Three Junes

Rating:
Summary: Three Junes
Review: I read about 2/3s of this book and gave up. It's extremely boring and pointless. Nothing happens in this entire book. No murders. No action. No nothin'!
It's called Three Junes not because it's about three people named June, but because the book is split up into 3 parts that all take place in June of different years.
The first part is about Paul McLeod. The entire story is about him on a cruise. That's it. Nothing happens on the cruise.
The second part is about Paul's son Fenno. This was probably the best of the 3 stories. Fenno is gay and owns a book store in Manhattan. His neighbor, Mal, asks him to take his bird Felicity for him. He wants her to have a home after he is gone. You see Mal is dying of AIDS.
Fenno also meets Tony. A gay photographer who's house sitting in Manhattan. They have wild sex every day for a while and then Tony disappears.
And I didn't finish the 3rd part. I tried, but I just couldn't make it.
Please, don't read this book. It's a total waste of your time.

Rating:
Summary: Almost took me three Junes to read it...
Review: For the second year in a row, the criteria for winning the National Book Award seems to consist of novels with pretentious and verbose writing, unlikable characters, and a condensation of other (and better) books. Three Junes lives up to these criteria in spades. As a very voracious reader I rarely spend more than a week or two with a book - it took me over eight months to plow through this muddy mess of a book.

In a novel without a story or plot line, one expects that there may be some serious character study or some insightful gleanings about life as we know it. Unfortunately, Glass has done a mediocre, at best, job of creating such a book. Her characters (including her heroes Paul, Fenno, and Fern) are shallow, cold, unlikable, self-absorbed and completely underdeveloped. The novel's three barely connected sections just graze over the surface of an insight about the continuation of life and perpetuation of love and friendship despite, or maybe because of, the passing of those closest to us.

Overall Three Junes is a disappointing read covering topics and characters that were better written elsewhere. For an endearing bookshop clerk read Parnassas on Wheels by Christopher Morley. For a great book about gay relationships, AIDS, and fathering another's child, read A Home At the End of the World by Michael Cunningham.

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Summary: Someone tell me how to finish this book!
Review: I just can't get through this book. I have dragged myself through 100 pages and I am starting to feel my life is wasting away. I don't care about the characters because I don't know a thing about how they feel. The entire book is either a monotonous recounting of events or dialogue between extremely flat characters. Save yourself $12 and buy a book that is well-written and relatable...may I suggest "Crow Lake" by Mary Lawson, "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant or "Raising Fences" by Michael Datcher. There you go, something for everyone and a 100 times better than Three Junes.

Rating:
Summary: I missed it
Review: Whatever the draw for this book was, I missed it. I know it got awards and great reviews, but I couldn't find the wonderful. I had to start it twice to try to "get it" but, I never did.

Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: This book has to be one of my all time favorites. I couldn't put it down, but I didn't want it to end, so when I finished it I started reading at the beginning again. The characters were so endearing, each in their own way. I would like to read about them some more, so Julia, Get out your pen, and write a part II, and III and etc.

Rating:
Summary: Characters you don't want to let go
Review: For some reason, it took me awhile to get into this, but, once I did, I was hooked. The second and third portions of the novel were so strong and emotional - yet so subtle and graceful. "Collies" felt as if it stood alone, although equally enjoyable. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: YOU DON'T KNOW UNLESS YOU TRY IT
Review: Everyone has different tastes as readers. I personally feel "THE THREE JUNES" is excellent but I can see where it is not everyone's taste. What is? "THE THREE JUNES" is not a dare to be different book like "MIDDLESEX" or "MY FRACTURED LIFE" nor does it have the universally appealing spiritual elements of "THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES" or "THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN." Those are different types of books, different "tastes." I like all of them, "THE THREE JUNES" among them. Just like at a restaurant, you don't know if you like something unless you try it.

Rating:
Summary: Bloody boring!
Review: This book is dreadfully dull. So dull, in fact, that I actually felt angry when I finally reached the last page. Not only did I waste money buying this drivel, more importantly, I wasted several precious hours of my time that would have been better spent picking up dog doodoo in the backyard.

The entire story, save Part III, is a collection of flashbacks and "current" events. It's like a tennis match. The reader's head is uncomfortably jerked side to side in an effort to keep track of the rocketing volleys between past and present. It wouldn't be so annoying if we could at least see an impressive overhead smash in the storyline once in a while. Unfortunately, little excitement is found during Julia Glass' emotionless depiction of the McLeod family and the events (or lack thereof) of three different summers.

The Scottish patriarch, Paul McLeod, is a good man, reserved, a little sad, a little lonely (during his marriage as well as after his wife's death) and a lot boring. The mother is somewhat distant. She is not a traditional cookie-baking, over-involved mother. She breeds and sells dogs and is perhaps more dedicated to and affectionate with the dogs than with any member of her family. There are occasional references to her likely infidelities, but we never get the whole story. The mother could actually be quite interesting, but the author only allows us glimpses of her. Instead, she focuses on the eldest brother, Fenno, a reserved, lonely gay man living in NYC who is, what else, bloody boring! Afraid of the HIV/AIDS outbreak during the 80s, Fenno protects himself by avoiding promiscuous sex, effectively isolating himself from significant relationships. I was thrilled when the AIDS-stricken Mal, Fenno's friend and neighbor, finally commands him to LIVE! I thought, "Thank goodness! The author DOES realize how boring a character Fenno is. She's finally going to get things moving." Alas. It is not to be.

Fenno's younger twin brothers and their wives offer a bit of a distraction. Dennis' controlling French wife, Veronique, is entertaining while David and Lil's childless circumstance and proposed solution provide a much-needed rain shower in the otherwise endless expanse of dry desert. However, both distractions dry up and evaporate quickly, leaving the reader feeling cheated and still parched.

The last "June" introduces a new character, Fern. Who is she? Where did she come from all of a sudden? Why should we care about her? Don't ask me. I haven't a clue. Yes, she does have a connection and forms a friendship with Fenno as they are both former lovers of Tony. In this last section of the book, Fern, Fenno, Dennis, Tony and Tony's current lover, Richard, are all staying together on a sort of holiday. Tony is a promiscuous, self-involved photographer who possesses few likable qualities. Why Fern and Fenno continue to hang around him and why Tony keeps them around is beyond me. Fern is recently widowed and now pregnant with her boyfriend's child, which he knows nothing about as he has been on an extended family visit to Greece. And this fits into the story about the McLeod family how? *shrug* Got me.

Fenno continues to be shockingly uninteresting as does the conclusion of the book. Maybe I'm overly critical and simply didn't "get" the point of the story. I think I was supposed to gain all kinds of wise and subtle insight into the poignant beauty, misperceptions and melancholy that surrounds a family and the interwoven relationships within. Sadly, the only thing I got from the book is a whole lot of nothing. On the other hand, I definitely recommend this book as it is a most effective sleep aid.

Rating:
Summary: Deep but Great
Review: I thought this book was great and how anyone can call it flat is beyond me. This is the first novel I have read that tells about life from a gay man's perspective. Sometimes he seemed to be reluctantly gay but gay none the less. I was sympathetic to siblings that remembered things differently from their childhoods, almost like they lived with different families, as is the case with siblings. This story was so deep and the characters so involved and intertwined it was unbelievable. What a wonderful depth and ability this author showed.

Rating:
Summary: Well written, but the characters were not fully developed
Review: This book was very well written, but I felt the characters were not fully developed. Paul, Fern, Maureen, Fenno, Lucinda, David, Lil, Dennis, and Veronique were all interesting but were either not fully developed or were left hanging. Maybe the author wanted us to write our own stories about these characters.