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The Little Book
An irresistible triumph of the imagination more than thirty years in the making, The Little Book is a breathtaking love story that spans generations, ranging from fin de sie?cle Vienna through the pivotal moments of the twentieth century.
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
178 people are currently reading
5440 people want to read
About the author
Selden Edwards
6 books72 followersSelden Edwards began writing The Little Book as a young English teacher in 1974, and continued to layer and refine the manuscript until its completion in 2007. It is his first novel. He spent his career as headmaster at several independent schools across the country, and for over forty years has been secretary of his Princeton class, where he also played basketball. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,057 reviews
June 12, 2018
Edwards spent over thirty years writing this book – he began it in 1974 and continued to rework and refine the story until 2007, when he finally deemed it complete (see http://www.seldenedwards.com/about-li...). The incredibly well-written story encompasses time travel, true love, rock-and-roll, turn-of-the-century Vienna (that would be the nineteenth century), baseball, fate, family (lives, loves and drama), mid-life crises, and the vagaries of fame. It makes the reader think about his/her conception of time and space, inevitability, paradox, and the meaning of life and love. The central character – Frank Standish “Wheeler” Burden III – is absolutely believable and a prescient and at the same time all-too-human protagonist that you find yourself rooting for from the get-go. His “dislocation” in time is written in a thoroughly entertaining and plausible fashion and makes you wonder whether time is in fact quite as linear as we have been led to believe.
Edwards obviously spent a vast chunk of his thirty years involved in intense research and plot/character development; supporting characters are flawlessly introduced and weave in and out of the story artfully, and the descriptions of time/place are detailed enough to give you an authentic feel for the given year and location without ever rambling on and resulting in the “you researched, I get it,” skimming effect (i.e., bane of many a historical novel, in which the author feels compelled to describe everything in minute detail as proof that he/she did their research and in which the reader subsequently (and guiltily) feels compelled to skim through the details in recognition of the effort put forth even when the details are snooze-inducing). All in all it is a perfect story. As they say, it made me laugh, it made me cry; I gave it a “10”.
Imagine though – Edwards spent thirty years to make it that way. Thirty years. Three decades of holding on to the perfect image of his story and refining and reworking and rethinking it until he felt it was just as it was meant to be, just as it had always presented itself in his head. I cannot imagine having that kind of dedication to a vision or idea – being able to continue hammering away at something for so long with no apparent end in sight simply because I knew that it was not yet just so. It is the very embodiment of perseverance. I read the book in days – it was definitely one of those that I wished would never end – and once I knew the story of its development I selfishly wished he had written it faster so that there were/would be more novels from him... There is now a second book - The Lost Prince - and it's definitely on my To Be Read list!
Edwards obviously spent a vast chunk of his thirty years involved in intense research and plot/character development; supporting characters are flawlessly introduced and weave in and out of the story artfully, and the descriptions of time/place are detailed enough to give you an authentic feel for the given year and location without ever rambling on and resulting in the “you researched, I get it,” skimming effect (i.e., bane of many a historical novel, in which the author feels compelled to describe everything in minute detail as proof that he/she did their research and in which the reader subsequently (and guiltily) feels compelled to skim through the details in recognition of the effort put forth even when the details are snooze-inducing). All in all it is a perfect story. As they say, it made me laugh, it made me cry; I gave it a “10”.
Imagine though – Edwards spent thirty years to make it that way. Thirty years. Three decades of holding on to the perfect image of his story and refining and reworking and rethinking it until he felt it was just as it was meant to be, just as it had always presented itself in his head. I cannot imagine having that kind of dedication to a vision or idea – being able to continue hammering away at something for so long with no apparent end in sight simply because I knew that it was not yet just so. It is the very embodiment of perseverance. I read the book in days – it was definitely one of those that I wished would never end – and once I knew the story of its development I selfishly wished he had written it faster so that there were/would be more novels from him... There is now a second book - The Lost Prince - and it's definitely on my To Be Read list!
March 4, 2009
I really wanted to give this book three stars but I just can't. To me it
seemed like a case of a wonderful idea, sort of Jack Finney Meets John
Irving, coming unfortunately to someone who just doesn't have the skill or
the ease to realize it effectively. The writing itself is perfectly sound
and literate, but for me the author didn't have the command to carry off his
ridiculously complicated structure - featuring multiple narrative lines,
multiple time periods, and constantly changing angles of view, some
observational and some speculative - and the language itself is almost
completely without charm or color, which considering that he's writing about
19th century Vienna, a place positively wallowing in both, is a significant
problem. (I gather the author worked on the book for forty years, so
perhaps it just got revised to death over the decades. There's something to
be said for knowing when you're done.) Edwards clearly loves both the place
and the period, and his research is meticulous, but unfortunately he's very
graceless about how he works it into his story, often putting it into some
of the most absurdly awkward dialogue I've ever read; this is the kind of
book where people say things that nowhere on Planet Earth have people ever
said - "for hundreds of years people have fought over this lovely fortress
city in the bend of the placid Danube." Please. As if Edwards senses what
the problem is, but hasn't an idea about how to fix it, his omniscient
narrator keeps reiterating how delightful and charming everyone is, but then
the characters actually start talking and it's like reading something
translated laboriously from the Czechoslovakian. I was intrigued enough
by the bones of the story to finish it, but I was very disappointed by it,
as one is when a potentially good read turns out not to be what you hoped.
seemed like a case of a wonderful idea, sort of Jack Finney Meets John
Irving, coming unfortunately to someone who just doesn't have the skill or
the ease to realize it effectively. The writing itself is perfectly sound
and literate, but for me the author didn't have the command to carry off his
ridiculously complicated structure - featuring multiple narrative lines,
multiple time periods, and constantly changing angles of view, some
observational and some speculative - and the language itself is almost
completely without charm or color, which considering that he's writing about
19th century Vienna, a place positively wallowing in both, is a significant
problem. (I gather the author worked on the book for forty years, so
perhaps it just got revised to death over the decades. There's something to
be said for knowing when you're done.) Edwards clearly loves both the place
and the period, and his research is meticulous, but unfortunately he's very
graceless about how he works it into his story, often putting it into some
of the most absurdly awkward dialogue I've ever read; this is the kind of
book where people say things that nowhere on Planet Earth have people ever
said - "for hundreds of years people have fought over this lovely fortress
city in the bend of the placid Danube." Please. As if Edwards senses what
the problem is, but hasn't an idea about how to fix it, his omniscient
narrator keeps reiterating how delightful and charming everyone is, but then
the characters actually start talking and it's like reading something
translated laboriously from the Czechoslovakian. I was intrigued enough
by the bones of the story to finish it, but I was very disappointed by it,
as one is when a potentially good read turns out not to be what you hoped.
