Rating: 
Summary: Awesome and quietly profound...
Review: A friend gave me this book and said she loved the ending...well, the entire book is superb...and she was right....the ending is fabulous! I guess when you get right down to the nitty gritty, we're all alone in this world, orphans of a sort....and we're all looking for life's meaning....just like Lyman as he sat on his front porch drinking coffee at the same time every day trying to capture the present as it turned into the past....or the future. It took an old weather-beaten parrot and an inquisitive librarian with sand in her boots to teach him the true meaning of life. I plan to get copies of this book for all of my friends. It's a keeper!!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome and quietly profound...
Review: A friend gave me this book and said she loved the ending...well, the entire book is superb...and she was right....the ending is fabulous! I guess when you get right down to the nitty gritty, we're all alone in this world, orphans of a sort....and we're all looking for life's meaning....just like Lyman as he sat on his front porch drinking coffee at the same time every day trying to capture the present as it turned into the past....or the future. It took an old weather-beaten parrot and an inquisitive librarian with sand in her boots to teach him the true meaning of life. I plan to get copies of this book for all of my friends. It's a keeper!!
Rating:
Summary: Misfits and Mysteries!
Review: Coomer manages to touch on a variety of deep themes - and does so in a natural way, taking us with a childs earnestness toward the difficult realization that meaning is likely not as available as we'd wish, not exactly as we'd wish, but that it's OK. Pretty decent for modern fiction
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing after his other books
Review: I loved Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God, and Apologizing to Dogs, but this book was pathetic. The main character, looses his parents in an auto wreck, and never learns to form attachments. The ending left me without hope for his future. I wish the author had taken the time to write one more page to let us know things would be good in the future for these weak characters, as it is, given their track record I have no hope for them. I struggled through this book, waiting for growth for the characters and I was disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: I loved the story in this book -- the loner with no attachments finds a place and companionship through a wacky assignment of meaning to a stray parrot that ends up at the narrator's trailor. I loved the metaphor of the endless loop around Ft. Worth. This character is a person that, in another poorer writer's hands, would have been a serial killer -- hopeless, disaffected. But here he is a good person, just looking for meaning. Even more excellent than the story, however, is the author's use of language. What beautiful writing. The only person I can compare him with is Portis at his best. At any rate, read this book if you want a wonderful, life affirming book that can be appreciated on so many levels!
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite novels
Review: I loved this book; its quirky plot, oddball characters and Coomer's ability to address difficult subjects with humor and thoughtfulness. Great things do come in small packages.
Rating: 
Summary: Light, But Not Shallow
Review: This book is an enjoyable and fast read, but you may find yourself thinking about larger issues as you read it and for a while after.Coomer touches on some very big topics, but never addresses them directly: * Man's search for meaning * The comfort of religion * The inevitability of death * How relationships salve wounds * The role of chance All of these issues come up indirectly, and are dealt with by the characters in their lives. However the book manages to explore these issues without preaching, and in the end leaves it to the reader to decide what is important. The book only rated four stars with me for a couple reasons: one, the characters are an odd mix of cluelessness and wisdom. At times I found glaringly out-of-character wisdom and philosophy coming out of their mouths. Two, the book reminded me of "The Shipping News" in that the main characters seem so lost, so unaware, so lacking in goals and direction that at times I wanted to slap them. But it was an enjoyable ride with memorable characterizations, and I look forward to reading some of Coomer's other interesting-sounding titles.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful and well-crafted
Review: This book is quirky, sensitive and detailed, in all the best senses. The story of a Fort Worth man who circles the city's loop for a living -- cleaning up debris, dead animals, etc. -- and meets a woman and a bird, who both change his life. A deceptively simple story with various strata of meaning and characterization. One extended scene, in particular -- which involves a physical encounter and then a dead animal -- is one of the most well crafted I've ever read. A brief book that will make a lasting impression.
Rating:
Summary: Really enjoyable to read
Review: This book is such fun to read. The quirky characters are cute and interesting. I hope the rest of Coomer's books are as wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Really enjoyable to read
Review: This book is such fun to read. The quirky characters are cute and interesting. I hope the rest of Coomer's books are as wonderful.
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