The Sentimentalists Audiobook

" I was excited when this book came to me from my hold list at the library, given it having won the Giller and the interesting story behind the printing of copies. However, I have to say I struggled through it, and found it disjointed and hard to follow and overall rather depressing. "

" Fair insight into war, family "

" A deceptively simple read that I was left wondering how much I really understood. I liked the clean, crisp poetic prose and the interweaving of the past and present. However, things seemed a bit too incomprehensible by the end. "

" I did not enjoy this book. I forced myself to finish it, because I figured there must be something I was missing given it's Giller Prize win, but even the end disappointed me. "

" overrated...climax was unclear and I was like "what's happening"more than once because the prose was too poetic. At times there were beautiful uses of imagery, but i wasn't sure what they were describing. "

" had good hopes for this book but felt the author could of done better with the overall plot and some of the dates seem confused but this is my opinion though "

" I was disappointed in this book as it had won an award last year. I found the story hard to follow and not that interesting. Perhaps I missed something but it was not an enjoyable read for me. "

" For a novel without much narrative momentum, the characters are criminally underdeveloped. While it isn't without its poignantly rendered meditations, the novel, for my literary palate, is far too bloodless. "

" A daughter of a retired Vietnam War Vet tells about the struggles and horrors of his war memories. The story was good but much too depressing. "

" just not exciting enough! the plot took way too long to unfold, and I tired of the author's endless ramblings on how past events did or did not get remembered and affected her life "

" Exhausting read, since it has zero flow to the sentence structure. "

" The strengths of this little novel may not outweigh its significant weaknesses. Rare are the writers that can capture the complex nature of existence like this author did. May not be worthy of the Giller, but certainly worth keeping an eye on. "

" Stunning this won the Giller. Don't waste your time. "

" A beautiful story of growing up with parents you do not understand and about love. The war angle did not work for me. I really did not need the details about the incident at the end. "

" A first novel about the two daughters of a Vietnam vet and their struggles to know, love, forgive, and accept him. A little overly mystical in some parts, but all in all, I enjoyed this book. "

" A brief and powerful novel that initially pushes you away and makes you wonder if you'll continue to read and then morphs into a need to bear witness to a very disturbing slice of warfare which sadly repeats itself in every war. "

" Playful and imaginative, especially for a confessional novel (ostensibly) about family. Well paced. Loved the submerged town "

" In 3 words - too many commas. "

" A book about the impact of the Vietnam War on a family. Felt vaguely unsatisfying after it was over, probably because of a lack of clear affective responses the family members demonstrated/portrayed both between and within themselves. "

" "The Sentimentalists","Johanna Skibsrud", I was disappointed in this book and in myself for not liking or appreciating this recent Giller prize winning novel more. A tedious read. "

" I am silly, I thought the narrator was a bloke for the first chapter. I thought it was okay, pretty easy to read, although it got a little disconnected at parts. I read it in about 2 days which says something I guess. "

" This book was heavily marketed in the Ontario province of Canada, & I simply don't understand why? I couldn't justify spending more time on it after the first 100 pages or so. The first sections were nice, but it totally lost a target afterwards. "

" This is clearly a first novel. It has lots more craft than soul. "