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(as of Jan 15, 2026 02:51:18 UTC – Details)
B0DM4KN6PP, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • “A glorious sweep of a novel” (Ann Patchett) that weaves the intimate lives of two midwestern families across generations, from World War II to the late twentieth century.
“Mesmerizing.”—People
“Captivating.”—The New York Times Book Review
“A once-in-a-decade novel . . . I fell in love with these characters.”—Jenna Bush Hager
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, NPR, People, Minnesota Star Tribune, New York Post, Chicago Public…, 4.5,
Reviewer: Marilyn J. Weyher
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great Story. Interesting Character
Review: Although I found this book slow to get into, most likely due to the outstanding character development, it was easily readable after approximately 100 pages. Well written and very interesting story. I will definitely read this one again.
Reviewer: Digital Rights
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Story and writing complement each other. Bravo!
Review: Well worth reading! “Buckeye” is a smooth, hypnotic journey through mid 20th century America as experienced by families coming through the World Wars up to the late 1970’s. Set in once rural Bonhomie, Ohio, Ryan writes a compelling story about families burying secrets and paying the price. His characters are rich and fully formed. The scenes felt real and actualized and the plot is pretty realistic.Readers will see hints of many stories as Ryan’s writing and themes. It’s only perhaps because it feels so familiar that I leave it at 4 stars. In reality the characters got to me and as their lives unwound it does feel like a loss to the reader. I very much enjoyed reading it. I could picture their homes, the town, the outskirts and some of their daily routines. I am not sure there’s a sequel coming but I would welcome it so I could revisit.In the past few years I have read a number of books where great writing has masked an awful story or unsolvable contradictions. I would say in this one the writing and the story pair up very well.
Reviewer: Literary Lady
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: One of the Best!
Review: Wow! What a great book! This follows a family from WW 2 to post- Viet Nam. It is sad in parts, but so realistic. The details of the setting and the times are portrayed with crystal-clear accuracy. The characters are unforgettable, and the writing poetic. There is a lot about war, but so were the times. I will not forget this book.
Reviewer: MMB
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Characters with no Character!
Review: This was a good read, but disappointing.I want three things in a book. I want it to be interesting enough to make me stick with it, I like to learn something and inspiration.I enjoyed the book at the beginning but then it got annoying because I couldn’t relate to it. The character switch made a big difference and kept me in the book. Although, I was very disappointed by the development of the characters, which was game changing in my overall rating of this story. There were many facts that made it possible to learn something, but having lived through most of it, I didn’t learn anything new except some vocabulary. There was nothing I found inspiring. In fact many decisions were disappointing. Honesty needs to be valued and it was a sorely lacking trait in this book. Would I recommend it to others? Probably not.
Reviewer: Nate’s Mate
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Good Solid Read With Life-like Characters
Review: I finished reading ‘Buckeye’ several days ago but the characters stayed with me in such a steadfast way that I couldn’t move on to another book.There are two married couples and while the focus alternates from each of these four characters, there are other characters that are very endearing or, at least, downright funny. [I refer to the ‘lounge singer.’]I found the character development to be exceptional.The prose, at times, stopped me in my tracks and there many ‘post-its’ now in the book.The book is not without a few flaws but there are very few that are flawless.I very much liked reading about life in Bonhomie. I think that many, if not most, will enjoy time spent here.If you like family melodramas, you will very much enjoy ‘Buckeye.’
Reviewer: Mema
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent Writing!
Review: I enjoyed this book. The words were written carefully and thoughtfully. It covered much of my lifetime which helped me understand some of the events better. Towards the end it drug out longer than I needed. But as a whole I would recommend it to friends.
Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Gorgeous story, well written.
Review: This beautiful life story is engrossing and thoroughly engaging because of the brilliant writing style of the author. The characters are vivid and the complex lives they live are believable thanks to the author’s gift of storytelling. Joy and sorrow, pain and triumph, tears and gladness – all captured in simple, elegant prose. A beautiful book!
Reviewer: Ginger Russell
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good Book
Review: This is well-written and thoughtful. I am not a big fan of books about personal and family drama, and that’s pretty much what this is. It follows two families from the 1920s through WWII and the postwar years, through Vietnam, and eventually ends in the 1980s. The story includes just about everything, affairs, a medium who communicates with the dead, and so on. I did keep reading it to see what would happen in the end, and I thought it was reasonably enjoyable.
Reviewer: a reader
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Great writing and character development. A big story of several generations of lives braided together by love, loss, need and tragedy. I found it a bit long but such good, clean and insightful writing with a lot of love and compassion for basically goodhearted people trying to survive in this flawed world and who demonstrated the human flaws of secrecy, repression, avoidance and resentment. The backstory of war & social oppression, and it’s impacts on people and their relationships rang true and very sad. I wished for more happiness in their lives and found myself feeling pretty glum about life in general. I’m glad I read it, and I’m kind of glad it’s over. That said, Patrick Ryan is definitely on my radar as a writer to read.
Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I loved this book. It was a great free flowing story from one era to another and really just so well written overall with very real characters and not in the least pretentious which I often find with highly praised books. A 5 star read for me.
Reviewer: Steve Johnson
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I think what I liked about this the most was it brought in a modern sensibility to the behavior of small town Midwest America between 1930 and 1970. It takes on several taboo subjects (adultery, homosexuality) and pretty much without judgment allows the reader to come to their own conclusions.Some very well drawn characters and authentic behavior are described, and in beautiful prose. It could probably have been edited down a little bit as some descriptions carried on for pages, but I’m impatient reader and probably should be ignored. But it is a long book, perhaps nearly two times longer than the average novel. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed it and read it in one weekend.
Reviewer: Lynne Blamires
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I really loved this book, I couldn’t put it down once I got into the story.
Reviewer: Ariktam Chatterjee
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The book takes the reader through a poignant and melancholic journey involving two families over three generations brought together by destiny and sufferings affected by the vicissitudes of war. It’s slow pace lilts like music. Has to be one of the best fictions from 2025.
, Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > 20th Century > World War II & Holocaust, #Buckeye #Read #Jenna #Pick,
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