by George: A Novel

by Wesley Stace

book data

106 ratings, 3.68 average rating, 34 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		18%
4		44%
3		26%
2		7%
1		2%

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published

August 22nd 2007 by Little, Brown and Company

binding

Hardcover, 384 pages

isbn

0316830321 (isbn13: 9780316830324)

description

In the illustrious history of the theatrical Fishers, there are two Georges. One is a peculiar but endearing 11-year-old, raised in the seedy world of...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 257)

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11/12/08

QuiGenusHumanumIngenioSuperavit rated it:

(review of isbn 0099516152)

bookshelves: dont-worry-be-happy, i-m-lovin--it

Read in January, 2008

Seperti inilah bagaimana seharusnya sebuah cerita ditulis. Sebuah contoh nyata dari keapikan berkisah dan keluwesan pengarang untuk merasakan pahit getirnya penderitaan.

Cerita yang bersahaja jika diramu dengan kejeniusan pengarang dan kepiawaian bertutur kata, maka semuanya nyaris menjadi kisah yang sempurna.-- Mirip lagunya So7-- :D

Semula saya mengira bahwa buku ni adalah kisah misteri detektif (si penerbit mencantumkan kata 'genre misteri'). Yah, meski gak sepenuhnya sa...more

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30 comments

01/21/08

Jason Pettus rated it:

Read in January, 2008

(My full review of this book is much longer than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:].)

Within long-form fiction, there is a particular thing that I happen to really love, something maybe a little difficult to explain but that I bet a lot of CCLaP's readers enjoy too; and that's when an author will pick a seemingly quirky topic, something that doesn't appear at first could be tied to a number o...more (My full review of this book is much longer than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:].)

Within long-form fiction, there is a particular thing that I happen to really love, something maybe a little difficult to explain but that I bet a lot of CCLaP's readers enjoy too; and that's when an author will pick a seemingly quirky topic, something that doesn't appear at first could be tied to a number of different periods of history, and then proceed to precisely tie the topic to a number of different periods of history, accidentally telling a Grand Story about society in general while along the road of the Quirky Story you originally thought they were going to tell. Maybe the best (or at least most well-known) example I can think of is Alan Moore's 1985 comic series Watchmen; the way he takes a supposedly niche subject like masked superheroes and instead tells a sprawling saga that lasts from the 1930s to the 1980s, showing how in fact each of the generations in those decades has had their own unique way of looking at the so-called "niche," which in turn says something unique about each of those generations and each of those time periods as well. The reason people go so nuts over Watchmen is not for the surface-level action-based plot of the story's latest generation of characters (although it is awfully inventive and entertaining, don't get me wrong); it's because Moore paints such a deep and incisive portrait of America itself through the various past generations of superheroes in his fictional world, tying together their similarities and differences into one giant uber-plot-engine that propels the story along as explosively as it does.

And hence do we come to by George, the second and latest novel by celebrated author Wesley Stace (Misfortune), who for those who don't know has already had an entire other celebrated artistic life as a musician under his stage name John Wesley Harding. (A cross-media genius; ah, how I do love featuring people like that here at CCLaP!) It is one of these stories like I'm talking about, in this case focusing on the topic of ventriloquism; a story you're led at first into thinking is going to be a quirky "indie-lit" one about an individual strange child, but then elegantly expands into a grand saga over the course of its plot, eventually reaching back into the footlights world of the Victorian Age itself. It's a book that holds untold complexities, a plot filled with sly cross-references that only slowly reveal themselves, an infinitely smart thriller which doubles as a deep character study which then doubles as a historical drama; a book I'm eternally grateful now that I picked up, in that this was yet another in a recent string of completely random novels I've recently checked out from my friendly neighborhood library, done for no other reason than because of simply liking the cover art (and in this case, the music of John Wesley Harding as well).

And indeed, this is probably the best place to start; that unlike someone like, say, Ethan Hawke (whose books in my humble opinion mostly get unfairly maligned, but that's a whole other essay), Stace is a cross-media artist who doesn't stick out as one, who doesn't need excuses from his fans like, "Yeah, but you should hear him sing!" In fact...(less)

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12/01/07

Karetchko marked it as to-read

bookshelves: to-read

I've started reading this book and have liked it so far, but something has been holding me back from putting it on the top of my reading list. I finally figured it out the other day: I bought this book at a great book-and-music event at Fearrington Village in NC, and now what I really want is for Wes (the author) to read the book to me. No, I don't want an audiobook version...I want Wes in my house, sitting next to me, reading it to me, maybe with the dummy there too.

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10/20/08

Christopher rated it:

Read in October, 2008

The best book I have read all year - in a year of great books.

Better than Hanif Kureshi and Something to Tell You. Better than Edwyn St Aubyn's Some Hope. I fell in love with this book - in fact, I fell in love with the characters in this book and genuinely did not want it to end.

Stace does not redefine English literature with this novel. It's subject matter, dealing with an eccentric family at the wrong end of English Show Business in the tacky and amateur period of m...more

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01/18/08

Jeanne rated it:

Read in February, 2008

This is the story of two boys named George.

