Radiant Days
by Michael A. FitzGerald (Goodreads author!)
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Serious readers of literary fiction
For a first novel, Radiant Days is a hell of an accomplishment. Michael Fitzgerald is a writer of both seriousness and serious talent. He deserves to be read.
On the back cover there is reference to Fitzgerald's MFA; but I'm overjoyed to report that Fitzgerald's work shows almost none of the scars of an MFA program. There's very little of the pathological cleverness, smug zaniness and "look at me I'm writing!" silliness that these programs seem to breed. Too often, the le...more
On the back cover there is reference to Fitzgerald's MFA; but I'm overjoyed to report that Fitzgerald's work shows almost none of the scars of an MFA program. There's very little of the pathological cleverness, smug zaniness and "look at me I'm writing!" silliness that these programs seem to breed. Too often, the le...more
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Read in July, 2007
(Much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)
Shall we just be honest for a moment, fellow lovers of the underground arts? That the biggest, snottiest pleasure of all that we experience as such is when we discover a project that's truly magnificent, but that almost none of our fellow snotty underground-arts lovers know of yet themselves. And that's because we suddenly get to be the smug hero for a few weeks, turning all these ot...more
Shall we just be honest for a moment, fellow lovers of the underground arts? That the biggest, snottiest pleasure of all that we experience as such is when we discover a project that's truly magnificent, but that almost none of our fellow snotty underground-arts lovers know of yet themselves. And that's because we suddenly get to be the smug hero for a few weeks, turning all these ot...more
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I am Hungarian and I met Michael in Budapest in 1993 when he was living there and collecting impressions. Then I knew nothing of him until I found his book on-line recently. So reading Radiant Days, especially it being related to the Hungarian experience, was such a treat!
His incredibly sharp eye for detail and great sense for absurdity and irony totally shine throughout this book. It is extremely well-written, the comical is so funny and the sad is so sad, and the observations and events so...more
His incredibly sharp eye for detail and great sense for absurdity and irony totally shine throughout this book. It is extremely well-written, the comical is so funny and the sad is so sad, and the observations and events so...more
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Read in September, 2007
From its opening at an expatriates' party in Budapest to its bittersweet ending, "Radiant Days" is an admirable first novel, immersing the reader in the pinballing life of a California man who is fleeing the end of a relationship and gets both more and less than he bargained for.
After a beautiful Hungarian bartender persuades the jilted Anthony Sinclair to go to Budapest with her, he convinces himself that he's in love with her, even though she quickly lets him know how willing s...more
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Read in November, 2007
at first glance:
about an expat. sorta romantic i guess. he runs to hungary with this woman who's searching for her son. he's sick of life in teh states and the 9-5. let's see how it plays out.
after reading it:
got a message from the author and after finishing the book, it was sorta upsetting. the book is definitely not a feel good book that makes you feel like you can do something to change the world or motivates you to do anything. nor does it make me feel particularly better about the wo...more
about an expat. sorta romantic i guess. he runs to hungary with this woman who's searching for her son. he's sick of life in teh states and the 9-5. let's see how it plays out.
after reading it:
got a message from the author and after finishing the book, it was sorta upsetting. the book is definitely not a feel good book that makes you feel like you can do something to change the world or motivates you to do anything. nor does it make me feel particularly better about the wo...more
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1 comments
Anthony, the main character in this novel, is the stereotypical clueless, bumbling American who follows an enigmatic beauty to a strange, war-torn land. I know that writers should avoid stereotypes, but the fact is that "dudes" like Anthony exist in profusion, and this is the first novel I've read that shows the expat experience from their perspective. I was hoping that I would feel some sympathy for this guy, but instead, my blood went cold on several occasions while reading this bo...more
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Read in February, 2008
I was looking around for a book to read by a Hungarian (trace my roots kind of thing) when this author and I became goodreads friends. As it turns out, his book mainly takes place in Hungary. Close enough!
Radiant Days was a completely engaging book. Though it's not an action book, it is still a page turner. The story was an Eastern European adventure dealing with ex pats, war, bars, women, orphans, and one guy's travels through it all while over the safety net of his parents' America...more
Radiant Days was a completely engaging book. Though it's not an action book, it is still a page turner. The story was an Eastern European adventure dealing with ex pats, war, bars, women, orphans, and one guy's travels through it all while over the safety net of his parents' America...more
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Hey listen, this is a little awkward, since Michael's one of my Goodreads friends here and I met him briefly when he read from the book at Vermin. So I sort of feel like I'm introducing him at a banquet, or I'm toasting him at his wedding. Here. I am figuratively clamping my hand on his shoulder in a signal that I'm acknowledging him standing right by me as I talk about his work.
The book is really, really powerful. I'm not just saying that because Michael's right here, fidgeting. The pa...more
The book is really, really powerful. I'm not just saying that because Michael's right here, fidgeting. The pa...more
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So...I was having a discussion with someone about how you couldn't give a book by a friend anything less than 4 stars because it would make the author cry and/or hate you. I don't agree; 3 stars means "I liked it"! This is a good thing! Michael Fitzgerald and I have recently become acquainted on this site, and so it's weird to know that he'll read this review. So let me just get this out of the way: Hi, Michael! I liked your book!
