The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Great personal story
Review: I really enojyed this book. The format is unusual but I felt is was a good way to deal with elements in the past present and future and incorporate different viewpoints as narrator. Mostly I liked it because the character are fleshed out in such idiosyncratic detail. I began to see a lot of myself in the central character and by the end of the book I felt like I wouldn't want to recommend it to a friend because they'd learn too much about *me*. If you are sarcastic and like dark humor it is a book for you.

Rating:
Summary: I love this novel!
Review: The author uses numbered and lettered lists and odd formatting that I expected to find annoying after a while, but the effect does not feel contrived or 'writerly'. It's poetic, clever, funny, and tragic. The characters are, to put it simplistically, all deeply messed up by a lack of love and by their experiences of loss and abandonment. They are, therefore, all doomed. In the meantime, they live twisted and fascinating lives. This is a tremendously creative and enjoyable book, which I recommend highly.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Format
Review: The story is all twisted around and filled with unlikely coincidences, but the format is highly entertaining and very original. It was like reading a book of sound bites - but it kept the story interesting. I didn't exactly love the characters with all their faults (and they have many) I had to keep reading to hold out the hope that they would get their lives together. Be prepared for this book to deal in a light (rather offensive) way with cancer, death, spirituality, mental illness, drugs, and more. It was an interesting book for more than just the story which is made to sound funny from the editorial review and the book jacket. It has it's funny moments but they are not representative of the book on whole.