Comments (24)

Akin

a Novel
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Jan 09, 2022MrsRedbeard rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
An interesting read, but some struggle to continue. The beginning made me feel like I started on the third chapter like I missed something. However, pushed through and found an odd, yet solid relationship. Both readers and characters…
Jan 07, 2022Bookworm1136 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
4-4 1/2 star read. Noah is planning a long awaited trip to Nice, France to see the place he lived when he was a child, before being sent to New York City and to celebrate his 80th birthday there. Then he gets a call about his great…
Jun 18, 2021bibliogramma rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Loved the way the main character--an 80 year old man, still grieving the loss of his wife in whose shadow he has lied his professional life, and who is stuck in the unhappiness of aging alone--is forced through circumstances to take on the…
Jan 25, 2021CarlaCS rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Disappointing; I had higher expectations of Ms Donoghue, having read a number of her other books (Slammerkin, Room, The Wonder). As well, WW2, the Holocaust, and coming-of-age stories are among my favorite genres, so I was primed to like…
Jan 11, 2021bevatkey rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Through a series of familial incidents, an 80-year old man becomes the guardian of an 11 year old boy . As he was heading off to France for a long awaited trip back to where he grew up, he is forced to take along the boy whose life has…
Nov 29, 2020cknightkc rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
AKIN is part character study, part mystery, and part travelogue. A childless widower on the cusp of his 80th birthday has his life upended when he must take his young grand-nephew on a trip to Nice, France. The main storyline follows the…
Oct 09, 2020
I loved this book, found it very credible, well written and touching. Highly recommended if you enjoy human interest and exploring relationships, etc. written with skill and sensitivity.
Sep 20, 2020star2014 rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
I found this novel to be overpowered (in a negative way) by the way the younger character was developed by the author. I read about one third, and couldn't continue...
Aug 31, 2020
I am quite surprised that this is Noah's first trip back to Nice since he left at the age of four, especially considering his comfortable financial circumstances. Many immigrants go back home every year! Michael is a brat and his foul…
Aug 02, 2020seturn rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Predictable. Disappointing. Don't waste your time!
Mar 22, 2020
Loved the story, and the characters. A little didactic; she was obviously wanting to describe and explain and think through atrocities of various sorts. The kid is a complete and terrible brat, street unwise and mean. Only every once…
Feb 12, 2020TSMary rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I enjoyed this relationship story of two most unlikely characters who are thrown together under trying circumstances and learn the meaning of caring and understanding.
Feb 12, 202021221018293347 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The two characters in this book are a juxtaposition, which means "the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect." As the book transpired I kept expecting a mystery, a problem, something to be…
Jan 28, 2020brit4321 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
The book is a great travel guide to Nice and I enjoyed reading it. However, I would have found Michael more believable in some of the things he said if he had been a few years older.
Jan 13, 2020mardscott rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Donoghue's novel reads like a true story---very effective. It is about a 79 year-old man (Noah Selvaggio) and his great-nephew (Michael Young) who is 11. This is a story about a man whose wife and sister have died (one, 10 years ago,…
Nov 24, 2019laphampeak rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The juxtaposition of an 80 year old ex professor and his 11 year old street smart nephew leads to clever discourse and wit with doses of the reality of the gaps in generations. They are thrown together just as Noah is planning a trip back…
Nov 09, 2019sergeantbubbles rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will probably read it again. An octogenarian widower about to embark on a farewell and fact-finding mission to his childhood home of Nice is sidelined when Children’s Services effectively foist his…
Nov 07, 2019
The child in this story was rude and undisciplined. Having a bad childhood does not give one the right to act out. The 80-year-old man excuses the boy for his behavior because of his life circumstances. The child treated him like dirt. The…
Oct 21, 2019midori_hon rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
soon to be octogenarian trying to understand his past and an eleven year old with a most uncertain future end up traveling together based on a tenuous family link. somewhat predictable that a bond will develop? yes, but donoghue has such…
Oct 10, 2019
A New & Noteworthy pick. Noah, a newly retired professor, and his young great-nephew are unexpectedly thrown together on a trip to the French Riviera. The old man and the boy will discover troubling details of Noah’s mother’s past in…
Oct 01, 2019ArapahoeAnnaL rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Sentence by lovely sentence Donoghue brings the two main characters to life: an elderly retired professor and a bright rambunctious preteen, Michael, from a poor family whose mother is in prison for selling drugs. The characters are so…
Sep 28, 201922950005506308 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
An engaging book, though not as stunning as “Room”. Recommended.
Aug 29, 2019darladoodles rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
An almost 80-year-old man makes the trip of a lifetime to Nice, France, with an 11-year-old boy. Noah is a retired professor and the boy (Michael) is his great-nephew and desperately in need of a home while his mother is in prison. In…
Aug 27, 2019
A retired New York professor's life is thrown into chaos when he takes a young great-nephew to the French Riviera, in hopes of uncovering his own mother's wartime secrets - Goodreads. Seems like everyone who went through WW2 had plenty of…