The Reluctant Fundamentalist
The rating on this may be 1 star too high. I'm trying not to let the abrupt ending spoil the entire experience. The main character's voice is done well -- if you can handle lots of dependent clauses and non-restrictive clauses. I fell into the rhythm quickly and plowed through the book in one night. Sadly, the plot is not as satisfying in the last 1/3. The title itself is a bit misleading, but I'll say no more for fear of spoiling. If you enjoy intriguing narrative voices, check this out.
The Gum Thief: A Novel
I suspect I read this at just the right time. The characters are not necessarily different from Coupland's other works. And yet, the novel buried in this novel is different from Coupland's other work. There is an absurdity there that doesn't exist in the main storyline (a basic plot of disaffected youth, middle-aged angst, and life at Staples). But I think the real accomplishment here is the structure of the novel. We have a novel in diary form that also includes a novel in it. The fact that the characters in the diary-novel are just as compelling as the main characters is a testament to Coupland's skill. I was compelled by this book and find myself still contemplating the way it is put together. That may not excite some people, but as a writer I can't help but obsess over the structural marvel. This whole book could have fallen apart in the hands of a less skilled writer.
Cosmicomics
Clever although sometimes too obtuse. The abstract "narrator living through the evolution of the universe" stories are a tad repetitive by the end, but each has a focus. A nice little collection with a few strong pieces.
Fat City
A decent book about manhood. The novel tracks three men -- 2 boxers and their manager -- in southern california in the fifties. Ernie is a young, up-and-coming kid discovered by Billy Tully, a 30 year old who gave up the sport two years prior but now must work fruit and vegetable fields to make money. Billy is the core of the novel and he's pretty unlikeable, but still sympathetic. He's really just upset that he let his life as a boxer go. The dialogue is good, if a bit forced in places. The chapters jump POV. ultimately, it's a satisfying book that suggest charles bukowski with more style and more hope.
So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until it Breaks
the rating is not a reflection on Rigoberto, who is a fine poet, but my general lack of enthusiasm for most poetry.
 - Dante Alighieri, John Ciardi)
Lost in the City
Very good collection. I can't wait to have some time to finish reading it. Strong voices, strong characterization, a variety of thoughts and feelings. I'm glad Jones is not just another flavor of the minute. I'll happily read more of his work.
Jesus' Son
a collection of stories that often end too soon. I was actually afraid that the final story would provide no closure to the entire text and was happy to be wrong. there aren't many stories here that can stand on their own (even Emergency, one of the longest, feels incomplete). By the end, I'm not sure if the comment about the narrator has to do with addiction or becoming a better person or simply surviving when you know you are a fuck up.
Demonology: Stories
after having read The Ice Storm and Garden State many moons ago (the late 90s), I had lost track of Rick Moody. Not that he went anywhere. I even have a copy of Purple America that I have never read. But I just never found myself drawn back to him. Recently I had to read Demonology for a class and also had the chance to meet Moody at a reading. I have fallen into his post-Ice Storm work with much enthusiasm. It doesn't always work ("Hawaiian Night" is conceptually interesting but almost too dense to figure out; "Wilkie Fahnstock" seems like one of those ideas that probably shouldn't have made it to the page), but when it does, I am enthralled ("Mansion on the Hill," "Forecast from the Retail Desk," "The Carnival Tradition," "Boys," and of course "Demonology."He's definitely not for everyone -- and I don't mean that in a "I'm smart enough to get it" way. If you can get through the misfires, the ones that hit, hit hard.
Close Range
I enjoyed some of this collection. Proulx's style, as always, takes a bit to 'work' with my brain. and yet there is a relative simplicity to Brokeback Mountain that makes it seem like a separate world from the other stories. Or at least a separate narrator.still, Proulx continues to fascinate me and I will probably pick up the sequel collection.
Wizard and Glass
I think it was just too late for me to enjoy this book. I read the first three numerous times, but lost interest in King post Dark Half and then couldn't wait for part 4. it came out and i was uninterested and when I heard he was completing the series, i picked 4 up, hoping for the spark. there was no spark. I'm sure this would have been fantastic had I read it with the same enthusiasm that boiled in me on the fourth reading of part 3 -- I really wanted to know the background story. Perhaps I'll give this one another shot.
Complete Poems, 1904-1962
who knew? cummings writes some of the sexiest love poems around. move over Barry White. No. seriously. Move OVER.
Family Life
I feel like there is a Rosetta stone out there that will explain this book. It's about Vietnam. But it's also a fairy tale. and it's also crazy. It also doesn't read like ANYTHING else Banks has written.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
King tries to claim that he doesn't outline and that the most important thing to him is character. this reeks of bullshit -- the kind of thing King wants people to believe. maybe it's true now, but i doubt it was true for most of his career. then again, he also talks about having no memory of writing Cujo and dealing with alcoholism for most of the 70s and early 80s. so, who knows what he thinks he did.anyway, i can't hold all that stuff against him, but really King is not the best person to take advice from. the book mainly gives a glimpse into his early years and his writing process. for a writer though there's not really anything solid to take away from this.
Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million
wow. just. wow. It's almost as if after The Information Martin Amis disappeared and was replaced by some lamer version of himself. I don't know what this book is for -- it sorta extends his autobiography, Experience, and it sorta is a history lesson (but not really). I like it because people often forget that Stalin was a mass murderer worse than the Nazis. But he was quieter about it. But Amis doesn't do himself any favors by comparing his own child's cry to the sounds in a Russian prison. Really? Your baby sounds like it's suffering like that? Go feed it.