The first George is an eleven-year-old schoolboy named George Fisher. He is the son of actress Frankie Fisher, grandson of ventriloquist Joe Fisher, and great-grandson of Echo Endor, ventriloquiste extraordinaire.

The second George is also named George Fisher. He is Joe Fisher's dummy. He is also a schoolboy, as that is the style of the dummies produced during that time period.

Together, the Georges will tell the ...more

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09/10/08

Cheryl rated it:

Read in September, 2008

What do you do when you discover that there’s someone else out there with the same name as you? In this charming story about two Georges, you will find out. First there is George, a ventriloquist dummy and than there is George an eleven-year old boy. This story is really told and narrated by George, the puppet as told by his memoirs that he experienced as a dummy and all the travels and people he meets along the way.

I thought it was refreshing as well as unique to see everything t...more

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05/08/09

Chris Desmottes rated it:

Read in May, 2009

I really tried hard to stick with this one. I loved the premise, a story told from a ventriloquist dummy from the 20's and a young boy from the 70's. The dummy belonged to the boy's grandfather and he finds a book describing his grandfather's life. But it got really tedious and I couldn't get through it.

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03/05/09

Alex V. Cook added it

bookshelves: didn-t-finish-it

Read in March, 2009

I have always been and continue to be fond of Wesley Stace's records under the John Wesley Harding moniker, but much as I wanted to, could not find a foothold on this somewhat confusing story about the duplicity of being told through a ventriloquist dummy and boy with the same name.

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06/24/09

Julie rated it:

(review of isbn 0316018686)

A great tale weaving generations of a family together through the eyes of a young boy and a ventriloquist's dummy. Love the way this story unfolded. An excellent read.

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12/31/08

corrie is currently reading it

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in December, 2008

I love it! I probably never would have picked up a book about a ventriloquist and a show business family, but it's been a great Christmas read!

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11/20/08

Rebecca rated it:

bookshelves: gave-up-

Read in November, 2008

The biggest problem with library books is when they don't hold my attention and need to be returned before I've been able to plow through them - I'm a big fan of John Wesley Harding, well, a fan anyway - as a musician, but as a writer I just got bored and gave it back to the stacks...

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04/02/09

Nicole rated it:

Read in March, 2009

NoBSBookReviews

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10/22/07

Jennifer rated it:

Read in March, 2008

recommended to Jennifer by: Powell's Daily Dose & Julie
recommends it for: anyone who likes to read about dysfunctional but funny families

I enjoyed this novel about two Georges--one a young boy sent off to boarding school for the first time and the other a ventriloquist's dummy. The novel alternates between these two narrators--we hear how George, the dummy, came to be and came to be involved with Joe Fisher (George the boy's grandfather)--and we hear about the other's George's disasterous experiences at the Upside School for Boys. The connections between these two Georges becomes more complex and more interesting as the novel c...more

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3 comments

03/01/09

Ronda rated it:

Warning do not read this book if you suffer from automatonophobia!!

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02/07/09

Mary rated it:

Read in February, 2009

By George, this took me a long time to read. It was worth it though. Falls into my something different category. Not sure where my reading may go from here, but thats the fun of it

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12/17/08

Cathy rated it:

Story told from the point of view of a young boy and of a ventriloquist's dummy. Couldn't see the appeal of it, and had a devil of a time keeping the characters straight. Didn't bother to finish it, although my book club is reading it this month, so I will be interested to see what other people thought of the book.

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1 comment

10/22/07

Julie rated it:

Read in November, 2007

Wesley Stace (a.k.a. John Wesley Harding) is a very good storyteller. He tells his story with two voices: George, a ventriloquist’s boy in the 1930s and 40s, and George, his namesake who has grown up in a family of showbiz royalty that is now on the wane. The descriptions of their vaudeville careers emphasize the sweat behind the glamorous façade; this dichotomy turns out to be a theme for George (the real boy), since many things are not what they first seem.

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01/14/08

Eli rated it:

Read in January, 2008

Very different from Stace's rollicking first novel Misfortune (which is one of my very favoritest recent works), but very good. I wasn't sure about reading it because ventriloquist dummies have always given me the creeps, but, well... you don't have to see one at all, and you forget about that aspect of it. Really interesting insight into the shift from vaudeville to mid/late 20th century show business via the lives of a family of entertainers.

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09/20/08

Amy rated it:

Read in November, 2008

recommended to Amy by: book club selection

I found this book very hard to get into. It didn't pull me in the way books normally go, and I would find myself going days at a time without reading a page (which is unusual for me). However I was determined to finish it and with about 100 pages to go the story seemed to pick up for me. I really enjoyed the last portion of the book and the ending held a twist that I really enjoyed.

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02/01/08

Emilyrs rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in January, 2008

Even though this book book deals with one of my least favorite things--ventriloquists and dummies--I could not put it down. You'd think that with chapters narrated in the voice of a dummy, I would not even pick this book up, but nope. I've checked it out twice! I just had to know what happened to George and the multi-generational family of British performers connected to him.

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