Rating: 
Summary: Blue Collar beautiful
Review: Jonah and Troy--separated both by space and time between their respective births-- come together in a most interesting way. But such painfully beautiful writing--about these guys? Why? I mean, not that I have anything against guys who work in kitchens or tend bar--but these types don't usually have alot to say about life. And that's the depressing tone in this story. As well-written as YOU REMIND ME OF ME is and as stunning as the portrayal of emotions in these men, I just found their plain lives to be too stark and real. And because Choan is such a good writer, we end up feeling for these men. And that's what is so good about this book. I do recommend-- despite my tick with the world of things blue collar, mid-western and well--drab. If you're wanting something with a bit more spice, humor and characters that will amuse--I recommend the lesser-known SIMON LAZARUS. It'll also move you.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect Writing
Review: At the beginning of this achingly haunting and beautiful novel we're introduced to Jonah and Troy: Two half brothers whose lives have yet to intersect.What builds to this inevitable meeting is their own involved origins, thier parents, loved ones, and children. Shifting between past and present, Chaon presents a story about the lives we wish for ourselves, and the reality of what we've become. The book has such a searing exactness in it's dissection of human emotion. It's writing elevated to art. A great book.
Rating:
Summary: It's hard to find writing as beautiful as this!
Review: Every so often you stumble upon a writer that captures all the pain and joy of living onto each page. Dan Chaon has made the leap from short stories to the full-length novel with astounding ease here, examining the lives of his characters carefully and compassionately, even though they are often difficult to love. How much of each person's life is the consequence of his own choices, and how much is simply the luck of the draw? Can we ever use circumstances to explain away our inability to move forward, or does person responsibility trump "bad breaks?" Truly an exquisite novel, one that will stay with the reader long afterward.
Rating:
Summary: A Meditation on Life, Death, and the Meaning of it All
Review: Everything promised in Dan Chaon's short stories in the cherished AMONG THE MISSING collection comes to full fruition in this incandescent novel YOU REMIND ME OF ME. Without question Dan Chaon is emerging as one of the more important writers of the 21st Century, so gifted is he at creating unique characters and then guiding them through the crusty terrain of the earth in search of the meaning of existence. He is a consummate storyteller, a master of the English language, and a social observer along the lines of the greatest thinking writers of the last century.YOU REMIND ME OF ME, significantly distilled, is the story of two men who share the same biological mother Nora, a woman so fragile that at age 16 she gives the first born son (Troy) for adoption, never marries, keeps her next son (Jonah) born four years later, only to descend into mental illness and guilt of her actions with her first born son and the disaster of her second born being mauled to death by her dog, reviving as though resurrected to a life of physical distortion and loneliness. Thus separated by Nora's decisions, the two boys grow into adulthood without significant direction: Jonah fears relationships because of his physical scarring creating a self concept of appearing a beast and spends his youth as a loner, while Troy's adoptive parents disintegrate, allowing him to bond with a young couple who introduce him to the life of drugs, and his downward swirl ends in a life as a bartender, divorced from a junkie wife and left with a son (Loomis). Jonah longs for the 'brother' he never knew and after Nora's suicide he strikes out to find his only blood relative. All of this happens on the plains of middle America - St. Bonaventure, Nebraska and Little Bow, South Dakota - and Dan Chaon knows these vast stretches of lonely terrain and the isolation of small prairie towns well. He uses the places like a stretched sheet over a morgue bench to dissect the fragile lives of his characters and the folk who populate these spaces. It seems as though reducing the matrix of the novel to such places erases the distractions of life so that he can meditate on the important things. "The true terror, Jonah thought, the true mystery of life was not that we all are going to die, but that we were all born, that we were all once little babies like this, unknowing and slowly reeling in the world, gathering it loop by loop like a ball of string. The true terror was that we once didn't exist, and then, through no fault of our own, we had to." And the thoughts come not only from the young men but from the life experiences of the elderly, such as Judy - the grandmother of Troy's son Loomis: " She is aware of herself dividing. There is a reasonable self, floating above her perception, a practical mind that observes the sensual organism. She is aware of herself as muscle and fat wrapped in a damp skin, aware of herself as a dry, yellow-tasting tongue, aware of the matrix of sounds that spreads out from the center point of her body, the interstate of blood moving, the grasping tendrils of the spirit, seeking purchase." The story progresses to Jonah's finding Troy, desperately seeking connection to someone, finding that connection through distorted lies about his life that promise a bond with Troy, and the manner in which the earlier referenced 'baby' (Loomis) provides that bond is the odd resolution of this engrossing tale. Jonah's desperate need to connect with Troy finds words from a inebriate mouth: "People seem to think it's all either nature or nurture, or some combination, but you know what? I think it's even worse than that. It's all...random. It's all chaos and luck and whether you're like...stupid and cowlike , like YOU, or else you have some inkling of how deluded it all is." These searchings for meaning close the book in a flashback to the time when Nora was in labor with Jonah: "It's hard to believe that this is how it's done. That this is how we get here into the world, by accident or design, the microscopic pieces of ourselves bourne by fluids and blood and growing into a tiny kingdom of cells inside someone else's body. It seems so difficult to become alive. So improbable." "How can you be alive when every choice you make breaks the world into a thousand filaments, each careless step branching into long tributaries of alternate lives, shuddering outward and outward like sheet lightning." Yet in addition to all of the profoundly philosophical diversions Chaon writes, he is also deeply concerned with his characters - ALL of them - like the guardian of a small town of disparate citizens, each of whom has a semblance of life and each of whom finds validation from each other. He makes the beauty of nature visual with his poetry, he uses subtle techniques of style to enhance the momentum of how he unfolds the depth of his story, and he leaves us inextricably bonded to some of the most memorable characters you are likely to encounter in any author's books. Savour this jewel of a book with a slow and addictive read. Dan Chaon has the gift.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I am a voracious reader and have to say that this is the best book of 2004. So well-written and I don't understand why it hasn't been nominated for book awards or in the NY Times' notables. Chaon's pen makes his everyday characters fascinating as they strive for some peace in life. PLEASE do yourself a favor and read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Exquisite, Haunting Novel...