February 12, 2019
I started reading this book awhile ago and decided to finish it. I'm a little torn as I liked the history but it can be confusing with the back and forth, and the switch of characters and narrator. The book also never really explained how they went back in time. They just did. The history is interesting, though. I am curious enough to attempt reading the sequel.
February 14, 2021
This is a creative blend of history and fantasy, with many plot turns and twists. It would seem to make a good movie, with the lovingly detailed portrait of fin de siècle Vienna. Very believable interactions with Freud, the child Hitler, and Gustav Mahler emerge, and Freud even figures in the final plot moves. I got interested in how Freud's Oedipal theory might factor into things, and it seemed there were some Jungian archetypes at play as well. But I will leave that for others more schooled in both than I am. All loose strands of the plot seem tied up by the end, but the novel did seem to me just slightly claustrophobic after a while. On the whole, though, this is quite an achievement. It offers a wonderful meditation on a period of time in Vienna and how later times and places could have been influenced.
October 8, 2011
I wanted so much to like it, to get all caught up in it. I kept reading cause I thought there would come a resolution of voices, historical characters intermingled with fictional ones, some reason to have gotten to the end. But when the end came I was so glad to put the book down. I wanted to explore time travel, especially to fin de siecle Vienna, a glorious, vibrant time and place. But I just kept getting bogged down. Stray, competing lines of thought crossed and recrossed constantly. The writing was repetitious and confusing from the narrator's perspective to the rather off-putting names of fictional people (Weezie?, Wheeler? Dilly?) and their relationships and reality (they often had the very same adjectives describe them many many times without my feeling that I could see them or hear them speak or know their depths. What the heck did Frisbees or the Archduchess of Austria have to do with anything? Why invent the name of one important philosopher character, but use everyone else's real historical name? Why have say "the great Dr Freud" over and over and over as if we didn't know who the fellow (or his importance) was. Why drag a sexual conundrum into an innocent girl's life (and tarring her father in shadow) without detail or exploration? Why invent such a complexity of careers for a protagonist: heroic baseball genius, excellent writer and researcher, rock guitar superstar, sexual magnet,infamous for being famous? There is just too much trying to make ideas fit, too many words saying the same things, too many plot lines and interrelationships strung together. Good concept but get an editor.
November 11, 2008
Time-travel tales, as intricate as they are, require a special touch, a unique understanding of cause and effect. As such they are incredibly easy to write poorly and at the same time quite difficult to write well.
There is a long tradition to the cyclical nature of these tales, beginning, arguably with Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, The Flying Trunk and continued a century later with Richard Matheson's Somewhere in Time in the 1970s and most recently with Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife.
Over 30 years in the making, Selden Edwards The Little Book is a wonderful addition to the fine tradition of well-written time-travel.
The book reads like a puzzle, the reader starts with a collection of pieces and characters-- The Haze, Dilly, Wheeler, Weezie, and Flora-- all of which with deep back stories that adds an extra dimension to the novel. Slowly but surely, little by little these pieces fall together to create a cohesive picture, the loose ends get tied up and a beautiful portrait of turn-of-the-century Vienna, Austria is created.
Edwards does an exceptional job-- not with merely the compelling characters he has created but with the lush portrait of Vienna at its cultural apex. In making the fiction feel so real and comfortable, Edwards is also able to create believable portrayals of historical figures like Buddy Holly, Sigmund Freud, and Gustav Mahler. And if you're now left wondering how Buddy Holly ties in to a time-travel tome set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, you'll just have to read the book.
There is a long tradition to the cyclical nature of these tales, beginning, arguably with Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, The Flying Trunk and continued a century later with Richard Matheson's Somewhere in Time in the 1970s and most recently with Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife.
Over 30 years in the making, Selden Edwards The Little Book is a wonderful addition to the fine tradition of well-written time-travel.
The book reads like a puzzle, the reader starts with a collection of pieces and characters-- The Haze, Dilly, Wheeler, Weezie, and Flora-- all of which with deep back stories that adds an extra dimension to the novel. Slowly but surely, little by little these pieces fall together to create a cohesive picture, the loose ends get tied up and a beautiful portrait of turn-of-the-century Vienna, Austria is created.
Edwards does an exceptional job-- not with merely the compelling characters he has created but with the lush portrait of Vienna at its cultural apex. In making the fiction feel so real and comfortable, Edwards is also able to create believable portrayals of historical figures like Buddy Holly, Sigmund Freud, and Gustav Mahler. And if you're now left wondering how Buddy Holly ties in to a time-travel tome set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, you'll just have to read the book.
November 30, 2008
Do you like stories about love, music, and time travel? Do you enjoy a dash of celebrity and a sprinkling of intertwining history? Are you inspired by creative teachers and talented storytellers? If the answer is yes, you should read this book!
I began this book somewhat apprehensively (not always sure about the time travel aspect), but soon embraced it wholeheartedly. It was a lovely story to be swept away with and I really liked the settings of Boston and Vienna. As I proceeded through the book, I was really sad that that it was quickly coming to a close. This is intended to be high praise. I would have given this book 5 stars, except for an odd twist or two and a little bit of a slow beginning. It probably deserves 4.5 stars in my opinion.
I read a review of this book that suggested it for anyone who liked the Time Traveler's Wife and I would certainly agree with that recommendation.
I began this book somewhat apprehensively (not always sure about the time travel aspect), but soon embraced it wholeheartedly. It was a lovely story to be swept away with and I really liked the settings of Boston and Vienna. As I proceeded through the book, I was really sad that that it was quickly coming to a close. This is intended to be high praise. I would have given this book 5 stars, except for an odd twist or two and a little bit of a slow beginning. It probably deserves 4.5 stars in my opinion.
I read a review of this book that suggested it for anyone who liked the Time Traveler's Wife and I would certainly agree with that recommendation.
October 2, 2008
First of all, BEWARE of reviews that give away too much of this plot (that's you, amazon!) because it will ruin your reading to know too many of the intricate details of this novel. I'm intentionally vague below because key plot elements were given away in some reviews I read.
The time-travel aspect makes you think it's sci-fi, but it's really more of historical fiction in the exhaustive detailing of 1867 Vienna. It also touches on psychology, romance, and philosophy (those who love the time-travel paradox will have a field day with this novel).
While some of the characterizations (of both people and Vienna) lean towards excess, the story was entertaining and definitely kept me riveted.
The time-travel aspect makes you think it's sci-fi, but it's really more of historical fiction in the exhaustive detailing of 1867 Vienna. It also touches on psychology, romance, and philosophy (those who love the time-travel paradox will have a field day with this novel).
While some of the characterizations (of both people and Vienna) lean towards excess, the story was entertaining and definitely kept me riveted.
September 5, 2008
Dilly Burden was a legend and a hero. He excelled at his Boston boys' school and at Harvard, was a star baseball player and gave his life in World War II when he was tortured and killed by the Gestapo in France. His only son, Wheeler, has no memory of his Dad but has spent his life living up to the legend.
