Nathanael West : Novels and Other Writings : The Dream Life of Balso Snell / Miss Lonelyhearts / ...
The library of America is dedicated to publishing America's best and most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritativ...
read full description
reviews
Jan 29, 2012
Tosh
rated it: 
Nathanael West was such an unique American writer. He was totally tuned into the world of European Surrealism, and it shows in his work. But it is also very American - and that was his strength or what made his work so unique, funny and wonderful. I love this man's work.
2 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
May 26, 2011
David
rated it:
I only picked this up to re-read Day of the Locust. West is one of my favorites-- so concise, the perfect choice of word for the mood-- and yet so much is conveyed in so short a space. In addition he is able to build character like no one else, again with just a few words, everything right there just form action and a snippet of dialog.
If you've never read his work, start out with what I think is his best: Locust, (and then take on Miss Lonelyhearts, an equally amazing piece of work- More...
If you've never read his work, start out with what I think is his best: Locust, (and then take on Miss Lonelyhearts, an equally amazing piece of work- More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Apr 11, 2011
Susan
rated it:
Haven't visited West in a while and was drawn to this complete set at John Merrill's. Was introduced to West by my college love many years ago.
"The Dream Life of Balso Snell" differs from the more political and apocalyptic other three. "Snell" is a surrealistic Divine Comedy with no Beatrice waiting in Heaven. Balso descends into the pit of himself, into the Trojan Horse, and meets a host of twisted characters en route in and out. Extraordinarily bitter tale it is.
More...
"The Dream Life of Balso Snell" differs from the more political and apocalyptic other three. "Snell" is a surrealistic Divine Comedy with no Beatrice waiting in Heaven. Balso descends into the pit of himself, into the Trojan Horse, and meets a host of twisted characters en route in and out. Extraordinarily bitter tale it is.
More...
Apr 03, 2010
Frank
rated it: 
More enjoyable than I remember from when I read it ages ago.
Of the four novellas in this, I only read The Day of the Locust this time. It's not entirely my cup of tea: satire with characters who are all of them rather two dimensional on purpose. A pared down style that doesn't really allow for much elegant expression of the dour thoughts West is trying to convey (about society and human unfulfillment). Rather wildly changing perspective (definitely no Jamesian unity of narrative 'ce More...
Of the four novellas in this, I only read The Day of the Locust this time. It's not entirely my cup of tea: satire with characters who are all of them rather two dimensional on purpose. A pared down style that doesn't really allow for much elegant expression of the dour thoughts West is trying to convey (about society and human unfulfillment). Rather wildly changing perspective (definitely no Jamesian unity of narrative 'ce More...
Nov 30, 2008
Karen
rated it: 
I'd never read any Nathanael West (who wrote primarily in the 1930s) so I tried Day of the Locust. Why did I choose that particular novel? Because one of the characters is named Homer Simpson, of course. (In fact, Matt Groening, creator of the TV show The Simpsons, named his cartoon father after the book character. They're both rather dull-witted, but West's Simpson lacks the belligerence, cheating tendencies, fondness of alcohol and humor of his animated namesake.)
The story takes pl More...
The story takes pl More...
Sep 14, 2011
Darran
rated it:
I have had the collected novels of Nathanael West on my shelf for years and I finally thought I would treat myself and read it. It wasn't worth the wait. I was under the impression that he was one of the great, under-appreciated cult writers deserving of a place in the pantheon besides his contemporaries such as Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, Faulkner and Dos Passos. In fact he is a decidedly minor writer. Balso Snell and a Cool Million are not worth anyone's time. Miss Lonelyhearts is a brisk, bleak,
More...
Oct 02, 2009
S.D.
rated it: 
The novels of Nathaniel West revel in a moral fascination with the corrosive and corrupting influence of American decadence, as seen through the grotesque looking glass of mid-20th Century Los Angeles, that until the arrival of James Ellroy’s “L.A. Quartet” had few to equal their copasetic blend of style and theme. Like Ellroy, West fixates on the failure of myth – but West is predominately a satirist, and where Ellroy hammers out bleak epics like a pugnacious middleweight, West spars like a sp
More...
Aug 09, 2009
Zack
rated it:
Nathanael West is one of my favorite authors. Please read part of an article I wrote about him here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-8359-...
Oct 14, 2009
Elliott
rated it:
This is from the Wikipedia entry for "The Dream Life of Balso Snell": "a young man's immature and cynical search for meaning in a series of dreamlike encounters inside the entrails of the Trojan Horse." Yeah, you read that right. It mixes erotic and scatological references with religious and literary allusions. Entertaining but weird. "Miss Lonelyhearts" exhibits the same brutal honesty and desperate compassion as West's "The Day of the Locust" but it'
More...
Jun 28, 2011
Aaron
rated it:
This book has pretty much everything West wrote. A fantastic collection. He was such a great writer it's hard to believe he couldn't breakthrough during his life.
Sep 01, 2008
Bob
rated it:
By far one of the shortest books on the top 100 list (148 pages). Each of the 27 chapters were really little vignettes that were loosely connected to one another...the connection being how the main character (Tod Hackett) is going to get Fay Greener (Want-to-be actress) in bed. Throw in a dwarf, a cowboy, other random hollywood types and Homer Simpson (Could this be where the name really came from?) and you have a pretty funny book that was very descriptive and well written.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 11, 2010
Mary
rated it:
I really only read Miss Lonelyhearts, The Day of the Locust and his sad, pleading missives to F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Jan 20, 2008
Eric
rated it:
"Day of the Locust" is one of my top three favorite books of all-time. Too bad I lent it to some girl who will never give it back to me. Never seen the movie, either.
Aug 13, 2009
Lane
rated it:
currently reading the epistles and fragments that make up the last half of this wonderful anthology.
Feb 13, 2012
Feb 10, 2012
Feb 08, 2012
Feb 02, 2012
Jan 29, 2012
Jan 17, 2012
Jan 13, 2012
Jan 04, 2012
Dec 12, 2011