Review: I had to consume this book in small bites rather my usual all-consuming "non-stop" style. I agree with the other reviewers that this author writes with an absolutely luminous style that transcends the hopeless and regret-filled lives of his characters. But I often felt mired in the quicksand of their lives, and struggled at times to find a reason to continue reading after yet another disappointment or dream unfulfilled. It isn't an easy book to read - either emotionally or structurally because of the author's style of moving forward and backward in the characters lives. Luckily he puts the dates at the beginning of each chapter , making it a bit easier to orient the reader as the story weaves between the characters. This book will undoubtedly be considered for many major awards - and the characters will linger in my memory in the days and weeks to come.
Rating:
Summary: Highly unusual tale
Review: I only read two books recently that I can wholly recommend to the average seeker of good literature, and YOU REMIND ME OF ME is one of them. The other was McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD-equally well crafted and wonderful. But what makes Chanon's book stand out is the incredible depth and feeling that each character is given. The plot is moving, and the prose is elegantly subtle. Occasionally, I was stunned by a beautifully wrought sentence, rereading it in admiration. Beautiful, painful, and exquisite, this one's a keeper. Recommended for those with a pulse-------------Bark of the Dogwood by McCrae
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I ordered this book after reading the mostly phenomenal customer reviews, but I just didn't like it nearly as much as the rest of you seemed to. The writing is good; I will say that. I think my main problem was how much I disliked the character of Jonah. It may sound too simplified to say I'm an animal lover, but honestly, I was miserable from the (near) beginning following the Doberman episode, which I blame on Jonah even if he was a child. And the later episode with another dog really seals my feelings toward him. I couldn't stand that sad sac weirdo. Troy I liked more, and there were times I felt empathy for him. All in all, I was glad to finish it and start a new book.
Rating: 
Summary: fantastic writing, miserable characters
Review: I've enjoyed Dan Chaon's wonderful short stories and have been wanting to read his first novel for quite some time, but found this work slightly disappointing and frustrating. Chaon is quite evidently a master stylist, but occasionally I thought he got a bit carried away with some of his language choices at the expense of the story. That is, too often I was very aware that a writer was at work here, more than a storyteller. While I love the beautiful writing, I'm happier when the writer disappears, and when the writing itself is a bit less flowery. One other complaint is that every character in the book is utterly miserable, and after awhile I became tired of wading through their miseries. Sorrow and regret are not the only human emotions worth writing about! This is my weakness, but I also felt sidetracked by the jumping back and forth from the sixties to the nineties, and the detailing of minor character's lives, such as Judy, Troy's mother-in-law. (The minor characters are also miserable). What are the best things about this book? Chaon's mastery of language, especially where he floats in and out of a child's consciousness (Jonah at the start of the novel and later Loomis): I wish he had stayed there longer. Overall, this is quite an accomplished work, and if you enjoy unique language choices and highly intelligent writing, and can put up with unhappy characters, you might very well like this book. The jump from story writer to novelist is a big one, and I suspect that Chaon's next novel will be even better.
Rating:
Summary: The best novel of the year!
Review: OK we're only half-way through 2004, but this novel is wonderful (poignant, harrowing, heartbreaking, exhilerating, frightening, and, finally, hopeful). Do yourself a favor. Do not read anything about the story; avoid plot summaries and eager reviewers. Just read it and let Chaon's beautifully constructed narrative enfold you. You will not be able to put it down.
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