Where Dilly was an icon, Wheeler is more eccentric. He followed in his father's footsteps to the Boston boys' school and despite guidance from a much beloved teacher, the Haze, (who had also taught his father), he was an average student. He did show talent in baseball but his real love was music. He found great success in his life and was quite a music star in the late 1980s but never stuck to anything, or anyone, for any great length of time. He was always looking for something he couldn't put his finger on.
But that's not where the story begins...
Suddenly one day Wheeler is walking along and begins to realize that he is somewhere he does not recognize. He soon discovers that he is in 1897 Vienna, in his modern clothes and with all of his memories intact. He doesn't know how he got there or how long this visit will last. But as one day stretches to two, he realizes that he is going to need some help. Thanks to the Haze, Wheeler speaks German well and knows a bit about this part of European history. After much consideration he approaches Sigmund Freud, a little known figure at the time, for help. Their discussions and the journal Wheeler starts to keep help him to begin to understand this amazing thing that has happened to him.
During his stay in Vienna, Wheeler discovers his past in a way that is entirely surprising and leaves you hoping that Selden Edwards has somehow really figured out the way the universe works.
There are many well developed characters that appear in the story. The reader gets to know them all and will realize that this book isn't just about Wheeler or even most importantly about Wheeler but about his loved ones and the patterns that life weaves.
This is an absolutely wonderful book. It has layers of meaning and an interconnectedness that make it a breath-taking read. It's a history lesson and a love story, a mystery and a psychology lesson. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Where Dilly was an icon, Wheeler is more eccentric. He followed in his father's footsteps to the Boston boys' school and despite guidance from a much beloved teacher, the Haze, (who had also taught his father), he was an average student. He did show talent in baseball but his real love was music. He found great success in his life and was quite a music star in the late 1980s but never stuck to anything, or anyone, for any great length of time. He was always looking for something he couldn't put his finger on.
But that's not where the story begins...
Suddenly one day Wheeler is walking along and begins to realize that he is somewhere he does not recognize. He soon discovers that he is in 1897 Vienna, in his modern clothes and with all of his memories intact. He doesn't know how he got there or how long this visit will last. But as one day stretches to two, he realizes that he is going to need some help. Thanks to the Haze, Wheeler speaks German well and knows a bit about this part of European history. After much consideration he approaches Sigmund Freud, a little known figure at the time, for help. Their discussions and the journal Wheeler starts to keep help him to begin to understand this amazing thing that has happened to him.
During his stay in Vienna, Wheeler discovers his past in a way that is entirely surprising and leaves you hoping that Selden Edwards has somehow really figured out the way the universe works.
There are many well developed characters that appear in the story. The reader gets to know them all and will realize that this book isn't just about Wheeler or even most importantly about Wheeler but about his loved ones and the patterns that life weaves.
This is an absolutely wonderful book. It has layers of meaning and an interconnectedness that make it a breath-taking read. It's a history lesson and a love story, a mystery and a psychology lesson. I can't recommend it highly enough.
June 13, 2014
Well, I had high hopes for this one, but the book didn't measure up. An interesting idea -- a son and father time-travel (separately, from different decades) back to Vienna 1897 and meet up with their grandmother/mother. Unfortunately, I think the author was just working way too hard to create Vienna of 1897 -- Mahler, Freud, the philosophers, the "apex of civilization" before the shame/fall of rampant anti-Semitism. The protagonist (Wheeler) was just too "too" -- eccentric (in a very attractive way), rock star, college star, etc., etc. [And, if the author used "mitt schlag" one more time, I was going to scream!:]
My other beef is that the fascination of time-travel wasn't explored at all. Cooincidentally, I just finished a book called, "Replay" by Ken Grimwood. An older book (1984, I think), it was, nonetheless, a far more interesting exploration of a time travel loop.
My other beef is that the fascination of time-travel wasn't explored at all. Cooincidentally, I just finished a book called, "Replay" by Ken Grimwood. An older book (1984, I think), it was, nonetheless, a far more interesting exploration of a time travel loop.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2008
This ambitious novel felt to me very much like Time and Again. It had a few moments of repetition, a dash of pretention, and occasional predictability, but overall was an enchanting and fun escape from everyday life. The story of Wheeler, former talented pitcher, former famous musician, and former bestselling author, who has suddenly appeared in the Austria of the 1890s. There he runs into some people from his own personal history and discovers a vast amount of true history of his family and during this pivotal time and place in European history. Freud lives in town, Hitler is a young boy in the countryside, and Klimt hangs out at the local coffee shop.
January 27, 2014
This book is the equivalent of that new kid that came to your high school half way through the semester...really cool, really mysterious...and once you get to know him REALLY CREEPY. The worst part is the kid never thought he was creepy, he always thought he was really really cool. This book thinks it is all that and a bag of chips. When really, it's just the creepy guy on the corner wearing a nice jacket.
Basic premise...guy is weird, ends up going back in time, meeting his dad that died when he was a small kid, his grandpa, Freud, Empress Elizabeth, you know ... the people you generally run into on the street...and SPOILER ALERT.
His grandmother.
Here's the creepy part. I don't care how many ways you explain how he's not actually her grandson...making out with someone that you KNOW becomes the person that you think of as your grandmother...
Creepy.
Maybe it's just me, but if I run into my grandfather in another space/time continuum, we're having tea, we're shaking hands, and that is it.
There is no way around this not being creepy. It's actually creepy and icky and not a little gross.
Oh, and Freud.. and the run ins with Empress Elizabeth.
Sigh. It wasn't painful to read, but I have no interest in reading anything like it again.
Basic premise...guy is weird, ends up going back in time, meeting his dad that died when he was a small kid, his grandpa, Freud, Empress Elizabeth, you know ... the people you generally run into on the street...and SPOILER ALERT.
His grandmother.
Here's the creepy part. I don't care how many ways you explain how he's not actually her grandson...making out with someone that you KNOW becomes the person that you think of as your grandmother...
Creepy.
Maybe it's just me, but if I run into my grandfather in another space/time continuum, we're having tea, we're shaking hands, and that is it.
There is no way around this not being creepy. It's actually creepy and icky and not a little gross.
Oh, and Freud.. and the run ins with Empress Elizabeth.
Sigh. It wasn't painful to read, but I have no interest in reading anything like it again.
July 15, 2008
The Library of Congress cataloging for this book is: 1. Rock musician--fiction. 2. Time travel--fiction. 3.Vienna(Austria)--fiction. 4. Austria--History--1867-1918--Fiction. And it is definitely all of those things. But it's SOOOOOOOOO much more. This book tells a story that keeps looping back upon itself and back upon itself and back upon itself. It introduces us to the likes of Freud and Samuel Clemens, Hitler and the Empress of Vienna. It's a history lesson and a brilliant work of science fiction. It's a love story. It's a travelog. It's intellectual, political, psychological and sociological. It's a fairy tale. But mostly, it's an amazing book that took this author 30 years to write, finish and get published. Fans of The Time Traveler's Wife or Somewhere in Time will LOVE this book. So will fans of WWII intrigue/spy fiction. Really, this book offers something for everyone who is willing to suspend their disbelief and just let the story unfold. 5 stars absolutely.
