Reviews

• An in depth psychological study of a man too polite to tell the truth. Luther Albright uses a D.I.Y. obsession of intense practicality to continually mask his emotional insecurities. A man who could mend a spaceship with a Swiss Army knife but can never tell his wife he loves her. An intense story about emotional loss and practical resilience. A man who built a house with his bare hands in the belief he would only ever live there alone. Above all this is a story about ordinary life and the intense hang ups which govern our actions. A tale of a family who materially have everything and yet whose insular relationships leave them emotionally bankrupt. Mackenzie`s style is intense and wordy, her attention to detail is staggering and the emotional constipation highlights how hard she has had to pick Albright`s brain to create such a unique character. Once you enter the rhythm of her work you become aware it has been over edited. There are changes in time and character links which are abrupt and not in keeping with the author`s tone. In short this is probably the most important book of modern times and totally understated. You could argue it being more influential than Shakespeare or even The Bible. This book single handedly launched the E.Book revolution. This piece of work is the reason why anybody can write a book and reach a ready audience. Above all let`s forget about the circumstance and point out that Mackenzie studied under eminent author and prize winner Toni Morrison. So yes, this is deadly serious writing from an author who caused "My chest to fill like a flock of birds." Brilliant!

• The first sentence of this book sets us up, ‘ The year I lost my wife and son’. What does this mean, well, not exactly what I thought. This is a very deep book that took me by surprise. Luther, his wife, Liz, and their son, Elliot, are fraught with insecurities, and Luther, Luther is in trouble. Luther’s life is falling apart. His son with whom he has always had a close relationship has become belligerent, his wife, Liz is growing distant, and his house, the house he planned and built by his own hand is crumbling, and he cannot find the problem. It all began with the earthquake. No one was hurt, a few things came off the shelves, but nothing serious. Then it all started. Right around the time of the earthquake, Elliott needed to know more about his grandfather for a class paper. Luther is a closed book on this subject, and if we start peeling the layers, we might find something. Luther narrates this story from his viewpoint, and that may be the only issue I have in this book. I wanted to know more about how Liz felt, and how was Elliott coping. What drove them to the point to separate from Luther, or was there no problem at all? This is a mesmerizing book, the writing is superb, and the final chapter gives nothing away. A novel I will think about for awhile. Recommended. prisrob 01-13-19

• Explora las profundidades de un ser complejo y mediocre mediante el cuestionamiento permanente de su hijo. Calidez y detalles en la descripción de los personajes. Mezcla de imágenes de alegría, gran tristeza y profundo dolor. Recomiendo mucho su lectura, y felicito a Mackenzie por su obra. It explores the depths of a complex and mediocre being through the permanent questioning of his son. Warmth and details to describe the characters. Mix of images of joy, great sadness and deep pain. I highly recommend reading it, and congratulate Mackenzie for her work.

• Most insightful story of a man, written by a woman! Short but most engaging. Luther Albright is a calm, clear-headed civil engineer and designer of dams, who tries to manage or design his life and family like another engineering project---logically---but it doesn't work well! In this her first novel, MacKenzie Bezos skillfully portrays the internal struggles of a pragmatic and highly introverted man, facing the emotional needs of his family amid his own emotional insecurities. The story begins in 1983, with flashbacks to the late 1950s and 1960s reflecting on Luther's strange relationship with his parents and his early relationship with the woman he meets and marries. The author's accurate insights into how many men think and perceive the world and people are both astute and eye opening. This first-person narrative by Luther is his reflective introspective of a pivotal few months that tried and shape his life and influenced the actions and feelings of his wife and maturing son. I found this storyline both entertaining and enlightening, a trait of an insightful literary novel. Each of us is a "work in process," and this well-written book uses eight parts or "books" that focus on the various trials Luther faces at work and with his wife and son. His problem is that no matter how hard he tries, he seems aloof and insensitive to others while blindly perceiving himself the best employee, husband, and father. This is no suspense or thriller with lost of action. However, it has it's own slow tensions and conflicts that build amid surprising situations as the plot rushes to several unacceptable potential conclusions. It's easy to see Toni Morrison's teaching influences on this new author's character and storyline development. Given that the author had been married to Jeff Bezos for 10 years when this book was written, I wondered how it might have been influenced by her then husband's engineering and systematic approaches to life. Hmmm? I enjoyed the Audible narration to the book, finding added enjoyment to my reading experience. It was a fast and worthwhile read, and I plan to read the author's more recent second novel soon.

• first of all, this is not a boring book. the narrator, luther albright, writes with such a sense of impending doom that it seems certain his life will come crashing around him at any moment. it was very hard for me to relate to luther. he never says what's on his mind, and he constantly struggles to avoid showing any reaction to his son, elliott's, increasingly destructive "tests." the more successful he becomes at hiding his feelings, the more he pushes his family further away. luther's family life is full of missed opportunities and regrets. if only he had told elliott that his shaved head embarrassed him; if only he had been honest with elliott about what his grandfather was really like and how he struggled to be a different kind of father. luther's wife and son give him chance after chance to be emotionally intimate with them, but his caution prevents him from doing this. i'm not sure how mackenzie bezos managed to dig so deeply into such a flawed character. i kept asking myself whether she liked luther albright or whether his tale is a warning to the reader.

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