Play Book Tag discussion

I think this book deserves the praise it has received. I'm kind of surprised it got such raves because it is what I think of as an "old-fashioned" book - told in chronological order, following 4 people through their lives and the history of the 1920's - 1980's. The emphasis is on relationships, family, and society.

I find it interesting to read history of periods that I lived through but the author didn't (well, not all of it, I was around for the later part!). I think this book depicted well the changes in society, the conformism of the 1950's, the impact of WWI and WWII , small town life in general. There is a bit of magical realism that somehow doesn't seem out of place.

There were just a couple expressions that seemed wrong to me. There was a mention of taking metal to the "recycling center" in WWII. I'm pretty sure they would have said "scrap yard" with material from the "scrap metal drive" Recycling as a general concept, not industrial, was a new word in the 1960's-70's. . Also the author talked about something in the 1940's happening 24/7. That seemed odd to me so I looked it up and that expression originated in the 1980's . An editor should be sensitive to that type of thing. I still gave the book 5 stars.

I did this on audio and found the narration very good and compelling, even when much of it is about everyday life.

I thought it was a strong book too, and listed it as an honorable mention this year on my Top Books List. Per Ann Patchett, it was her favorite book of the year.

I like that the book went in chronological order. I'm tired of doing what I call mental gymnastics to untangle disordered timelines as I'm reading.

Weren't the characters interesting!

It would make a good movie, or better a miniseries, since it covers so much time. It would be fun to see how the clothing, cars, and town change over the decades.

It reminded me of Ann Patchett actually, something like The Dutch House.