Radiant Days

by Michael A. FitzGerald (Goodreads author)

book data

86 ratings, 4.00 average rating, 35 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		39%
4		32%
3		18%
2		6%
1		2%

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published

2007 by Counterpoint

binding

Paperback, 256 pages

url

http://www.radiantdays.com

setting

Croatia

isbn

1593761317 (isbn13: 9781593761318)

description

Radiant Days, FitzGerald's debut, follows the dissolving love triangle of a hapless American, a beautiful Hungarian junkie, and a young British journa...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 256)

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07/28/07

Jason Pettus rated it:

Read in July, 2007

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

You know what really bugs me about arts publications sometimes? I'll tell you what really bugs me about arts publications sometimes; that after that one time they'll give some great, thoughtful, wonderful, exciting recommendation to a book or movie or whatever, they never have the excuse t...more (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

You know what really bugs me about arts publications sometimes? I'll tell you what really bugs me about arts publications sometimes; that after that one time they'll give some great, thoughtful, wonderful, exciting recommendation to a book or movie or whatever, they never have the excuse to go back and ever revisit that project again, to maybe look one more time at why it's so great and maybe drum up a little more publicity for it as well. This is such an important thing in the underground arts in particular, after all, precisely because there is so little money available for traditional advertising; sales among basement presses rely an unusually high amount on simple word-of-mouth, and that word-of-mouth many times starts precisely at websites like CCLaP, where I will sometimes post a review that gets a bunch of people all talking (and purchasing) at once.

I was just thinking about the subject last evening, in fact; I was reviewing some old essays here at CCLaP (but more on that in a bit), came across one and was reminded of a book from last year that was such an unexpected treat to come across, Michael FitzGerald's sadly overlooked gem of a generation-definer Radiant Days, originally coming to my attention simply because Michael's a CCLaP reader, and one of the first to take me up on my liberal review policy here. Michael's book arrived at my place with almost no fanfare last summer, soon after opening CCLaP to begin with; and right off the bat, it simply blew me away, becoming one of only two of the 50 contemporary books I reviewed last year to get a perfect score of 10. (And the other one was the Pulitzer-winning The Road by Cormac McCarthy, so you know I'm not f-cking around.)

You'll of course want to read my original review of the book at a certain point, either right now or after you finish today's essay, to understand in detail why I liked the book so much to begin with, why it's such an astounding statement about my entire generation and these entire times. But here's maybe the more interesting question -- what's happened since that review? Well, for one, Michael and I have become occasional correspondents; we're around the same age, after all, share a lot of the same experiences and attitudes, so of course enjoy talking with each other every so often. One of the things he told me, in fact, about what he liked the most about CCLaP's review, was how I found it both a "big" story and a "little" one, of how impressed I was that he could tell the individual stories of these unique characters but also tell the tale of an entire generation. According to what he was telling me, this exact kind of thing is mostly frowned on by a lot of people in the academic community, the exact delicate award-winning MFA holders with no senses of humor who I just don't like very much in general (there, I said it); I guess it's poo-pooed among a lot of that crowd to strive for something as large and vast as a generation-defining tale, to want to write a story that's not only delicate and character-oriented but also tries to tell something grand too.

And how funny that that community should think that, I realize now; because the essay at CCLaP I had been reading over last night had in fact been for F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, one of the first books I ever reviewed for the ongoing "CCLaP 100" series of essays about supposed classics. (I recently received a very nice email from a CCLaP reader about it, which is why I was checking it out for the first time in months and months.) And I realized last night, that even with Gatsby I had essentially argued the same thing that I had with Radiant Days six months previous; that both books tell not just interesting small tales about some unique, fascinating characters, but also give us a big clue of what those entire times were like, of how that generation of youth saw themselves, of what things going on in that time were influencing them the most.

