Demonology (SIGNED)
by Rick Moody
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 561)
Read in May, 2008
I feel I was meant to read this book because of two coincidences: One, I had just finished Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and had no idea about the connection between the two authors when I began the book. (Eggers is even thanked by Moody at the end of the book.) Two, I was eating a bowl of lentil soup when I read the sentence in "The Carnival Tradition" about the girl buying lentil...more
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His use of italics gets really annoying after awhile. In an interview he said it was one of the hallmarks of his style, although he didn’t say why he did it. It must mean something to him, but I have to say that most of the time (the only exception being when he uses it to indicate dialogue) I don't see what that emphasis accomplishes for him, especially when he overuses it so much. Not sure, but—with the possible exception of the novellas—I don't think there's a singl...more
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I haven't always been a big a fan of short story collections.
My main criticisms is that it's hard to form a coherence among the pieces. A short story is something that needs to be able to exist outside of a collection.
When you gather a group of them together in a single book, it's like that first day of kindergarten class: some are going to mesh, some are going to clash and a scarce percentage are going to grow up to realize that they were conceived in the wrong time and use that as...more
My main criticisms is that it's hard to form a coherence among the pieces. A short story is something that needs to be able to exist outside of a collection.
When you gather a group of them together in a single book, it's like that first day of kindergarten class: some are going to mesh, some are going to clash and a scarce percentage are going to grow up to realize that they were conceived in the wrong time and use that as...more
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Read in September, 2007
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 almos...more
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The title story I think is top-dog awesome. I saw him read it and everyone was crying and he ran off afterwards crying - he'd never read it in public because it's about his sister's death. I taught this story and it went over well -- like that Lorrie Moore story with the baby with cancer ("People Like That Are the Only People Here"), this is one of those stories that states, while proceeding in totally conventional fictional form, that this shit ain't close to fiction and it's only pre...more
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Read in April, 2008
Finally finished this book and all I can say is it certainly brought out the demon in me, because I strongly disliked it.
While some of the short stories were interesting, many of them were so jumbled and inconsistent that I was unable to make heads of tails of their purpose.
Some of the ways in which the stories were written were interesting; for instance one story was written as a track list of songs through years and each list had a column to the left explaining why certain songs were ch...more
While some of the short stories were interesting, many of them were so jumbled and inconsistent that I was unable to make heads of tails of their purpose.
Some of the ways in which the stories were written were interesting; for instance one story was written as a track list of songs through years and each list had a column to the left explaining why certain songs were ch...more
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Read in July, 2007
Interesting stories. I'll have to go back to this when I have more patience for things outside the norm. There is one particular story in here that I loved though, "Wilkie Fahnstock, The Boxed Set," which tells a story in two columns. The right hand column is the history of Wilkie Fahnstock as told by a sort of formal historian type, by someone from the "Bankruptcy Records, the left column traces each year through a series of mixed tapes. I love mixed tapes and I love how each one...more
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Read in February, 2007
recommends it for:
no one.
Oh man, I HATED this book. In this short story collection, Rick Moody artfully applies all of the worst elements of fiction to create saccharine, predictable stories about character that are flat and unsympathetic. I was thrilled when bad stuff happened to them. This is one book I didn't even bother to finish - I got through the 100+ story right in the middle and then threw the book across the room, resolving to flip this guy off if I ever meet him. I think Rick Moody has singlehandedly soured...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
people that like overused italics, people who like short-stories
Didn't love this. I started it in December but since I finally finished it this year, I'm counting it as a January read. It's a book of short stories, some of which were good, and some of which I didn't even finish. The stories I liked or found notable were "The Mansion on the Hill", "Boys", and "Demonology". Demonology was probably the best of all of them. I've not read Moody previously and honestly, I'm not tempted to read more after reading this, though some...more
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Read in February, 2008
This guy has a thing for italics. I can't quite figure out why he writes certain phrases (throughout every story) in italics. It seems thoughtful but I don't get it. His stories are all about people who are just short of luck. My favorite, so far, involves a guy who quit his job as a chicken to work at a wedding site. It's a page turner and I can't help feeling awful for the guy - even though he does some pretty stupid things. The stories are all varied, as far as characters go, but the vo...more
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he's supposed to be one of the best fiction writers alive right now, and maybe i'm just not sophisticated enough to "get it", but i had a hard time being interested. His writing style is unique and innovative, but it's also distracting. i thought a couple of the stories were amazing, but overall i'd never read it again.
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I like italics for emphasis as much as the next reader (Salinger uses is to such excellent effect through many of his stories), but Moody pushes it so far I couldn't even finish the collection. Easy. With. The. Italics.
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It's like an album. When in doubt go for the title track. But sometimes the title track is so good, everything around it then seems mediocre.
The title essay about his sister's death is maybe the best I've ever read.
The title essay about his sister's death is maybe the best I've ever read.
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I could not get into Moody's jive (or lack of jive), I should give this book another shot of try another of his since he did write 'the ice storm' and 'garden state', maybe his books make good movies but bad books.
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5 stars for the title story, which is one of my all-time favorites, which when I read it was one of those life-changing things. I don't remember any of the other stories in this collection, but who cares.
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Read in February, 2002
a hit and miss thing - when it hits, it's really good. when it misses, it comes across as pretentious and self-conscious. but rick moody is fundamentally a great writer, so nothing is exactly bad.
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As with most short story collections, some I liked and some I didn't care for.
I found it especially difficult to follow the ones that felt like one veeery looong sentence (e.g. "Boys").
OK
I found it especially difficult to follow the ones that felt like one veeery looong sentence (e.g. "Boys").
OK
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Like all of Moody's worst writing, these are more concept than story, which makes for flat, impersonal reading. Sort of like all the "art" that ArtForum covers these days, but rendered in word.
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Read in November, 2007
More verbose than my usual preferred fare, but Rick Moody, I'm glad we have him. This book has possibly the best first line of any book ever: "The chicken mask was sorrowful, Sis."
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2003
I purchased this book because I honestly loved the cover. My favorite blue-ish green and SMARTIES!
As I recall, it is a bunch of short stories. Some were good, others were okay.
As I recall, it is a bunch of short stories. Some were good, others were okay.
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