November 23, 2008
So far this isn't looking promising. I'm only on page 16, but have had no problem putting it down multiple times already. There's a lot of "if he had only known then what he knew later" talk in it. That's already becoming irritating.
I'll give the book until page 50. If it doesn't grab me by then, it's outta here.
ETA: At page 54, I'm done. I don't care about anyone in the book. I was beat over the head with the "if he had only known" SEVEN times in the first 22 pages. I can read, therefore, I get it. STOP telling me something I've already figured out.
I see that it's gotten good reviews elsewhere. Is this a case of The Emperor's New Clothes? Does everyone love it because they think they should? I read the first 14% of the book - is all the "great" stuff later, or is there just a really aggressive press agent out there?
I'll give the book until page 50. If it doesn't grab me by then, it's outta here.
ETA: At page 54, I'm done. I don't care about anyone in the book. I was beat over the head with the "if he had only known" SEVEN times in the first 22 pages. I can read, therefore, I get it. STOP telling me something I've already figured out.
I see that it's gotten good reviews elsewhere. Is this a case of The Emperor's New Clothes? Does everyone love it because they think they should? I read the first 14% of the book - is all the "great" stuff later, or is there just a really aggressive press agent out there?
February 27, 2023
Austria.
I have a new favorite book! Loved every minute of it!
I have a new favorite book! Loved every minute of it!
January 24, 2014
The title of “The Little Book” doesn’t speak to a preference for subtlety. Our hero is a Harvard-educated, no hitter–throwing, rock star best-selling author who finds himself transported back to Vienna circa 1897. There he falls right in with the cream of the young art scene, schools Sigmund Freud on his own revolutionary theories, inherits a crown jewel from the queen herself, ponders killing a young Hitler and yes, even gets a game of catch in with his dearly departed dad.
Yikes. The book, written over several decades by Selden Edwards (and shaped into publishable condition by a freelance editor, we learn in the credits) is overstuffed. It’s too satisfied with its wunderkind narrator, Wheeler Burden, who’s never really wrong or even contradicted.
Everything comes easily for Wheeler; he doesn’t have much conflict to overcome, even in the seduction of beautiful young ladies half his age. Simply from a narrative standpoint, his voice is problematic, as he carries his young man’s mannerisms and outlook into the scenes with his older self, not showing any signs of experience gathered along the way. He also falls prey to the skeeviest danger of time travel…you know, the one “Back to the Future” warned us about…although, unlike Marty McFly, our narrator doesn’t resist.
What else? The ample romantic talk is too sweet to swallow, full of lines about “flowers opening” and love rippling across the decades. Much of the final third is coached in the dogged language of analysis, providing laborious real-life examples of Oedipal complexes and other cross-generational lust that even Freud would need a flowchart to track.
The book does have its charms, particularly when our narrator first explores the fin de siècle Vienna he finds himself in as well as his father’s hurried romance in World War Two–era England. Here the author’s extravagant tendencies serve the setting and the stakes.
But Wheeler is ultimately a Mary Sue character who never really means much. It’s fun at times to follow his progress, but the setting is the real star, and even in its majesty, it can’t bear the weight of this story.
Yikes. The book, written over several decades by Selden Edwards (and shaped into publishable condition by a freelance editor, we learn in the credits) is overstuffed. It’s too satisfied with its wunderkind narrator, Wheeler Burden, who’s never really wrong or even contradicted.
Everything comes easily for Wheeler; he doesn’t have much conflict to overcome, even in the seduction of beautiful young ladies half his age. Simply from a narrative standpoint, his voice is problematic, as he carries his young man’s mannerisms and outlook into the scenes with his older self, not showing any signs of experience gathered along the way. He also falls prey to the skeeviest danger of time travel…you know, the one “Back to the Future” warned us about…although, unlike Marty McFly, our narrator doesn’t resist.
What else? The ample romantic talk is too sweet to swallow, full of lines about “flowers opening” and love rippling across the decades. Much of the final third is coached in the dogged language of analysis, providing laborious real-life examples of Oedipal complexes and other cross-generational lust that even Freud would need a flowchart to track.
The book does have its charms, particularly when our narrator first explores the fin de siècle Vienna he finds himself in as well as his father’s hurried romance in World War Two–era England. Here the author’s extravagant tendencies serve the setting and the stakes.
But Wheeler is ultimately a Mary Sue character who never really means much. It’s fun at times to follow his progress, but the setting is the real star, and even in its majesty, it can’t bear the weight of this story.
March 9, 2011
For all the hype, I expected so much more from this book. It's about time travel, psychoanalysis, and there's a goopy, unrealistic, annoying love story thrown in. None one of these aspects is done well.
The time travel bit isn't detailed enough to be believable and the characters who do travel back to Vienna in 1897 aren't believable either since they don't struggle or ask enough "why" questions of themselves.
The psychoanalysis is tedious, mostly because it is tied up in the love story. The love story is completely unbelievable. I think the author is gay, thus writing a turn of the century romantic story completely eludes him.
The writer tries to surprise the reader with several mistaken identities or twists to familial relationships. Unfortunately, they're so obviously plotted early on that none of them are actually surprises at all. You find yourself reading and wondering "when is he finally going to reveal this?".
With all of that, you'd think that I'd hated the book but I didn't. Without giving too much away, the reflections on WWII, the rise of the Nazi party in Austria and how the war ended are great. I wish there had been more of the political intrigue. The main character, Wheeler, and his childhood at the beginning of the book are also really enjoyable.
I don't know that I'd recommend this book to anyone and I wouldn't be surprised if the author doesn't write anything else. But if nothing else, it does show me that reviews should be taken with a grain of salt, especially if they're from Pat Conroy.
The time travel bit isn't detailed enough to be believable and the characters who do travel back to Vienna in 1897 aren't believable either since they don't struggle or ask enough "why" questions of themselves.
The psychoanalysis is tedious, mostly because it is tied up in the love story. The love story is completely unbelievable. I think the author is gay, thus writing a turn of the century romantic story completely eludes him.
The writer tries to surprise the reader with several mistaken identities or twists to familial relationships. Unfortunately, they're so obviously plotted early on that none of them are actually surprises at all. You find yourself reading and wondering "when is he finally going to reveal this?".
With all of that, you'd think that I'd hated the book but I didn't. Without giving too much away, the reflections on WWII, the rise of the Nazi party in Austria and how the war ended are great. I wish there had been more of the political intrigue. The main character, Wheeler, and his childhood at the beginning of the book are also really enjoyable.