And, I mean, c'mon -- Gatsby is one of the most read and well-loved novels of all time now! It's the literal book that coined the phrase "Great American Novel!" SHEESH! In fact, the more book reviews I write here, the more I'm realizing that all the best books throughout history all share this trait that is apparently so frowned-upon by a certain part of the academic community; all of these authors end up telling a tale bigger than themselves, in most cases precisely by not trying to write a grand tale at all, but simply wanting to be as universally understood as possible. As I mentioned in my original review, but maybe not as precisely, that's really the key to Radiant Days being so astounding; that exactly because FitzGerald keeps the storyline itself reigned in, because he keeps such a close eye on character like his mentors had been teaching him, he ends up with a sweeping, generation-defining tale like he does. What a sneaky lesson about the arts, huh? That those who yearn too much to tell a Grand Story will usually fail at it, precisely because they want it too much?

I was thinking about all of this last night, and I was thinking, "Geez, too bad I don't have an excuse to just get on the CCLaP website tomorrow and talk all over again about this remarkable novel, and how even though it's a year later you should still all be checking it out." And then I realized -- wait a minute. I own CCLaP. I can do whatever the hell I want. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! And since I had so much fun doing so today, I thought maybe I'd just turn it into a semi-regular feature, where every so often I look back again on a book that's a couple of years old, but that still needs your attention and support, that will still provide you with a phenomenal reading experience. Radiant Days is definitely such a book, and I hope all of you who have never heard of it will have a chance to check it out soon.(less)

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

3 comments

06/27/07

Jim rated it:

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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1 comment

02/24/08

J.D. Riso rated it:

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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09/23/07

Mark rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

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 h...more

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08/04/07

Stephan rated it:

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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05/09/08

Olga rated it:

Read in March, 2008

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 e...more

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11/05/07

Bart rated it:

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 l...more

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07/10/07

Patti rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

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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02/25/08

Ian rated it:

Read in March, 2008

recommended to Ian by: Michael Fitzgerald
recommends 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 ...more

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12/11/07

Rusty rated it:

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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07/16/07

Shauna rated it:

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....more

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11/26/07

Ben rated it:

I have been trying to think about the best way to express my great affection for Radiant Days by Michael FitzGerald, but it all seems cliche. You know the story in so many ways, its a coming of age tale, a road trip and a love story, rife with drugs and sex, a debut novel done as males tend to do them, and yet it's so rich and audacious, painful and fresh, such a page-turner, that none of that matters. Its more like a reboot or a reinvention, but here's the thing, it also has substance and depth...more

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10/21/07

Craig rated it:

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 un...more

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1 comment

07/15/07

John rated it:

bookshelves: mylibrary

Fitzgerald infuses the complexities of a wonderlust world with a radiant prose style. Full of wisdom and conscience—and exacting of the all too endemic contemporary compromise.

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01/02/08

Edan rated it:

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:

Rad...more

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4 comments

04/14/08

Xujun Eberlein rated it:

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 its...more

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2 comments

08/31/07

Christina rated it:

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: anyone

I really enjoyed this book. Although the main character wasn't someone I'd want to hang out with in real life, I enjoyed reading about what happened to him. The book also paints a fairly true-to-life picture of expat communities, in my opinion.

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04/12/08

Jeff rated it:

bookshelves: 2008

Read in June, 2008

I can't write an intelligent review of the book right now, because I just finished it, it's late, and I know the author himself might see it.

Michael, I really enjoyed reading your book. Thanks.

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07/17/07

Josh marked it as to-read

bookshelves: to-read

This guy friended me to get me to notice his book and it worked, it looks really interesting.

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

06/17/09

Chris La Tray rated it:

bookshelves: 2009

A book at times hilarious and disturbing; I loved it and hated it at the same time, which is a good thing. It hit many raw nerves from events that have occurred in my own life. Few of the characters are particularly likable, with the exception perhaps of the English journalist . . . but even he is kind of a dick. Not for people who like things happy and tidy at the end either, but if you want good writing about people like some you have probably known (unless you've lived some kind of bullshit l...more

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