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I'm so sorry about your kitty. I hope she makes a full recovery. Sending love!

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Thank you so much! She is doing a lot better!!

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Great review, but not a book for me. Which is why I love your reviews. I find books I have read and like reading your take as well as books I want to read and the occasional not for me. Thanks!

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Thanks, Kate! I’m glad you’re still finding the reviews to be helpful!

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I love this discussion question. One of the most depressing books I ever read was The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which, disturbingly, is starting to seem somewhat quaint in retrospect because the world has gotten so much more depressing in general since it was published back in 2006. As for what I learned from it: 1) Cormac McCarthy describes landscape like no one else. 2) the fire is in all of us. An ending line I still think of from time to time.

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Thanks! Oof yes The Road was so creepy and bleak. I think that depressing books were trendy to evoke some kind of realism. But my guess is that the pandemic will swing things the other way, towards happier or more earnest and compassionate fare. Or pure escapism. Life is hard enough right now, literature doesn’t need to pile on necessarily. That said, I am looking forward to returning to McCarthy soon. I have Blood Meridian floating toward the top of my pile.

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The most depressing books I have read are Frank McCourt’s ”Angela’s Ashes” and “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. Memoirs or stories where a family member drinks up all the money while their kids literally starve…I just can’t.

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I liked your review. The book looks promising to explore. I have included this to my TBR. But at my age( 77) whether I would able to fulfill my promise. My only resource is digital library. Thanks anyway.

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Thanks, Mohan! I'd love to hear what you think of it.

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