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The World Without You


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How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

Created: 12/28/12

Replies: 19

Posted Dec. 28, 2012 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert

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Posts: 0

How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

Most of the major characters in the novel are female, yet the author is male. How successful was he in writing from the perspective of women?


Posted Jan. 04, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
jeffs

Join Date: 06/18/12

Posts: 49

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I think he does a great job, but then, I'm a man as well so how would I know. Seriously, i think all of the characters were very well written. I found all of them believable and they seemed to stay true to themselves throughout the course of the book.


Posted Jan. 04, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Lea Ann

Join Date: 04/20/11

Posts: 99

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I am an 80 yr. old female and as I read the book, my thoughts often wandered to where I was impressed by the author's ability to present his female characters so realistically. I wondered if he has lived with many females during his life, worked with them, gone to school with them.............just how was he able to portray his characters in such a realistic fashion? Regardless as to how he was able to do so, do so he did and it made his novel move more realistically and smoothly.


Posted Jan. 04, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
cynthiaa

Join Date: 04/14/11

Posts: 112

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

Very successful. If you told me a woman wrote it I would have believed you. I did not find any difference.


Posted Jan. 05, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
susanr

Join Date: 04/14/11

Posts: 201

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I thought he wrote the women characters very insightfully


Posted Jan. 05, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Beth350

Join Date: 04/15/11

Posts: 89

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I thought Henkin did a wonderful job of portraying women characters. Too often it seems that male authors get hung up on the sexuality of their female characters, but in this book the women have feelings that feal incredibly true. I too, would have believed this to have been written by a woman because of the understanding of women's emotions that are portrayed.


Posted Jan. 05, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
joyces

Join Date: 06/16/11

Posts: 410

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I agree with all of the others that he did a really great job of writing about the women. He also handled the male roles very nicely. I just think he is a very effective writer and obviously has great powers of observation as well as empathy for his characters.


Posted Jan. 06, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
terriej

Join Date: 07/28/11

Posts: 422

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

He does a great job. I loved this book!


Posted Jan. 06, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Suzanne

Join Date: 04/21/11

Posts: 281

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I so agree with the previous writers--he has a rare insight.


Posted Jan. 06, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
eileenp

Join Date: 10/20/10

Posts: 33

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

All good writers are able to write from perspectives different from their own--women write from men's perspectives, men write from women's perspectives, women and men write from the perspective of other animals, aliens, inanimate objects. It's what writers do. The better the writer, the less note-worthy it is because readers don't even notice that the writer is writing from a perspective that isn't their own. On that note, Henkin does a fine job of writing from both men's and women's perspectives.


Posted Jan. 06, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
lorie

Join Date: 05/19/11

Posts: 24

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I think he did an excellent job writing from a female perspective. I would have believed it had been written by a woman if I didn't know otherwise.


Posted Jan. 07, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Retired Reader, NE

Join Date: 09/16/11

Posts: 165

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

This is the first book I've read by Henkin, and I am impressed by his writing style. All of the characters are fully developed and understandable to the reader. I enjoyed his writing style wherby the details about the family and their individual relationships gradually unfold. I believed the characters and could relate to them.


Posted Jan. 07, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
jknapp

Join Date: 04/11/11

Posts: 37

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I think this is one of the amazing attributes about this book. I had to remind myself that this was a man writing this story. I think he has a lot of insight into the female psyche.


Posted Jan. 07, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
marjoriea

Join Date: 06/14/11

Posts: 8

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I agree with jknapp


Posted Jan. 07, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
lynneb

Join Date: 08/23/11

Posts: 118

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I thoroughly enjoyed Joshua Henkin's writing style and agree with others that if you didn't know it was a male author you would never suspect. He knows female characters for sure.


Posted Jan. 08, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
LReads

Join Date: 06/23/12

Posts: 27

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I think he was amazingly successful at presenting a realistic female view. Had I not known better, I would not have known I was not reading a book by a female author.


Posted Jan. 09, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
juliaa

Join Date: 12/03/11

Posts: 271

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I agree with LReads. Henkin is amazingly successful at writing from a woman's perspective. He must be a really good observer of the women around him, to be able to so believably write from that perspective.


Posted Jan. 09, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
sandeo

Join Date: 04/17/11

Posts: 21

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

Kudos to the author for making me forget his gender. His voice disappears into the dialogue and plot line. I found his style seamless and easy to read.


Posted Jan. 16, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
pennyp

Join Date: 03/22/12

Posts: 353

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I thought he did a great job. It is a well written book and I will recommend it to others.


Posted Jan. 18, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
mary annb's Gravatar
mary annb

Join Date: 04/14/11

Posts: 16

RE: How successful is Joshua Henkin at writing from the perspective of women?

I actually think he was great at writing from the perspective of women. The women seem to be more fleshed out characters then the men. That was actually a thought that struck me as I was writing. I thought he captured the feeling of siblings, ( 3 sisters close in age, and the little brother they doted on) perfectly.


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