I don't know that I'd recommend this book to anyone and I wouldn't be surprised if the author doesn't write anything else. But if nothing else, it does show me that reviews should be taken with a grain of salt, especially if they're from Pat Conroy.
October 9, 2018
“The Little Book” by Seldon Edwards, published by Dutton.
Category – Fiction/Literature Publication Date – August, 2008.
In all honesty, this book is not for everyone but I will say that although it has taken me awhile to read it I found myself enthralled by the story. It took Edwards thirty years to finish the book and it was time well spent. If you are interested in good fiction and time travel this should suit you well.
It is very difficult to zero in on any particular parts of this book because it covers so much ground. First you have a well to do Boston family, the Burdens. Wheeler Burden, a son, finds himself wandering the streets of Vienna in 1897. This is not unusual until you realize that this is half a century before his birth. He meets up with his father, Dilly, who became a hero in World War II by not telling the Gestapo the plans for the Normandy invasion, well he did but that is another story.
As father and son travel through Vienna they become acquainted with Mark Twain, Gustav Mahler, Sigmund Freud, and Adolf Hitler.
Matters get really complicated when they meet other members of the Burden family.
There is a little bit of everything in this book from psychology, philosophy, music, time travel, and murder. A really good read that is full of surprises.
Category – Fiction/Literature Publication Date – August, 2008.
In all honesty, this book is not for everyone but I will say that although it has taken me awhile to read it I found myself enthralled by the story. It took Edwards thirty years to finish the book and it was time well spent. If you are interested in good fiction and time travel this should suit you well.
It is very difficult to zero in on any particular parts of this book because it covers so much ground. First you have a well to do Boston family, the Burdens. Wheeler Burden, a son, finds himself wandering the streets of Vienna in 1897. This is not unusual until you realize that this is half a century before his birth. He meets up with his father, Dilly, who became a hero in World War II by not telling the Gestapo the plans for the Normandy invasion, well he did but that is another story.
As father and son travel through Vienna they become acquainted with Mark Twain, Gustav Mahler, Sigmund Freud, and Adolf Hitler.
Matters get really complicated when they meet other members of the Burden family.
There is a little bit of everything in this book from psychology, philosophy, music, time travel, and murder. A really good read that is full of surprises.
January 26, 2019
I loved this book! I will always read any book I can find that involves time travel, but this one was so much more. The plot operates on several levels, dealing with more than just its characters, and delving into the root causes of world events.
The author presents an interesting mix of characters, both real and fictional. Wheeler Burden, scion of a prominent Boston family and college baseball hero turned international 80s rockstar, is transported to 1897 Vienna. He befriends and learns the secrets of the war-hero father he never knew, meets the child who will be Adolf Hitler, and a young, not-yet-famous Sigmund Freud, even makes the acquaintance of the couple who will one day be his own grandparents. The story offers a look into the power of personality and the human psyche,and the ways that both can affect history.
As a bonus, we're given many surprising revelations, including an underlying theme of bittersweet but enduring love. The reader is left a a little saddened, yet believing that everlasting love might really exist!
The author presents an interesting mix of characters, both real and fictional. Wheeler Burden, scion of a prominent Boston family and college baseball hero turned international 80s rockstar, is transported to 1897 Vienna. He befriends and learns the secrets of the war-hero father he never knew, meets the child who will be Adolf Hitler, and a young, not-yet-famous Sigmund Freud, even makes the acquaintance of the couple who will one day be his own grandparents. The story offers a look into the power of personality and the human psyche,and the ways that both can affect history.
As a bonus, we're given many surprising revelations, including an underlying theme of bittersweet but enduring love. The reader is left a a little saddened, yet believing that everlasting love might really exist!
February 27, 2010
Normally, I reserve my one-star ratings for books I don't bother to finish, and I did finish this one, but it was so much more frustrating than most of the books that I give two stars (which is, after all, by this standard, a modestly positive rating--"it's OK") that I can't bring myself to put it in that category. The story is interesting after all: The protagonist--a middle-aged former prep school & Ivy League baseball star who dropped out of Harvard to become a rock star--travels back in time to Vienna in 1897. But the story maintains its interest only by piling one implausible coincidence upon another every 50 pages or so. He meets, roughly in order [SPOILER ALERT HERE:]: his young grandfather; a historically based group of young Viennese artists & intellectuals, which includes a character based on the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein; his grandmother, with whom he falls in love (and who, in, turn, meets and is seduced by Gustav Mahler); Sigmund Freud; a young version of his father, who has also traveled back to this place and time; Mark Twain; and a 10-year-old Adolf Hitler. Furthermore, why has no one noticed that the writing is awful--bloated prose with overblown characterizations and totally unbelievable (in the literal sense), stilted dialogue creating and sustaining the melodrama? And the author so habitually repeats himself, often almost verbatim, that he even does so in the acknowledgments. What a ridiculous book! I don't understand all the positive reviews.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2015
This book is layers upon layers and the ending falls short. It was overall an enjoyable read, but the worst part is definitely the ending; it did not live up to the rest of the story.
I appreciate the author's self-awareness in writing in the cliches of typical time travel stories and twisting them. For example: Wheeler has a relationship with his grandmother, but doesn't become his own grandfather. Instead you're thrown off by the fact that no one in the family is truly related to Frank Burden Sr. Also, Dilly believes that he's at risk of irrevocably changing things through his time travel; whereas, you learn that everything is predestined.
The author does a miserable job of building the female characters. They are described as being great, but their greatness is contingent upon their relationships with men. Wheezy lives her life according to Wheeler's journal. Flora publishes a book based on child-Wheeler's ideas. And the entire sexual violence piece was unrealistic, awkward, and completely unnecessary. SO GLAD Wheezy had Wheeler to help her get over that trauma through brief conversation. I'm bored by the male savior complex written in this story.
The redeeming qualities were the time travel, the descriptions of Vienna, and the parallels written into Wheeler's and Dilly's lives. Unfortunately, this books is VERY CLOSE to being Benjamin Button, Forrest Gump, or other "extraordinary tales" of things white dudes do.
I appreciate the author's self-awareness in writing in the cliches of typical time travel stories and twisting them. For example: Wheeler has a relationship with his grandmother, but doesn't become his own grandfather. Instead you're thrown off by the fact that no one in the family is truly related to Frank Burden Sr. Also, Dilly believes that he's at risk of irrevocably changing things through his time travel; whereas, you learn that everything is predestined.
The author does a miserable job of building the female characters. They are described as being great, but their greatness is contingent upon their relationships with men. Wheezy lives her life according to Wheeler's journal. Flora publishes a book based on child-Wheeler's ideas. And the entire sexual violence piece was unrealistic, awkward, and completely unnecessary. SO GLAD Wheezy had Wheeler to help her get over that trauma through brief conversation. I'm bored by the male savior complex written in this story.
