A solid 3.5 stars. The book is good and very enjoyable. I listened to the audio book and Amy's performance as the narrator was great. Her and the guest voices made the book a must listen. I loved the last chapter of the book because while it is hilarious it is also so true.

2.5
It was a fast read but boring. It was also a little misleading. It starts with her 1936 solo flight but then spends 95% of the book with affairs and horse racing and only takes the last 10-15 pages of 355 on flying.
While I can't say that I wanted her to be this perfect female trailblazer (she was beautiful as the very flawed, very non-feminine woman that she was) but I cared more about the things she did and not the men she slept with.
Maybe I will read her memoir and get more.

The way it is written makes it very difficult to read but the story is great. If the format is too frustrating to you try the audiobook as it is very easy to follow.

This is my first Murakami. I will definitely read more of his work.
I preferred Books 2 & 3 to Book 1. Part of that is that trying to get into the weird world took some time for me but once it was established in Book 1 the others really progressed the story.

Found the book so boring that I only made it half way through.

I liked the fictional story even with the weird time-travelling potential incest part. But once again you have an author that wants to inform you of everything they learned. It can also be hard to follow with all of the bouncing back and forth between times and characters.

I could not stop reading this one. I can't wait to start Finders Keepers.

DNF

After about half of the first third of the book I just skipped to the Real Ride section. The fictional stories are not my type but the real section is great.

I had such complaints about Circling the Sun with regards to feeling let down about the lack of her as a pilot when that is how the book is sold. While this biography tells some of her background there is so much more flying. And no scandalous relationships. And it is just as fascinating (Maybe even more so). If you read Circling the Sun read this too. You will get a more well rounded story.

Up until the last two parts of the book I would have given this a 3 to 3.5. I found myself skimming a lot of sections. I was also very frustrated with the fact that this author thought up every horrible, disgusting thing that could ever potentially happen to a person and caused it all to happen to just one character.

But at the same time she created all of these characters that are the essence of potential human goodness. I will say this is a hard book and partly because I cried through the entire last two parts of the book. I think Harold's thought of what was saddest in the end is what makes this book so hard.

Too bored with it to get more than 40% through.

I did not know what to expect but very quickly liked the book. I will say that the Epilogue for me is so false to the story. I could not see it happening.

What is difficult about this book and causes a lot of view points about these characters is the fact that it is a book written decades ago just now published. The view point that Hank & Atticus express is very much part of their era and location. And the story Harper Lee is telling is true to the time she was living in. We are now viewing this book from 2015 and saying these are racists. Yes the things they express about black people is horrible and we would say is racist, would have been the rational thoughts by non-racists back then.

The book was just okay and I can't say that it will stay with me I even care about these characters. While the Aunt is truly the same character as in Mockingbird, probably modeled after someone very specific, the others are different. These are the original ideas of who these people were but they had to evolve when turned into another book.

While interesting, I was bored and am surprised I finished the book

If I wasn't reading this for book club I would have given up on it by the end of chapter one. There isn't really one redeeming character in this book. You just want to shake some sense into the lead character but maybe this is 21st century judgment of a character set in the 19th century.

The concept of this book was something that really intrigued me but the execution was awful. You lost the story line with constant deviations into random facts about Poland and Warsaw during World War II and real people there. I made it about 55% of the way through the book before I had to give up because I could no longer follow what was happening or who people were. It is a case of an author wanting to tell you about everything they learned while researching the book and not honing it down into a a really good compelling story.

I tried reading this book years ago and stopped after about 8 chapters because I couldn't stand Elizabeth Gilbert and I didn't care about her "horrible" life. So I decided to give the book another chance. Why I don't know. Maybe I need a religious background for this to resonate at all but I still found her annoying and needy. I am happy she found what she needed over the course of that year. Maybe I am too cynical and devoid of faith for this to be a decent book at all.

Overall I enjoyed the book but the drug use was draining and there were a few sections that were way too long.

This book grew on me. I found Bethia an annoying, ignorant character in the part one. Part two I began to admire her as a strong teenage female in the 17th century. Then Part three brings her pain and you cry with her.

Enjoyable read but highly predictable

This book makes me so glad that I did not live during that time. There are so many characters that made me so angry solely because of the things that they believed.

Beautiful!

Very Interesting. The human body is amazing for both the good and the bad but we learn all the time. Hopefully her story helps more people get the care they need.

DNF I could only get halfway through before I had to drop it.

I received this book as one of the first read giveaways. I was intrigued by the concept of the book. I always love reading about basic human relationships and needs that we fulfill.

I liked the structure of the book with the various point of view characters but I found Lion's POV sections pointless. I know that they were there to tell us more about Julia but instead I found them sad (with the life long love unfulfilled) and symptomatic of one of my bigger issues.

I ultimately didn't care about Julia's journey. I was so much more interested in Roberto and the search for the daughter. I didn't dislike Julia but I was not moved by her loss.

I will say that I did like to ending. It was not stereotypical which made it mean more.

If you are in the mode for a quick read this is a good book to try.

If you don't read non-fiction (which I don't), READ THIS BOOK. If you don't listen to audio books, LISTEN TO THIS BOOK.
Even though you know the outcome it was like watching the race live. Your heart was racing while those boys are rowing down the lake towards that finish line.
Daniel James Brown did an amazing job at blending the stories of these boys and coaches (especially Joe Rantz)with the back ground of what Hitler and Goebbels were doing in Germany.

I was hoping that this was structured more like Devil in the White City or Thunderstruck but instead it reads more like diary entries compiled in chronological order. While the information was interesting the plot was non-existent.

Loved the book and is a little addictive while reading. I do have to say that it makes me feel good that no part of my life has ever been as f'ed up as these women's lives.

It could have been edited down some. I called one aspect of the case but was waiting to find out how they would actually do it. On to the next one.