are complex, their motivations relatable and their failures equally so. Ethan’s addictive behaviour is insightfully portrayed, and his inability to escape from his self-destructive behaviour actually quite moving – even if frustrating for the reader. Jolie’s struggle to come to terms with their dysfunctional relationship is also very moving. But overall, this would have benefited from a ruthless edit. There’s just too much of it. I did stay with it, reading a bit at a time, and I was engaged by the narrative and the people, but I admit to a huge sigh of relief when I’d finished.
March 9, 2025
The Second Coming by Garth Risk Hallberg is not for everyone; it’s not for me, though I appreciate that it exists. I’m impressed by Hallberg’s commitment to this style of writing, which really helps create a connection to the characters and the material.
This book is incredibly long and filled with winding sentences and lengthy descriptions. It also plays with multiple viewpoints, and it is at times difficult to understand who is speaking or whose monologue we’re following.
The subject matter is also gut-wrenching. It feels rather true to life, which makes it even more heartbreaking to read. We are taken into the inner world of characters who are dealing with addiction, depression, and more. It’s a tale of love, grief, and regret.
For me, The Second Coming was a slog to get through. I stepped away from this multiple times, but am glad that I made it through to the end. While I struggled to finish the book, it is well-written and does an excellent job of submerging us into the inner worlds of these characters. If you’re a fan of verbose and descriptive novels with tragic characters, this could be worth checking out.
This book is incredibly long and filled with winding sentences and lengthy descriptions. It also plays with multiple viewpoints, and it is at times difficult to understand who is speaking or whose monologue we’re following.
The subject matter is also gut-wrenching. It feels rather true to life, which makes it even more heartbreaking to read. We are taken into the inner world of characters who are dealing with addiction, depression, and more. It’s a tale of love, grief, and regret.
For me, The Second Coming was a slog to get through. I stepped away from this multiple times, but am glad that I made it through to the end. While I struggled to finish the book, it is well-written and does an excellent job of submerging us into the inner worlds of these characters. If you’re a fan of verbose and descriptive novels with tragic characters, this could be worth checking out.
May 28, 2024
I always remember when I grabbed a galley copy of Garth Risk Hallberg's first book at Book Expo. It was the buzziest book that year and when it came out it was either you loved it r you hated it. The same can be said of his second novel The Second Coming. It's not an easy read but will be one for his fans. It's tough getting through certain aprts at times but don' worry you are rewarded with sentences that only he could write and get away with. It's a story about a father and daughter and tackles many issues of the past and today. The main story line is of redemption from a father who feels like he let his daughter down. The parts about addiction were great as well as the his dealing with his recovery. This is not going to be a book for everyone. Some readers and reviewers have had very mixed reviews but I think it's a book you should pick up if you're looking for a writer who wants to try something new and whether you think his attempt was successful or not at least he explored his writing and honestly put what he wanted on the page. Thank you to netgalley and Knopf for the read.
July 6, 2024
The story contained within the vast pages of Garth Risk Hallberg's The Second Coming is as beautiful and colorful as the book's front cover and spine, as confusing to me as the back cover's being home to praise for City on Fire (not The Second Coming), and as heavy and dense as the book itself. I found this book overwhelming and, at times, hard to understand, yet also, at the times I could make sense of what I was reading, I found it hard to put down (figuratively speaking, anyway, for literally I had to put it down every time my arms got tired of holding the book's weight, which was more often than I should admit). In trying to not give every book I read a 5-star review, this one gets 4/5 stars for the fact that the language and structure of the writing, while teaching me some new vocabulary, frequently went over my head. Nonetheless, overall, it was a worthwhile and enjoyable read.
Thank you to Knopf Books for my stunning hardcover copy of The Second Coming, won in a Goodreads giveaway.
Thank you to Knopf Books for my stunning hardcover copy of The Second Coming, won in a Goodreads giveaway.
October 16, 2024
Hallberg's "City on Fire" was one of my favorite books of the last 5 years, but "The Second Coming" just didn't have enough going on to compel me to break past 150 (out of almost 600) pages. Had to DNF.
The story is that a young girl in Manhattan is nearly creamed by a subway train while trying to fetch a phone she dropped on the tracks while in an alcohol-induced haze. Her injuries rekindle her estranged divorced druggie father's interest in her well-being. He travels to NYC from his 'home' on the west coast to surprise her, which sets up angry exchanges with the girl, her mother, and other parties. We're also treated with a long origin story of the man's romance with the girl's mother.
When you're 150 pages in with 450 to go and you don't know (or at this point, care) where the story's heading, you need to call it a day. Hallberg's a fine writer and I'd recommend reading him for any youngster trying to build up vocab for the SATs, but he needed to make this one much more interesting.
The story is that a young girl in Manhattan is nearly creamed by a subway train while trying to fetch a phone she dropped on the tracks while in an alcohol-induced haze. Her injuries rekindle her estranged divorced druggie father's interest in her well-being. He travels to NYC from his 'home' on the west coast to surprise her, which sets up angry exchanges with the girl, her mother, and other parties. We're also treated with a long origin story of the man's romance with the girl's mother.
When you're 150 pages in with 450 to go and you don't know (or at this point, care) where the story's heading, you need to call it a day. Hallberg's a fine writer and I'd recommend reading him for any youngster trying to build up vocab for the SATs, but he needed to make this one much more interesting.
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