Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes Audiobook

" Vintage William Kennedy--some of the usual Albany suspects, plus Cuba and santeria in the 1950s. "

" real disappointment after being a fan of the early albany novels "

" The first act, which takes place in Cuba, has interesting characters and scenes, but then it moves to Albany and consists mostly of people reminiscing about old times there, local nostalgia that just had no charm for me. I put this down when I was about three-quarters of the way through. I just didn't care any more what happened. Btw, this audio book is also an excellent argument against writers reading their own books, especially one as dialogue-heavy as this one. Kenndy's voice doesn't change one iota for different characters, and I frequently lost track of who was talking. "

" what started out as such an intriguing read turned into an all over the place book..2 good stories but the tie in was disappointing "

" Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but this book lost me at about page 50. If the last 25 pages weren't so amazing, this book would have gotten a 2 from me. William Kennedy has more than one book of stories that he tries to squish into 300 pages. "

" Kennedy is one of the better contemporary American authors, but this book uncharacteristically plods along right onto the bottom shelf of my bookcase. "

" I really wanted to like this book but it was disjointed and didn't work for me. I enjoyed the stories that took place in Cuba, but could have skipped the 'where are they now' NY story line. "

" This is first of Kennedy's books that I have read and likely to be the last. Perhaps, I should have read the Albany series as a series, but I didn't realize that this was just the latest in a series. It was very difficult to follow. "Chaotic" is a good description. "

" Excllent read. A bygone era, however the more things change, the more they remain the same. Lifelike characters kept the pages turning on their own. Maybe he'll pick up where he left off sometime in the future. Great entertainment. "

" Wonderful book. Includes a hilarious Hemingway, a lush, riveting Cuban revolutionary caper and what amounts to a terrific, jazzy, angry and bewildering bar crawl through Albany in the heat of the 1968 riots. Seriously great stuff. My favorite Kennedy outside of the sublime Ironweed.Ironweed "

" Could not get into this and so it is on the abandoned shelf. Ordinarily like Kennedy very much but not this one "

" For die-hard William Kennedy fans, this will be a memorable, satisfying lark, a vacation in the tropics and a satisfying return to the Albany Saga. Stick with it. It will surprise you! "

" Lots of threads here: Batista's Cuba, Albany race riots, dementia, journalism, an obscure deity or two, and a lead character (that's her on the cover) who's Romanticism is over the top. "

" Second half of the book far surpasses the first in my opinion. Almost too many topics and characters to thoroughly digest. Yet extremely entertaining. "

" Full disclosure - I didn't finish this. But I was liking it and I made it 3/4 of the way. It's just too slow for my mood right now. "

" Not really my type of book - too many people shot and lost with not much redemption. Somehow, I'm just not interested in mob violence. Good writing though, just not my favourite subject matter. I had to rush because it was a 7 day library book. That didn't help! "

" A good historical fiction. Great characters protrayed. Definitely a good book to take the time to read. "

" From Albany to Cuba, through Hemingway and Castro, this novel is a trip. I received this book free from Goodreads First Reads. Thank you. "

" Evaluation based on advanced reader’s copy "