This book was pretty much what I expected. She's careful, but not necessarily dishonest and guarded, and the book seems handled, finessed and glossed over to me. I think she has interesting viewpoints and shares her slice of life from the White House, a POV few can claim. I felt that at its worst, this book had a lot of "aw shucks" to it and at best, it was elegant and reflective.

Whoa, buddy.

Wow. I went along thinking this was a sibling to The Dud Avocado...pithy women with moxie out on the town (are you getting the musty old dated feeling with those terms?). As I reached the conclusion this book really ramped up its emoting. I didn't feel much til then, except through the blasé sneers of teenagers with everything ahead, unfurling. But as we see Berie return to Horsehearts and her bff Sils, who never left, their friendship has long shine - not all, but some. An amazing revelation Berie has (that I hadn't reached myself yet nearing 40) is how much you devote to friendships in your teens and how that must come at an expense to your siblings' bond, at least in my case. Berie has razor sharp hindsight and it broke my heart.

Woven amazingly.

Eh.

I really liked this book. It's short and worked well as audio. The characters were fleshed out enough but not perfectly formed. The ending was succinct and somber. But realistic. Parts of the book were pleasantly absurd but the parts that needed to be real and convey real situations were spot on. I would read more of this author and found a lack of discussion of Brautigan online.

What an unbelievable writer.

Huh? I enjoyed this slowly unfolding story but the ending left me puzzled.