The Great Wide Open Paperback – July 25, 2019

I only recently discovered Douglas Kennedy’s books and can’t stop reading them. I love his process of taking daily notes of all he observes in varied cultures in different eras and his way of blending people and events from his own life at each stage with headlines and issues of each era he has lived through. This particular tale brings alive the political battles of the mid and late 1970s in Chile and in Ireland, with Americans’ involvement always fraught and questionable. Kennedy’s narrator comes of age through varied combustive events and her observant, perceptive reactions bring alive what it felt like to be a young, female college student at Bowdoin and then abroad at Trinity in Dublin, soaking up literature, falling in love, and suffering cruel losses of love, for reasons of personal misjudgment and random public explosion. Her journeys take her through key moments of public life while also showing how a young person can learn to survive again and again.

Douglas Kennedy is one of my favourite authors. I had been looking forward to this book every since I heard he had published the French version. Despite this, I almost gave up reading it; the first quarter to a third (in my opinion) was slow, too tangential and needed a good edit. To me, it lacked the taut writing and hypnotic lassoo of story, that define his previous books. But I continued, and boy was I glad. This book was well worth it.After I’d finished, it stayed with me. It feels like a very personal and possible autobiographical novel from Kennedy. Afterwards, I did some research and yes, there are elements of Kennedy’s own personal experiences in it. There’s a character (Duncan Kendall), whom I’m betting mirrors a lot of the real Kennedy, at least from that period of his life. Also, a common element of Kennedy’s books seems to be the one or two narcissistic parents of the protagonist. Again we have a similar setup, this time with two narcissists. He writes them so well, I can only guess that Kennedy was raised by one or two himself. He know what it means to survive that psychological hell-hole. It perhaps accounts for his nomadic-like lifestyle, his uncanny ability to see beyond the human veneer of deception we all don, and why his books are a sweet pill wrapped in a bitter rind.On the outside, The Great Wide Open is book about why America is the way it is today, but on the inside it is about why we must strive to live the life we make for ourselves, despite never really knowing where we are going or why. Thank you Douglas Kennedy for writing this book. Your words make sense of a senseless world.

A totally engrossing book! Rich in American history, love, life and family, Alice’s story envelopes the reader from start to finish. I laughed and cried and in some parts my heart was beating so hard and fast I had to stop to catch my breath! There was nothing I didn’t like about this wonderful, beautifully written book. Highly recommended.

Not his best book, sorry

Excellent story teller, imaginative and original. Brilliantly inbeding fiction in historical events. I prefer optimistical issues even in the most dramstical and perverse plots. Kennedy is so good in taking us through the journey he planned.

Another excellent book from Douglas Kennedy

I really like Douglas Kennedy’s books. This one was disappointing. First of all the protagonist is a woman who is not very believable. Secondly the book is very pretentious. What a bunch of pseudo intellectuals. Also I am tired of Bowdoin. I know he went there. Who cares. Am halfway through. Hard to pick up again but I’ll try if I run out of other reading material.

An excellent read. It captures the 70s and 80s so well and the storyline enthralling.