Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: A Castle in Brooklyn: A Novel

Top positive review

a great read

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 5, 2023

This book at first felt quite grim but it definitely got better. Luckily it was not a really difficult read as it was easy to continue reading long enough for it to end up inspiring and a happy ending!

Top critical review

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Evalina

It was not a bad read

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 28, 2022

The book was quite sappy and predictable …. The writer was competent, the reader was very good but the story was slow which is ok if you like that kind of thing. For me it was just something to finish

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222 total ratings, 11 with reviews

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From Canada

Lindsay Wincherauk

The first chapter was riveting.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 26, 2023

The first chapter was riveting. And then…

They built a house. A family grows. A child dies. Friendships are destroyed.

Infidelity. Racism. Other stuff.

Who are these characters? Why are they here?

Someone from Japan enters the story. People keep dying. Stories lay unresolved. The characters become pedantic. The house’s new tenants rearrange the furniture. A jogger runs by with water bottles, hugging their thigh (or something like that). A nosey neighbour.

Another page. Introspection. Two vehicles collide.

And then…

It’s been 10 years since 9/11 - was mentioned; so is Aids.

Why is 9/11 mentioned?

Back to the Vehicles Colliding

The last thing he saw was MERCURY.

If it was the last thing he saw, how do we find out?

Someone smokes weed, or does heroin, or cocaine, or…

I’m being mean.

I’m confused. No, I’m not.

I read the acknowledgments.

I rarely read the acknowledgments.

Writing is hard.

The book’s layout is good.

WRITTEN: 26 Feb 2023

2 people found this helpful

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From other countries

Joseph Aronson

Perplexed by the Rave Reviews

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 19, 2023

Verified Purchase

Wolfie’s was not on Bedford Avenue! You could get a cup of coffee there, but Wolfie’s wasn’t a coffee shop. There is no subway stop in Mill Basin. The closest train is a twenty stop bus ride away. It was the Brooklyn Philharmonia at the time, not Philharmonic. These and more, so easily fact checked details, among other shoddy references, make this a profoundly annoying read for someone who grew up in Brooklyn. Also, endless innocuous details. Finished the book because I like to find out what happens.

Becky Wells

Boring, Meandering, Flat, Disjointed

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 9, 2023

Verified Purchase

I hate writing bad reviews. But I also hate reading books that aren't good. A Castle in Brooklyn sets out to be an interesting story about a Polish Jew who survives war-torn Europe of the 1940s and emigrates to the United States. It's just dull. There's almost no abtion to the story. The little there is gets swiped over, while writer Shirley Russak Wachtel, spends inordinate amounts of time on everything else... settings, descriptions, inner voice conversations. The the flow is disjointed and odd. The chatacters are one dimensional. There's almost no dialog. Just boring. Sorry. I made it through 74 of 271 pages. Life's too short.

4 people found this helpful

Tedward

Dull and confusing

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 15, 2023

Verified Purchase

Early on this reads more like a newspaper than a novel. Then when it starts jumping not only from one person to another but to different times it becomes impossible to follow without making a map. Not worth the time I invested in it

One person found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Why did I finish this?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 20, 2023

Verified Purchase

Have you ever stuck with a book because you kept hoping it would get better, but it didn't? That's this book. The plot is undeveloped and characters are one dimensional. The author should not have included some of her cultural references without doing better research. Some of these were placed in the wrong decade or described incorrectly. Why did I finish this book? I honestly don't know.

Julie Quinn

Confusing at times

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book had moments that were enjoyable, but as a whole it was confusing and hard to follow. I felt like large chunks were left out of the story and way too much detail on nonessential parts. I wanted to like the story and the characters, but just found it kind of flat and boring.

Stephanie Jorgenson

Boring

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 25, 2023

Verified Purchase

There is nothing in this book that held my interest. Although I usually enjoy books about the plight of Jews throughout history, this novel was so shallow I was bored. The characters were not developed enough for drama and nothing happened in the narrative to keep me reading.
One star.

Kindle Customer

too long and disjointed

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed the first part of the book. The story of the two friends, their struggles and accomplishments. Could have easily left out the chapters about future tenants of the house such as Riku & Francine. It only added confusion and extra length the book. I thought about quitting, but kept hoping it would get better. It didn’t.

4 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Thought the story would never end

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 16, 2022

Verified Purchase

The story felt disjointed to me.. It often dragged on in detail and included unnecessary side stories or endless details that were not well connected. I found myself wishing we could get to the conclusion and end the novel. Although the first chapters were interesting and drew me in, this was not my favorite read towards the end.

3 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

good basic story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 27, 2022

Verified Purchase

I loved the story of the main characters. But was utterly disappointed by the other distracting characters. Their stories held no relevance to the main story and often were accompanied by terrible and awful events. I would not recommend this book to anyone. It just made me sad to read it

2 people found this helpful

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5 star		37%
4 star		34%
3 star		20%
2 star		6%
1 star		3%

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A Castle in Brooklyn: A Novel

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