cgj13's reviews
587 reviews

This book seemed to go on forever....and forever. Maybe that was the plan. After all the main character lived with the afterlife souls of a cemetery.

I've tried, I just must not be a Neil Gaiman fan. There just seemed to be a million side shoots that this story kept veering off onto.

In the end, I just felt so sorry for Bod and his strange existence in the cemetery had to end so he could go out into the real world. How cruel to him to have to leave everything and everyone behind

This one is going to be a definite read as reread. There is just too much to absorb on the first pass though.

Elizabeth Gilbert has a great speaking voice.

So much in here was inspirational and helpful.

Fast paced yet quite descriptive. And Nathaniel Parker is an incredible narrator.

I felt like this book was a never ending infomercial, on a loop. There are a few tips I picked up in here, but every other page talked about how great she was at her job. And how much garbage people produced when they "tidied". And the word tidy--it was used so much that I think it morphed into a different word to me. Just like if you say a word pulpit repeatedly, it starts to sound odd and not like the word at all.

I do think a reader needs to take into consideration though, the background of the author. She is Japanese, so with that comes a different viewpoint on respect and tradition than in America. Which is what I had to keep reminding myself of.

There are some good tips in here, but I feel it went overboard with everything having to provide "joy" in your life In order to remain. Somethings just don't provide joy. They are entirely utilitarian and necessary. I grasp the concept though of deciding if you really need all the items in your space or if you are just holding onto them for arbitrary reasons.

I take issue with the fact that everything removed from her client house is garbage. It seems so arbitrary to just throw things in the trash, especially when she talks about giving each item it's due respect. She touches on not forcing your joyless items on to someone else, and in transferring your inability to part with an item is placing undue burden on another, but I feel that giving items the ability to have a new life in someone else's hands is better than shuttling them to the landfill.

Ugh. For all the love I had for Don's quirks and his overcoming then in the Rosie Project, I feel he was endearing. But in this book it seems as if he unlearned everything that he had accommodated in the last book

I get that he is socially inept, but it's almost as if he has no concept of human interaction and how his actions would be perceived by others. I find it implausible that he is so scientifically focused and great in his job, but so horrible at even being aware that his actions/ statements leave him in trouble with police on multiple occasions.

And this is all after having been married for a year. It's inconceivable to me that in that time before Rosie became pregnant that he was so out of tune with being able to interact with people. Yet he was able to step in and help others with their relationship issues. It was very inconsistent.

Sadly, also is that it wasn't until the end of the book that any of his friends stepped in to help him with the basics of being in a relationship. This man was close with his parents. Prior to moving to NY, he often visited with Gene and Claudia with their family. He saw how relationships work. He should have been able to have that base knowledge.

Finally made it through. I feel like this book was written by two different people. Some chapters were engaging and moved the story forward. Others just felt like a bunch of words thrown together to make a page requirement.

I knew this wasn't the end. But in really hoping it gets wrapped up in the next book.

I will say though, there were a few cliffhangers that want me to read the next book.

This was a really fun read. Filled with lots of facts and tidbits to make you ponder about everything that is slow. The delivery was filled with wit, so even though it's facts, it's not dry.

And don't skip over the glossary or end notes. There are definitely nuggets of Sayre's wit and humor sprinkled in those as well.

My only complaint with this book was the weird page layouts. The large page headings spanned both pages, but get caught in the binding so as to make then very difficult to read.