I thoroughly enjoyed this :') And yes, like many others I, too, listened to the audiobook performed by Tom Hanks! He does an incredible job with Ann Patchett's beautiful writing. The characters and the themes (of family, memory, forgiveness) really grabbed me and I loved the way the different periods in time were all woven together. As soon as I finished I started it again because I didn't want it to be over. And perhaps it struck a chord with me because I've often been guilty of driving to visit houses that I used to live in with my family, staring up at the windows, remembering the past.

Three-and-a-half stars, maybe three-point-eight. I tore through this book and couldn't put it down, but ultimately finished it feeling just a little flat. There was so much I liked about it, so I feel bad giving it three stars, to be honest. But at times I just didn't feel the connection between the two main characters -- or at least, I didn't feel it in their dialogue. Then again other times I felt my heart breaking for both of them.

Also I always find a lack of punctuation marks needlessly confusing and just a little pretentious, unfortunately.

I wish I had taken a shot everytime she says "after all" or any variation of "what I'm trying to say is this"...

liked it at first but definitely not for me. I disagree with her statement that art is unnecessary; I think she used an example of art being useless during an apocalypse. What did anyone and everyone do during pandemic lockdowns? they consumed art! they watched films and read books and played video games... art and creativity is absolutely necessary.

Fleeting moments of inspiration for me though, I'm just the wrong audience for this book.