The redeeming qualities were the time travel, the descriptions of Vienna, and the parallels written into Wheeler's and Dilly's lives. Unfortunately, this books is VERY CLOSE to being Benjamin Button, Forrest Gump, or other "extraordinary tales" of things white dudes do.
June 22, 2025
Time travel to the past. Most of the story takes place in Vienna 1897. However there is back and forth minimally to different time periods in the USA in Boston and San Fran mostly. It’s quite a complicated tale and apparently the author took 30 years writing and revising to add in the intricacies. Lots of history, the arts, pre-war anti-semitism, love and romance, family drama, psychology, etc etc. The writing itself lacks any artistic flair. The time travel relationships themselves are rather dizzying I think in an intriguing way. Read in second hand physical book format.
September 23, 2009
After polishing off The Time Traveler's Wife, I had The Little Book recommended to me since it was also a story of relationships and time travel.
This time, though, our hero, Wheeler Burden, gets to stay in one place: turn-of-the-century Vienna. I'll leave you to discover the circumstances behind his arrival, but what I can tell you is he gets to meet, along with Sigmund Freud and Mark Twain, a father he never knew and a grandfather he wished he never met. The characters are well-constructed, and the story weaves them together in a rich, swirly, surprising way.
Who knew Vienna in 1897 had such a concentration of thinkers, artists and scientists? Selden Edwards does a masterful job of placing historical gems throughout the story: notes about how the city was built, its history of repelling Turkish invaders, political intrigue, rising anti-Semitism, the flourishing of philosophy, music, psychology. I'm anxious to walk the Ringstrasse someday. I admit to geeking out a bit when it comes to history, which is one of the reasons I loved The Historian so much.
Edwards has a semi-anachronistic writing style that made understanding his characters a bit of a challenge, but so rewarding in the end. Maybe that's what happens when you take 30 years to finish your novel. It was refreshing, actually, after reading The Lost Symbol. No offense, Dan Brown.
This time, though, our hero, Wheeler Burden, gets to stay in one place: turn-of-the-century Vienna. I'll leave you to discover the circumstances behind his arrival, but what I can tell you is he gets to meet, along with Sigmund Freud and Mark Twain, a father he never knew and a grandfather he wished he never met. The characters are well-constructed, and the story weaves them together in a rich, swirly, surprising way.
Who knew Vienna in 1897 had such a concentration of thinkers, artists and scientists? Selden Edwards does a masterful job of placing historical gems throughout the story: notes about how the city was built, its history of repelling Turkish invaders, political intrigue, rising anti-Semitism, the flourishing of philosophy, music, psychology. I'm anxious to walk the Ringstrasse someday. I admit to geeking out a bit when it comes to history, which is one of the reasons I loved The Historian so much.
Edwards has a semi-anachronistic writing style that made understanding his characters a bit of a challenge, but so rewarding in the end. Maybe that's what happens when you take 30 years to finish your novel. It was refreshing, actually, after reading The Lost Symbol. No offense, Dan Brown.
May 20, 2016
I have cursed myself for years, after I loaned this book out and it never found its way back to me. This unexpected gem was found in a bunker of discounted books, back in the days when I was still well enough to troll through the book nooks, superstores, department stores and Costco, and when the experience of choosing a book also included that first moment of physical interaction, the one which let you know that this was definitely a book FOR YOU.
The Little Book inspired an interest in La Belle Époque, which has never left me. The Little Book anchored me in pre-war Vienna, a time that was full of art, music and philosophy, and people like Gustav Mahler, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Gustav Klimt, among others. The novel itself is very complex and thought provoking, which is an achievement where the plot is directed with time travel.
The story is about time travel, fate and controlling one's destiny.
For fans of fantasy/science fiction wrapped tightly around well-written history, this is a five star winner. Interweaving fictional characters effectively with famous true-to-life people takes great skill. Time travel stories require that the author has us completely suspend our belief in reality. In The Little Book, Seldon Edwards has done both masterfully.
Simply, one of my favour books.
The Little Book inspired an interest in La Belle Époque, which has never left me. The Little Book anchored me in pre-war Vienna, a time that was full of art, music and philosophy, and people like Gustav Mahler, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Gustav Klimt, among others. The novel itself is very complex and thought provoking, which is an achievement where the plot is directed with time travel.
The story is about time travel, fate and controlling one's destiny.
For fans of fantasy/science fiction wrapped tightly around well-written history, this is a five star winner. Interweaving fictional characters effectively with famous true-to-life people takes great skill. Time travel stories require that the author has us completely suspend our belief in reality. In The Little Book, Seldon Edwards has done both masterfully.
Simply, one of my favour books.
October 3, 2009
A man travels back in time to have sex with his grandmother----ewww! Okay, I could get past that if I had to. What I couldn't bear was the hyperbolic reverential tone used by the author to describe his characters, who all sound like a bunch of Bostonian snobs, despite his attempt to humanize them. The names he gives them, and the nicknames they use are fuel for the fire: ie., Standish Burden, "Wheeler" to his friends; Eleanor Burden, "Weezie" to her friends; (?) Dad Burden; "Dilly" to his friends. And our heroes are not just normal people. Wheeler is a baseball star at Harvard before he becomes a rock star legend, travels through time, has sex with his grandmum, and writes an incredibly successful book. Everybody in this book is given star status. Note the mild-mannered professor at a boy's (prep) school, who, is beloved, revered, idolized by one and all, because he. . . What? Oh yeah, he teaches European history. No matter how you slice it, unless you're writing "Goodbye MR. Chips", a teacher at a boy's school is not Sigmund Freud, who, by the way, is the only character I liked in this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2018
I so wanted to love this book since it had been on my to read list forever. It fell short of 4 stars for me. I liked a number of characters in the book Flora, Dilly, adult Eleanor, and The Haze, but I never really connected with Wheeler. I also had A LOT of trouble with the Weezie/Wheeler relationship. She was his future Grandmother in a different time loop?!? Even if she technically wasn’t. By the time I got to the end of the story. I had a difficult time even remembering why Wheeler’s killer would want to kill him in 1988. Also had issue with his Grandfather Frank killing Wheeler in 1897.
Oh, and Sigmund Freud - weird. Marrying the man who killed your one true love - not really.
Oh, and Sigmund Freud - weird. Marrying the man who killed your one true love - not really.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 11, 2011
Awful. The happenstance of a Forrest Gump written by a John Irving wannabe.
December 21, 2023
2.5 stars.
I have a lot to say about this book and very little of it is positive. Still rounding it up to 3 stars because it was easy to read, though very repetitive.
I’m giving some recommendations at the end of this very long review for books that much better executed some of the themes of this book.
1- The time-travel aspect : the main theme of the book is time-travel but it is barely explored at all. Wheeler and his father find themselves displaced in Vienna in 1897 and all we can gather is that they were dying when they got transported there. The implications are not really discussed aside from how their actions might impact the future. Everything is just taken over by the love story (which isn’t very credible). Wheeler and Dilly never struggle with money or with the difference of culture and society. They never question anything.
