Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780007132430
Format: Import
ISBN: 0007132433
Label: Houghton Mifflin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: 2002
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Studio: Houghton Mifflin
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Packs a wallop
I have read with dismay some of the negative reviews of this amazing text. Frankly, I don't get it. I am not a product of the Vietnam generation (I am 30) but that is not the primary power of the novel. Rather the power of this text is the truth that it reveals about human nature, dreams, and maturation. People have complained that some of the characters are one dimensional ( I don't see it), boring, unlikable, selfish, etc. Yeah folks, that's the point! Look around you. Do you not know a ... Read More
Rating:  - Who's to Blame: the Author or His Characters?
As the old saying goes, Tim O'Brien has nothing to say, but he says it very well.
The setting is cliche'ed - the 30 year reunion of the Class of '69 full of stock characters left over from The Big Chill - but the author keeps the pace moving nicely with chapters alternating between the events of the reunion and flashbacks to the past.
The characters have a paint-by-numbers feel to them, however. During the reunion, many of them make major changes in their lives, but you ... Read More
Rating: - O'Brien Never Disappoints
The first O'Brien novel I ever read was The Things They Carried...it was college...I was impressionable...and it slayed me. Since then, he's become one of those authors I know will not disappoint. All of O'Brien's novels tell the story of a generation emboldened by idealism and ravaged by war. His characters are neither heroes nor villains but, like all of us, a little of both.
July, July tells the tragic story of what happened to those who protested, those who were all about free ... Read More
Rating:  - This is adulthood...?
Just as a note, I picked up this book at a local used bookstore, in one of the boxes by the exit listed as "FREE." I guess that would be a sort of portent for what was to come next.
The plot is simple and almost cliche enough: ten people gathering for a 30-year college reunion. Ten different stories basically, plus one recount of a dead graduate. These people are in their early fifties, with each little story/chapter reminiscing on their lives after college graduation.
As a ... Read More
Rating:  - Great Entertaining Read
This was my first Tim O'Brien novel. I agree with the other reviews that have characterized this more as a series of interrelated short stories. For some reason these characters and O'Brien's style reminds me of Raymond Carver. I found the beginning of the book challenging because the reader is quickly introduced to so many characters. The strength of the book lies in how O'Brien introduces the characters and their interwoven stories throughout the remainder of the book. My one criticism is the ... Read More
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