A Reading Response to the Novel Ironweed

I am having a hard time with this reading response because this was the book I was the most excited to read for this class but I really struggled to like or even finish the book, which is very disappointing. Regardless of the notes we were given about the story in class I felt as if I had no idea what was going on during the first third of the book and after that I continuously wondered if I had missed very vital details to the story because I was so confused to begin with. Despite the interactions with spirits and moments repeating themselves, I felt like the author would begin talking about different characters as if I should already know them. I felt like new characters would be introduced and I had no idea if I should or should not have heard of that person already. Then I just wondered if it was my own confusion that was causing this and I just felt like I struggled throughout most of the story and did not make reading it very enjoyable. I felt that adding in dates to certain scenes would definitely help readers to have a better understand of what was happening and when. In addition, it often felt as if the author was trying too hard to appear intelligent but using words that are not common and the average reader more than likely does not know off the top of his or her head. It seemed like some of the vocabulary didn’t fit with the tone of the characters, regardless if it was description or not. I am extremely curious to see how this story is portrayed in the movie though because the majority of the story is Francis’s inner thoughts and motives. I did not dislike the entire story, however. I really loved when Francis spontaneously decided to visit his family after twenty-two years. I liked the interaction between him and his wife and children, and especially with his grandson he hadn’t met until then. I really wanted Francis to turn his life around and stay with them especially since his wife offered it to him, something I don’t think most women could do