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Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon was one of the most intriguing novels I have read in a long time. From the very beginning of the book, he gets the reader involved by using short interesting chapters. I could not help myself from being completely drawn into the book from the very beginning. After every chapter, I could not wait to start the next one and learn what was going to happen. The book switches off and on with three different stories. So, after every chapter the reader is left wondering what is going to happen three chapters from now. I just had to keep reading the book to find out what was happening in what seemed like each individual story.
In all the stories, there are two main characters the reader learns about. One is about a dad and his son, one is about a student and her teacher, and the final one is about two brothers who are twins. The stories do not particularly seem to intertwine at the beginning of the book, but as the stories go on connections begin to occur. All three of the stories have their own drama and intrigue that make them especially interesting and relatable too. The first one is about what it would be like to find out that you were adopted and leave your boring old normal life behind for something more interesting. The second story is about what it would be like to fall in love with a high school teacher, and when you graduate run off with him to a better richer life. The final story is about what it would be like to have a crazy twin brother who left home one day, and who you may never see again.
As I read each individual interesting story, I found myself wanting to learn more and more about the interesting characters created by Dan Chaon. Every character has that little something special that draws the reader deeper and deeper into the mystery of the book. The rebellious college student who leaves the normal, safe life to lead a life of crime, the orphaned high school student who falls in love with a young teacher who is rich and can take her away from it all, or the twin brother who wastes away his twenties looking for his brother. All the characters have their own qualities that everyone should be able to relate too.
One thing I especially liked about the book was that Dan Chaon presents a unique way of ordering his book. He does not take the common simple chorological approach, but uses a sort of flashback method. It helps the reader understand the current thought process of the main characters by looking into the past occurrences for important detail. This method helped keep me interested in how the main characters got to their current situations, and what their thought processes were. I personally have always liked the third person point of view which Chaon uses. It helps me understand the point of view of all the main characters and where they are coming from. Chaon shows his experts ability to write in the third person point of view in this novel. I like it writers such as Dan Chaon go inside the characters head to create an even more vivid picture of the characters.
The best part of the book does not come until the end when the author finally reveals the true connections that the characters in each story have with each other. It is absolutely fascinating to think about what I just read and realize the connections were there the whole time. As the reader reads a long he or she can definitely recognize similarities like the aspect of crime and worry in each specific story. All the characters seem to looking for their true identity somehow. In each of the stories inside the novel, the characters create face identities to live their lives as even if this activity is clearly illegal. Money plays an important role throughout the novel and is driving force behind many of the characters wanting to create new identities.
Await Your Reply has everything a really good novel needs. It has hidden connections, real world issues, crime, twins, death, drugs, money, and people with multiple personalities. Everyone will find something interest during the novel and will have a hard time putting it down until the very end. The reader finds out all good things come to the end eventually and what is it going to be like when they finally do?
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Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
gbrackin047, April 18, 2010
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon was one of the most intriguing novels I have read in a long time. From the very beginning of the book, he gets the reader involved by using short interesting chapters. I could not help myself from being completely drawn into the book from the very beginning. After every chapter, I could not wait to start the next one and learn what was going to happen. The book switches off and on with three different stories. So, after every chapter the reader is left wondering what is going to happen three chapters from now. I just had to keep reading the book to find out what was happening in what seemed like each individual story.In all the stories, there are two main characters the reader learns about. One is about a dad and his son, one is about a student and her teacher, and the final one is about two brothers who are twins. The stories do not particularly seem to intertwine at the beginning of the book, but as the stories go on connections begin to occur. All three of the stories have their own drama and intrigue that make them especially interesting and relatable too. The first one is about what it would be like to find out that you were adopted and leave your boring old normal life behind for something more interesting. The second story is about what it would be like to fall in love with a high school teacher, and when you graduate run off with him to a better richer life. The final story is about what it would be like to have a crazy twin brother who left home one day, and who you may never see again.
As I read each individual interesting story, I found myself wanting to learn more and more about the interesting characters created by Dan Chaon. Every character has that little something special that draws the reader deeper and deeper into the mystery of the book. The rebellious college student who leaves the normal, safe life to lead a life of crime, the orphaned high school student who falls in love with a young teacher who is rich and can take her away from it all, or the twin brother who wastes away his twenties looking for his brother. All the characters have their own qualities that everyone should be able to relate too.
One thing I especially liked about the book was that Dan Chaon presents a unique way of ordering his book. He does not take the common simple chorological approach, but uses a sort of flashback method. It helps the reader understand the current thought process of the main characters by looking into the past occurrences for important detail. This method helped keep me interested in how the main characters got to their current situations, and what their thought processes were. I personally have always liked the third person point of view which Chaon uses. It helps me understand the point of view of all the main characters and where they are coming from. Chaon shows his experts ability to write in the third person point of view in this novel. I like it writers such as Dan Chaon go inside the characters head to create an even more vivid picture of the characters.
The best part of the book does not come until the end when the author finally reveals the true connections that the characters in each story have with each other. It is absolutely fascinating to think about what I just read and realize the connections were there the whole time. As the reader reads a long he or she can definitely recognize similarities like the aspect of crime and worry in each specific story. All the characters seem to looking for their true identity somehow. In each of the stories inside the novel, the characters create face identities to live their lives as even if this activity is clearly illegal. Money plays an important role throughout the novel and is driving force behind many of the characters wanting to create new identities.
Await Your Reply has everything a really good novel needs. It has hidden connections, real world issues, crime, twins, death, drugs, money, and people with multiple personalities. Everyone will find something interest during the novel and will have a hard time putting it down until the very end. The reader finds out all good things come to the end eventually and what is it going to be like when they finally do?
(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)