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: A Gripping, Good Read
Review: Jonah was dead once. He is a six-year-old boy living with his grandfather and his mother, who tells him of the baby she put up for adoption before he was born. Elizabeth, an elderly Doberman trained by Jonah's grandfather to be a guard dog, also lives with them. Lonely Jonah, ignored by his depressed mother, adores Elizabeth. When he constantly plays with her, his grandfather says, "Quit pestering that damned dog! I hope she bites you someday." And then she does. Elizabeth bites off part of Jonah's ear. She savages his face, scalp and chest. She kills Jonah. The paramedics resuscitate him. The scars he bears forever symbolize internal wounds caused by his upbringing.Around the time of Jonah's death and resurrection, ten-year-old Troy avoids his adopted parents' unhappy marriage by hanging out with his drug-dealing cousin and his pot-smoking teenage customers. Troy becomes a drug-dealer himself eventually, even after his wife leaves him with custody of his much-loved son, Loomis. A scene from an earlier period reveals Nora as a lonely girl in a bleak unwed mothers' home: "It is not quite a prison, not quite a hospital." She does not want the baby --- at first. Her feelings reluctantly change, but it's too late. By the time she voices her wish to keep her son, he's been taken to his adoptive parents. Moving back to the past and forward into the present, the reader learns the story of Jonah, Troy and Nora --- two boys and their mother. The stories give the reader the emotional underpinnings necessary to empathize with each character, and are brilliantly dovetailed together into one big meaty tale. Author Dan Chaon also pays loving tribute to Midwest prairie and small towns, making the setting a vital element to the story. Each character is disconnected and yearns for someone. Nora has never recovered from the loss of her first son. That sorrow has twisted Nora's personality until she is mostly unable to give love to her second boy. Jonah obsesses about his older brother, the baby his mother gave up for adoption. He wonders about the hand he's been dealt. Who is better off --- the brother whose life was mauled by his despondent mother, or the one who escaped via adoption? Jonah's longing to connect with his half-brother leads him to search for Troy. When Jonah finds him, Troy is in agony. After being arrested for dealing drugs, his son Loomis is in the custody of his grandmother, who won't allow Jonah to visit or speak with him. Troy is so painfully distracted by missing Loomis that he can't quite focus when Jonah approaches him as his brother. Inevitably, Jonah decides to act, hoping his drastic feat will somehow give him the family he's craving. I highly recommend YOU REMIND ME OF ME as a gripping, good read. The plot is moving, and the prose is elegantly subtle. Occasionally, I was stunned by a beautifully wrought sentence, rereading it in admiration. Usually, though, I was simply and happily lost --- spellbound by a master storyteller. --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon
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.
Rating: 
Summary: Would love to read more from Chaon
Review: This book introduces characters that are painfully real. There is honesty within these pages that most people don't see in reality. The character of Jonah is so heartbreakingly unfortunate that I'll never forget him. I didn't stop rooting for him even when he crossed lines that I, as a reader hoped he wouldn't. There was enough redmemption to keep me turning pages. However I was left with a feeling of unresolve that kept me from feeling completely satisfied with this book. That said, I still wouldn't hesitate to buy any other story by this fabulous writer!
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've read this year
Review: This is a near-perfect book: The writing is unique, the story is believable and interesting, and the characters are ones you are disappointed to have to say good-bye to at the end.
The first half is better than the second, and the only reason I don't give the book five stars is that the ending doesn't fulfill the expectations of the incredible beginning. I really don't like too much action and twists in the novels I read, but the ending could have been a little more captivating. The last few chapters build to a climax and then suddenly jump ahead a few years; I had to learn about the resolution through flashbacks instead of being present during those events.
Despite its flaws, this is a very touching book and I hope that Chaon will hone his skills with more full-length novels in the near future. I look forward to meeting more of the people in his imagination.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond beautiful
Review: This is a novel unlike any other I have read--when I finished it, I felt it in my entire body. I can't even say I "liked" it because reading it was like living it, like feeling the weight of life in every single one of the characters. It's awesome--in the old, true, astounded sense of the word. I feel like we should put it somewhere for safekeeping so it will last until the end of time.
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