Here's my official review:
Radiant Days is a c...more
Here's my official review:
Radiant Days is a c...more
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5 comments
Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
People who like surprises
I admit it: I thought I knew what the book held in store for me based on the first few pages. Boy was I wrong. Even worse, I made my assumption based on a kneejerk appraisal of the narrator, Anthony, a dot-com era ex-pat in Budapest. But as I continued reading the book kept getting darker and darker and the protagonist's behavior kept diverging from what I expected him to do. At one point I was so startled I let out a little shout, prompting my wife to ask me what was the matter. I didn't have a...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Ian by:
Michael Fitzgeraldrecommends it for: Grown ups
I read this book on the recommendation of the author after I expressed a great liking for the French author Michel Houellebecq on this site.
I thoroughly enjoyed the read and rattled through it in a few days. It paints a bleak picture of the modern human condition and the direction western society appears to be taking. The characters are engaging for all their faults and the I liked the setting of Budapest and Croatia (just after the war of the mid 90s). The author paints a wonderful contrast...more
I thoroughly enjoyed the read and rattled through it in a few days. It paints a bleak picture of the modern human condition and the direction western society appears to be taking. The characters are engaging for all their faults and the I liked the setting of Budapest and Croatia (just after the war of the mid 90s). The author paints a wonderful contrast...more
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Radiant Days is a novel about a footloose American who follows a beautiful and somewhat tricky Hungarian woman to Budapest and then into the Maelstrom of the Bosnian war. For me it reads like a literary spy novel, with fast, sturdy writing and zero pretention. It’s a real piece of work and deserved to be published. I liked the funny sharpened dialogue and interesting observations about people and ex-pats. It seemed in the 90s that everybody (including me) wanted to run away from America full t...more
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Read in August, 2007
Radiant Days is thick with detail, angst, desperation, ennui, and culture shock. The story is set in post-soviet Budapest where expats live cheaply and spout philosophy and political theory without doing much else. Our hero accompanies a Gisela to Hungary and finds he might be there under false pretenses. As the lies and truth are revealed they don't seem to mean much to Anthony - he is interested only in his modest goals of appearing cool and screwing Gisela. The story moves to the Balkans (d...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
expat travelers, frat boys
If you grew up on the fiction of Fitzgerald and Hemingway, this book should appeal to you. It's obsessed with glamor and the fast-life, like Fitzgerald's work, and takes the reader into a foreign war zone, like Hemingway's. But while its roots are in the past, the fruit of this novel are in the present day. (Am I sounding too much like I'm writing for the New York Times Book review? Forgive me.) What I'm trying to say is, the book's premise is rather familiar -- a mysterious and exotic woman lur...more
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Read in April, 2008
I find myself echoing the review of the esteemed Jim Ruland. I thought I knew pretty much how this book would go after a few pages, but it turned into something else again, something really fine. I was particularly impressed with the way FitzGerald took a familiar story (dude following his dick, more or less), moved it into a war zone, and came up with a fine novel that goes a long way toward explaining why people across the world resent Americans abroad. The prose style is lucid, the author tak...more
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Read in January, 2008
Give the kids from "Less than Zero" 10 years & send them to the Balkans. Americas Gen X are clueless, soulless, just wanna get laid & do some drugs. Well, maybe (I think this point has been made a time or two before by Bret Easton Ellis & Douglas Coupland).
This is an ambitious novel & it isn't going to give you the warm fuzzies about America or Americans (esp. abroad). I tired of Anthony probably more quickly than the author would have liked. Of course you are n...more
This is an ambitious novel & it isn't going to give you the warm fuzzies about America or Americans (esp. abroad). I tired of Anthony probably more quickly than the author would have liked. Of course you are n...more
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Read in May, 2008
I see a different side of the book, i.e., about how people emerge from situations and relationships. The protagonist, lacking any strong self identity, is part of this emergence, but I was much more attracted by his observations of others than his own development. Almost every character is morally ambiguous, neither clearly good nor bad. It is only the actions we can judge and the power of the book is to make us recognize the difficulty of actually making such judgments.
The story itself is b...more
The story itself is b...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
ex-pats, studiers abroad, europhiles
Strong book, the first half left me feeling uplifted and energized, while also feeling a bit of regret. I thought my study abroad times were a little rock n' roll. I think I probably should have headed east from Holland to be able to really live it up...I suddenly feel so docile and tame.
After the dark turn "down the rabbit hole" as the cover blurb says, I found myself relating a little less to the characters with each turning page. I think this goes along with the slow unraveling...more
After the dark turn "down the rabbit hole" as the cover blurb says, I found myself relating a little less to the characters with each turning page. I think this goes along with the slow unraveling...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
LA Weekly's Favorite Undernourished Books of 2007:
[link:http://www.laweekly.com/art+bo...]
CCLAP: [link:http://www.cclapcenter.com/200...]
HBC:[link:http://www.hipsterbookclub.com...]
NYTB...more
[link:http://www.laweekly.com/art+bo...]
CCLAP: [link:http://www.cclapcenter.com/200...]
HBC:[link:http://www.hipsterbookclub.com...]
NYTB...more
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4 comments
recommends it for:
anyone
Fitzgerald writes not only with balls but with humor and pathos and grace. This is one of those novels that reminds one of something written from a different era, something a writer hanging out with Henry Miller would write. Don't want to say they don't make these like they used to but I suppose that's accurate. Too many novels these days are soft and formulaic. Radiant Days evolves with a raw flare that lingers. Highly recommended.
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