Thursday, July 21, 2011

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It's seldom that a book just comes up and quietly swallows me whole like this. Aside from the prose (which is stunning in its Winterson-esque grace), the narrative is SO compelling I literally could not put it down. So many unanswered questions once it's done but really, that's a large part of the genius of this novel - we don't get to know WHY or HOW, things just are. Hard to believe this is a first novel. Graceful, beautiful, and truly a stunning read.


Monday, July 18, 2011

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

There are points in this book where I was so frustrated with the clunky attempts at post-post-modern structure games that I had to put it down. Reading through all the positive reviews of this work, I almost feel I must've read a different book. This is not a "rock'n'roll" novel but instead a mish-mash of prose about two sad people living pathetic lives. There's little here that's compelling although the character "Nik" has his moments. The forced connections between the narrator Denise's obsession with various current events (which, sadly all read as very dated at this point) and her inability to connect to the mess that is her life, left me frustrated not so much with the character (as was the obvious goal) but with the writer. The 2 main characters here are supposedly 47 and 50 but read more like they're in their late 50's. Of course, since the bulk of the narrative is told in first person removed - Denise's story told via a series of writings she creates on the event of her brother's disappearance - we cannot know what is simply Denise's skewed POV and what is actually happening in the narrative. The shifts from third back into stilted first person served only to break the narrative flow and did nothing toward creating a more compelling narrative. Overall, there is much that shows potential here and Nik's character (albeit a cliche of the failed rock musician/narcissist) reads as somewhat interesting. What this book needs is a good editorial spanking. Or at least an editor who would make this obviously talented writer work harder to tell a compelling, cohesive narrative. That this novel has received such rave reviews I find, to be honest, depressing. I'd give it a B minus at best.



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Friday, July 15, 2011

quote of the day

"One day I woke on a beach with sand in my hair and thought: I'll never be who I was then.
One day I found myself sitting alone at a table of strangers and I thought: I can't go back into the past and start over. I have to just muddle on from where I am." - Deb Olin Unferth, REVOLUTION.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wonderfully written, as is everything I've read by this writer. One of the few recent memoirs that is thoughtful, funny, sad and does a great job of skewering Westerners intent on joining other countries' revolutions. Told on an intimate level, it's both a coming of age and a love story. There's so much good writing here I finished the last 100+ pages in one sitting.



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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the WestNothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I was really looking forward to reading this one but ultimately, couldn't get through it. Lots of meandering through unimportant info, a definitely skewed view of the settlement of the West, and often there are no transitions from one chunk of information to the next. While the actual "story" here is interesting, Wickenden makes it an uninteresting, clunky read. Overall, really disappointed.



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