Suspenseful most of the time... gripping confrontation in apartment at end.. ( )

** : Les années 80. Une bande de copains quitte leur province pour s'installer à NY, ville de tous leurs fantasmes. Mais leur belle amitié ne résistera pas aux années et aux mille pièges que leur réservera NY. Sur fond d'intrigue policière.

Dull - finally skipped to the last few pages to see “who done it” but really didn’t care. ( )

Sub-par Smiley. Perhaps if you just read it as so-called beach or airport book, it works. But based on A Thousand Acres, Good Faith and Moo, I expect Jane Smiley (like Dickens or Zola or ...) to dig into a environment and its common characters and report back. It makes the story, so to speak, resonate all the more truthfully.

In this novel, though, I didn't for a second believe that she knew anything about this kind of loose group of friends or rock bands. She never lived close to them, never knew any people like these paper characters.

Can't blame her for trying her hand at a murder mystery, tho. ( )

This novel is about how a group of friends react to the murders of two of their own. While there is the mystery of who done it, the story was much more about how friendships and relationships are affected by the tragedy. I had a hard time getting into the story. I did not like any of the characters and I could not relate to them or their issues. While it is well written, it moved much to slowly for me and I found my self getting bored and wanting to take a break from it. The author does a good job of character development, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. ( )