Although I found The Sorrows of an American not too difficult to read, I often stopped reading wondering what the author was trying to say. I did enjoy the history of the characters and liked the middle American theme. I loved the way she described her characters and was intrigued to find out what the big secret was. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about the American family. It is not a high action, deeply involved mystery, but a very involved story of a widowed woman and her psychoanalyst brother dealing with a deep family secret.

A book about how memories of traumatic events – catastrophic illness and injury, infant and childhood mortality, mental illness, addiction, poverty, discrimination, violence, adultery, divorce, a parent’s death, profound loneliness, etc. – play out in our lives, and in art, literature, film, philosophy, psychiatry, journals and letters, and even school plays and doll-making. Ms. Hustvedt’s novel resembles the photography exhibit assembled by her character, Jeffrey Lane, in which the photographs as memories are partially excised, intentionally distorted, at once both banal and graphic, strange and familiar, threatening, covered up, or even entirely missing.

Based upon the review excerpts printed with the book, I had expected that The Sorrows of an American would contain descriptive material relating to the Minnesota landscape, the Norwegian pioneer experience, and the lingering effects on the American psyche of the Great Depression and World War II. However, upon completing the book, I found its discussion of place and history to be rather limited and shallow. There are also many passing references to 9/11, but relatively little to convey the extent and depth of the effects of that terrible day, other than one young adult’s wish not to have experienced the horror. To my thinking, the novel did not provide any new insights into the American experience of these events, nor to place. If the descriptions of Minnesota are spare, then the descriptions of New York City, where the bulk of the novel takes place, almost non-existent.

Instead the book is more a collection of ideas and observations about many very unhappy, self-absorbed characters whose lives are intertwined to varying extents. I did enjoy seeing how their issues and secrets began to resolve themselves over time. ( )

I was very excited about reading this book, since I had been quite impressed with the author's first novel. Unfortunately this second novel didn't live up to my expectations. While the writing is strong, the novel itself was slow and a bit depressing. Sadly I would not recommend this one. ( )

I found this a difficult book to read. I went in expecting a tale of a son exploring his father's youth, and to be sure there is that element to the book. What I did not expect is that that exploration would be only the backdrop for several other plots which all seemed to involve emotional trauma and mental instability, including the protagonist's entanglement with his boarder's ex, which leads him at points to question his own stability. It is, without a doubt, a well-written book, and one worth reading again. But it is not a comfortable book, and thus far I have been unable to brave that re-reading. ( )

This is the convoluted story of a man's search to understand the people around him. He is well-equipped to do this, he is a psychotherapist. The problem arises with the death of his father. That death, and questions of some actions of his father found in a cryptic letter among his papers, leaves both the psychotherapist son and father's daughter in a quandry. Sub-plots all seem to point to the idea of past events pushing us to become who we ar today. Miranda with her uncle she loves, but later finds out to be homosexual. Miranda's lover is driven to picture others because of events in his past. Erik's sister, Inga, is haunted by a dead husband and who he was. Her daughter, Sonia, is haunted by the same man, but in a different manner. Much is made of the father's service in WWII, with returning to the events of the time in New Guinea thoroughout the book. The same is made of the grandfather of the psychotherapist and the struggle to survive in the Upper Midwest farming.
I found the book and enjoyable read, characters are drawn well enough, the story line is separated by sections through the book. Made me think about critical events we all experience, how those events then affect how we touch others. Almost like cultural or family DNA with some things being always the same "don't cry in front of others" but somethings defining who we are. I will read another of her books. ( )