2- Let’s talk about that love story. In Vienna Wheeler meets a woman who is 20 years younger than him. He falls in love with her for no particular reason and the age difference is juste never brought up. He could literally be her dad. Oh and did I mention that this woman is in fact his grandmother? And that he knows this yet keeps sleeping with her? And that is supposed to be the greatest love story spanning generations? Well, spanning generations it sure does but I wouldn’t call it “great”. “Creepy” is the word that comes to mind. And I don’t care how much the author tries to justify that it isn’t incest because “secretly she is not his biological grandma”, he still grew up knowing her as his grandmother and not only that, Dilly his father who is also in Vienna with him, has a huge crush on her and he KNOWS that she’s his (biological) mom. These characters are deranged and there is nothing romantic about any of this.
3- The philosophy of time-travel. I’m going back to the time-travel aspect because there were so many moments that could have given way to very interesting discussions and theorizing but that just completely fell flat. Let me give a few examples. Wheeler and Dilly meet Hitler as a 10 y.o child. They sought him out because Dilly wants to kill him to prevent the future catastrophe. Yet they end up doing nothing. This could’ve led to an interesting discussion on the ethics and implications of time-travel: if you know this child is going to cause one of the greatest tragedies ever, is it ethical to kill him? Or do you consider that at this point in time, he’s only a child and is innocent, thus killing him would be a terrible crime? And also, if you manage to kill him what happens to future events? If everything is already determined, does that mean you killed an innocent child and the real Hitler is in fact, somewhere else? Or does that mean that someone else will rise in his stead to commit those horrible crimes? But no, none of this is explored, instead, Wheeler and Burden leave Hitler and start talking about Weezie, the woman they are both in love with and just so happens to be their mom and grandma. Another example is when Dilly admits to Wheeler that he thinks they are not, in fact, in the past, but that he just made this all up in his mind and that Wheeler and everything else are just a figment of his imagination. This is never explored further. Shouldn’t Wheeler go through an existential crisis now? What if he is just a part of someone else’s imagination? That would completely take away all of his accomplishments because everything was actually determined by the person who imagined him up. And what would be the consequences of the world they live in? Wouldn’t this mean they could do anything because it wouldn’t impact the future at all? Yet Dilly spends his time telling Wheeler to be careful not to do anything that could change the future. It doesn’t make sense. There are many more examples but it would take too much time to mention them all.
4- The famous legend. If I had a penny for every time something or someone is qualified as “famous” or “legendary” I would probably have enough to pay rent. The thing is, there is nothing that makes the characters stand out. They are bland and flat. Yet Wheeler is constantly described as “eccentric”, a “compulsive conversationalist”, so different from everyone else, so smart, so legendary. But it is never shown. He never does anything that would make him eccentric. He plays baseball, isn’t excited about school, discovers music and starts playing in a band, then by chance his band becomes kinda famous. That isn’t being eccentric. His personality has no charm, he isn’t thoughtful or insightful, he doesn’t think differently from others, he’s just basic. It’s so hard to believe that a character is a famous legendary person when they are this boring and normal. Same for the cleverness. He never says or does anything smart yet the narrator keeps telling the reader how extraordinarily smart Wheeler is. How are we supposed to believe that? Also, Wheeler is so eccentric and outgoing that he’s a feminist and likes outgoing liberated women. Or so he says. Because he’s from the 80’s and he likes an outgoing liberated woman from 1897. I’d say that’s pretty tame or even very traditionalist for someone from a century later.
5- The discussions. Literally every conversation between Wheeler and another character is qualified by his interlocutor as “so stimulating”, “so insightful” but the conversations are boring and dumb. With Weezie the entire conversation throughout the book is just: Weezie “I’m so insecure. I’m so different from other women in my era.” And Wheeler “no you’re great I promise. You are better than other women in your era.” They literally never talk about anything else and how is this stimulating in any way?
6- the hero complex. This is my main issue with the book. Wheeler saves everyone. In fact, he single-handedly made the 20th century what it is. No one else in this book has any accomplishments. He writes the first text that will make a philosopher famous once it’s published, he, at 10 yo, comes up with feminist theories about the myth of Persephone and his mom only writes her bestseller book thanks to her 10 yo son’s incredible ideas. In fact, Wheeler is credited with starting the American feminist movement (I kid you not, and there is not a single feminist fiber in this man’s body). He is also the catalyst and inspiration for his grandma’s bestselling book about Vienna which in turn would inspire Esterhazy, a famous highschool history teacher (I’m telling you, everyone in this book is famous) to inspire Wheeler (so basically he inspired himself), and his grandma would become a rich investor thanks to his predictions. Basically, Wheeler is at the root of everything and no one can accomplish anything of their own. But considering how bland and normal and kinda dumb he is, that is very unbelievable.
I could go on but I will stop here and instead, will give some recommendations of other books that have much better execution of some of the themes in this one:
If you’re looking for a truly smart and eccentric main character who finds himself accidentally thrown into a great historical movement (communism in this case) and becomes an accidental legend, I recommend The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. The main character is charismatic and clever, yet it is never said explicitly. It doesn’t need to be, because it is shown through his actions and his ideas and thought-process.
If you’re looking for actual stimulating philosophical theories and discussions, I recommend The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch, and The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. Those books are actually smart, without the characters necessarily being so. The narrators provide a critical view of their own characters, at times sympathizing with them and at times making fun of them, but at all times providing insightful discussions on many diverse topics.
I have a lot to say about this book and very little of it is positive. Still rounding it up to 3 stars because it was easy to read, though very repetitive.
I’m giving some recommendations at the end of this very long review for books that much better executed some of the themes of this book.
1- The time-travel aspect : the main theme of the book is time-travel but it is barely explored at all. Wheeler and his father find themselves displaced in Vienna in 1897 and all we can gather is that they were dying when they got transported there. The implications are not really discussed aside from how their actions might impact the future. Everything is just taken over by the love story (which isn’t very credible). Wheeler and Dilly never struggle with money or with the difference of culture and society. They never question anything.
2- Let’s talk about that love story. In Vienna Wheeler meets a woman who is 20 years younger than him. He falls in love with her for no particular reason and the age difference is juste never brought up. He could literally be her dad. Oh and did I mention that this woman is in fact his grandmother? And that he knows this yet keeps sleeping with her? And that is supposed to be the greatest love story spanning generations? Well, spanning generations it sure does but I wouldn’t call it “great”. “Creepy” is the word that comes to mind. And I don’t care how much the author tries to justify that it isn’t incest because “secretly she is not his biological grandma”, he still grew up knowing her as his grandmother and not only that, Dilly his father who is also in Vienna with him, has a huge crush on her and he KNOWS that she’s his (biological) mom. These characters are deranged and there is nothing romantic about any of this.
