Welcome to Litsy!

'Look,' I said. 'We went wrong somewhere.'

Martha turned her head and couldn't believe what she saw. On the horizon, in all its unreality, was the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

'It's tiny,' she said. 'Like a replica in an amusement park.

"That's it all right. I can say with some confidence that we're not in Florence.'

Image via Wikipedia.

What are you supposed to write....When tanks are rolling into cities where friends of yours live? What are you supposed to write when you realise you don't understand the world any more - I mean in an absolutely fundamental way - when all your certainties collapse, when you realise that the bubble you live in is just that, a bubble that could burst any minute?'

'Something feels off. There's something up with him.'
'Hardly surprising under the circumstances, is it?'
'No, something else. I don't know what.'
We listened to his breathing. It was fitful, with long pauses between gulps of air.

"The appointment is tomorrow at two,' I said. 'And tomorrow is tomorrow, even if we get there today.'

'Fucking physics'.

While I am the target audience for a Kevin Wilson book, I‘m definitely not the target audience for any book involving estranged families coming together. This was that and it was okay and sometimes good and then it ended too abruptly.

This book had a lot of hype; while it was good, it wasn't amazing to me. Sort of funny, a bit heartwarming, but likely not one that will stick with me. There were a lot of questionable characters especially Tom's mother.

Well shoot,I really liked Wilson‘s previous books and loved the idea of half siblings were complete strangers embarking on a a road trip to find the father who abandoned them all. The problem is that there seemed to be only the idea of a story here. The characters were one dimensional, the journey itself was kind of boring, and the ending was so unsatisfying. Happy others seem to be enjoying it but I didn‘t like this one at all.

June's #WeeklyFavorites, at long last. Traveling threw me off, and I didn't finish any books between the 7th and 14th, so here's a cardinal for that spot. I think my favorite of these was the tagged.

@Read4life

Are we completely sure this was written by Kevin Wilson? It lacks the humor and the wittiness and weirdness we know him for. It really doesn‘t feel like him at all. But maybe he was trying something different?

I did enjoy it, I thought it was an interesting story. It just wasn‘t what I expected at all. And the ending felt abrupt, like the book was unfinished.

Oh well, hopefully he‘ll return to his old style with the next book.

This was so disappointing. A bunch of siblings goes on a roadtrip in search of their father, who left them all with a different mother. The characters aren‘t worked out at all, nor is the father or are his reasons for leaving them all. Nor, for that matter, is the roadtrip across the US.

Kevin Wilson did much better in Nothing to See Here.

📸 Syros, Greece

I listened to this bit by bit on a series of drives across Ohio and Michigan with my family. On a road trip is a great way to listen to Kevin Wilson (this is our third), and the premise of this one in particular fits road trip listening well. Wilson's characters are so immediately engrossing, all of us were engaged, alternately moved and laughing as Wilson led us through the complicated nature of "family," via Marin Ireland's narration.