Overall Rating
4
out of 5
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a wonderfully executed triumphant story
Date: April 30, 2009
This review is for the
Print
format.
"I've heard it said that writers tend toward tragic stories rather than triumphant stories because the latter are harder to pull of convincingly. Goodman does not appear to suffer from that problem. "Hold Love Strong" is a wonderfully executed triumphant story. The narrator's family is wonderfully created, both in their love for each other and in how they are affected by the largely futile environment in which they live. Their struggles and hopes , even when they end tragically, are touching. Really, it just makes it all the more touching when the triumphs do come. Goodman strikes a good balance, a twinge nostalgic but not sentimental. A marvelously emotional novel.
At first when I was reading I thought the narrator's voice seemed a tad out of place. Perhaps too erudite. As I continued reading (still pretty early on), though, it started to make more sense as I picked up on the clues that the narrator was going to go to college and was looking back from that vantage point. Once I realized that the voice worked for me and I found the narrator to be very engaging."
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