3- The philosophy of time-travel. I’m going back to the time-travel aspect because there were so many moments that could have given way to very interesting discussions and theorizing but that just completely fell flat. Let me give a few examples. Wheeler and Dilly meet Hitler as a 10 y.o child. They sought him out because Dilly wants to kill him to prevent the future catastrophe. Yet they end up doing nothing. This could’ve led to an interesting discussion on the ethics and implications of time-travel: if you know this child is going to cause one of the greatest tragedies ever, is it ethical to kill him? Or do you consider that at this point in time, he’s only a child and is innocent, thus killing him would be a terrible crime? And also, if you manage to kill him what happens to future events? If everything is already determined, does that mean you killed an innocent child and the real Hitler is in fact, somewhere else? Or does that mean that someone else will rise in his stead to commit those horrible crimes? But no, none of this is explored, instead, Wheeler and Burden leave Hitler and start talking about Weezie, the woman they are both in love with and just so happens to be their mom and grandma. Another example is when Dilly admits to Wheeler that he thinks they are not, in fact, in the past, but that he just made this all up in his mind and that Wheeler and everything else are just a figment of his imagination. This is never explored further. Shouldn’t Wheeler go through an existential crisis now? What if he is just a part of someone else’s imagination? That would completely take away all of his accomplishments because everything was actually determined by the person who imagined him up. And what would be the consequences of the world they live in? Wouldn’t this mean they could do anything because it wouldn’t impact the future at all? Yet Dilly spends his time telling Wheeler to be careful not to do anything that could change the future. It doesn’t make sense. There are many more examples but it would take too much time to mention them all.
4- The famous legend. If I had a penny for every time something or someone is qualified as “famous” or “legendary” I would probably have enough to pay rent. The thing is, there is nothing that makes the characters stand out. They are bland and flat. Yet Wheeler is constantly described as “eccentric”, a “compulsive conversationalist”, so different from everyone else, so smart, so legendary. But it is never shown. He never does anything that would make him eccentric. He plays baseball, isn’t excited about school, discovers music and starts playing in a band, then by chance his band becomes kinda famous. That isn’t being eccentric. His personality has no charm, he isn’t thoughtful or insightful, he doesn’t think differently from others, he’s just basic. It’s so hard to believe that a character is a famous legendary person when they are this boring and normal. Same for the cleverness. He never says or does anything smart yet the narrator keeps telling the reader how extraordinarily smart Wheeler is. How are we supposed to believe that? Also, Wheeler is so eccentric and outgoing that he’s a feminist and likes outgoing liberated women. Or so he says. Because he’s from the 80’s and he likes an outgoing liberated woman from 1897. I’d say that’s pretty tame or even very traditionalist for someone from a century later.
5- The discussions. Literally every conversation between Wheeler and another character is qualified by his interlocutor as “so stimulating”, “so insightful” but the conversations are boring and dumb. With Weezie the entire conversation throughout the book is just: Weezie “I’m so insecure. I’m so different from other women in my era.” And Wheeler “no you’re great I promise. You are better than other women in your era.” They literally never talk about anything else and how is this stimulating in any way?
6- the hero complex. This is my main issue with the book. Wheeler saves everyone. In fact, he single-handedly made the 20th century what it is. No one else in this book has any accomplishments. He writes the first text that will make a philosopher famous once it’s published, he, at 10 yo, comes up with feminist theories about the myth of Persephone and his mom only writes her bestseller book thanks to her 10 yo son’s incredible ideas. In fact, Wheeler is credited with starting the American feminist movement (I kid you not, and there is not a single feminist fiber in this man’s body). He is also the catalyst and inspiration for his grandma’s bestselling book about Vienna which in turn would inspire Esterhazy, a famous highschool history teacher (I’m telling you, everyone in this book is famous) to inspire Wheeler (so basically he inspired himself), and his grandma would become a rich investor thanks to his predictions. Basically, Wheeler is at the root of everything and no one can accomplish anything of their own. But considering how bland and normal and kinda dumb he is, that is very unbelievable.
I could go on but I will stop here and instead, will give some recommendations of other books that have much better execution of some of the themes in this one:
If you’re looking for a truly smart and eccentric main character who finds himself accidentally thrown into a great historical movement (communism in this case) and becomes an accidental legend, I recommend The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. The main character is charismatic and clever, yet it is never said explicitly. It doesn’t need to be, because it is shown through his actions and his ideas and thought-process.
If you’re looking for actual stimulating philosophical theories and discussions, I recommend The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch, and The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. Those books are actually smart, without the characters necessarily being so. The narrators provide a critical view of their own characters, at times sympathizing with them and at times making fun of them, but at all times providing insightful discussions on many diverse topics.
December 16, 2014
This book knocked me out of my socks. I had to read it twice to fully appreciate the intricacies of the plot. Because of the nature of this particular plot, it’s hard to talk about this book without spoilers, but because it’s a book that bears being read twice, I honestly don’t think the talking about the overall plot will lessen anyone’s enjoyment reading it.
It’s a story about three generations of men in the Burden family, except as the family secrets come out, the reader discovers that they’re not really three generations of men in the Burden family.
It’s a time travel story with a twist. The way the characters are transported in time offers a new reflection on mortality and death.
Mostly it’s a tragic romance— the man dies in his lover’s arms. Except it isn’t really tragic because they know they will meet again.
It was, in a breathtakingly original way, the perfect tragic romance. He dies in her arms, and they become (in a sense) immortal.
If this review reads like a series of riddles, it’s because the plot unfolds like a series of riddles.
As a writer myself, I was most impressed with the book’s scope and ambition. Of course, it’s always possible to find flaws, particularly in a book as ambitious as this one. Personally, I found it too incredible that the main character was a good enough musician to become a renown rock star, was such a good pitcher he could have pitched in the major leagues, and was such a brilliant scholar that he influenced the entire direction of western philosophy.
On the other hand, I had no trouble believing a person living in San Francisco in the 1980s could be transported back to turn-of-the-century Vienna, so you'd think a person with incredible talents would not have bothered me. Perhaps what bothered me was that the other characters were more focused on his eccentricity and unpredictable nature than the fact that he possessed an almost superhuman diversity of talents. It wasn’t that people around him didn’t notice he was talented. It was just that nobody ever said, “Wait. They guy is a rock star (literally), he can pitch as well as a major league pitcher, and he is academically brilliant? Really?”
There was for me a few other loose ends in the plot that were never resolved. For example, Sigmund Freud went into his middle and later years with an extraordinary amount of information. At some point he would have realized that his “patient” wasn’t mad at all. It seems to me that knowledge would have influenced how he lived his life, just as the knowledge influenced Weezie.
Flaws aside, I fell in love with this book, and had a great time reading it. I highly recommend it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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