false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171778031m/119290.jpg 119290 17 Among literary cognoscenti, Charles Baxter has a well-deserved reputation as one of America's finest writers. Best known for his short stories, Baxter has also produced three novels. His fourth, <I>The Feast of Love</I>, combines the best of both genres--with a light dusting of metafiction to sweeten the dish. The book begins with Baxter himself waking from a nightmare and going for a moonlit walk through his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan. While sitting on a park bench, he is joined by an acquaintance of 12 years--and, incidentally, one of the main characters in the novel. It is Bradley who gives Baxter the name for the novel he's currently struggling to write, and even offers himself as a character: <blockquote> You should call it <I>The Feast of Love</I>. I'm the expert on that. I should write that book. Actually, I should be <I>in</I> that book. You should put me into your novel. I'm an expert on love. I've just broken up with my second wife, after all. I'm in an emotional tangle. Maybe I'd shoot myself before the final chapter. Your readers would wonder about the outcome. </blockquote> But why stop there? Bradley goes on to suggest that he send people to Baxter, "actual <I>people</I>, for a change, like for instance human beings who genuinely exist, and you listen to them for a while. Everybody's got a story, and we'll just start telling you the stories we have"--a sly tip-off to the reader of this elegant, quirky, and wholly engrossing novel that the writer may be no more reliable than his narrators. <p> What follows is a chronicle of love--the mad kind, the bad kind, and the kind that sustains us when everything else is gone. In addition to Smith, we meet Chloé, a young waitress at Bradley's espresso bar, and her ex-junkie boyfriend, Oscar; Bradley's next door neighbors, Harry Ginsburg, an elderly professor of philosophy, and his wife, Esther; and Kathryn and Diana, Bradley's two ex-wives. The characters take turns narrating, often commenting on and correcting versions of events mentioned by other characters in previous chapters, and occasionally advising Baxter on the progress of his novel: "Don't threaten people, especially lawyers" legal eagle Diana warns "Charlie" shortly before she launches into her own story. "Don't threaten your own characters. It's for your own good. You'll wind up in a mess of litigation and... <I>subplots.</I>" But in <I>The Feast of Love</I>, God is in the subplots--Oscar and Chloé's involvement in the porn industry; Esther and Harry's agonized relationship with their mentally ill son; Bradley's travails in love, art, and dog ownership. As the novel progresses, these separate strands gradually merge, and not even an unexpected tragedy can dim the luster of this moonstruck romance. For by the time Baxter brings his tale of love and loss and redemption to a close, his characters have all found their way to the feast--bittersweet though some of the dishes may be. <I>--Alix Wilber</I> 435683 book 2000 The Feast of Love total:2849|5:716|4:1003|3:770|2:275|1:85| 2849 10537 3776 454 3 2 false false Fri Mar 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 10 10:06:59 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 21 16:13:37 -0700 2008
In terms of the characters (which, in the end, is all this novel is)...more...]]> 4 2 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 03 22:37:02 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 22 13:36:03 -0700 2007
I loved this books and had a hard time putting it down, literally...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Feb 12 20:26:52 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 15 22:43:59 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 12 20:26:52 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jul 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 00:22:46 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 07 20:59:01 -0700 2009
El inicio es enorme y cálido, las intenciones de Baxter son impresionantes y no estoy seguro que lo logre a grado técnico, pero en todo lo demás lo logra...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jan 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 17:42:27 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 06:23:11 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Mar 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 05 08:02:20 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 15 18:22:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Aug 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 11 22:49:49 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 09:06:56 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue May 06 07:51:44 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 11 10:35:02 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Jan 09 19:45:44 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 09 19:46:03 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jan 03 16:41:33 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 07 10:41:16 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 26 14:51:53 -0800 2007 Thu Jan 10 10:18:57 -0800 2008
But then he moves away from these vignettes of people's love lives and their deep but funny meditations on them. He narrows the novel to a fairly dramatic endin...more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 19 05:33:41 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 28 16:24:10 -0700 2007
I t...more...]]> 1 2 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 16 15:37:11 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 09 14:50:17 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 28 15:32:13 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 15:33:57 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Wed Mar 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 11 17:27:35 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 11 19:51:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Mon Apr 27 13:21:30 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 27 14:03:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 17 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Apr 11 15:04:58 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 20:16:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jul 16 09:59:31 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 16 09:59:31 -0700 2007
It's not that it's "safe" (although everyone seems to like it) but that it's one of those transcendent middebrow books like Salinger's--Shawshank Redemption, which everyone...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Nov 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Oct 30 13:17:23 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 03 10:11:45 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false true Fri Sep 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 15 10:17:49 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 13:37:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=119290