Daniel's review
All the Sad Young Literary Men
by Keith Gessen
Daniel's review
All the Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen
Daniel's review
rating:
bookshelves:
literary-novelists
recommended for: the vacuous
At no point does the writing in this novel ascend to the level of literary. In fact, it is written in the tiresome, lazy style that plagues so many would-be novelists that of having their prose read as cinematic episodes as though we want literature that read like an HBO program.
Look, there is no theme here that isn't just as trite as the prose itself (seriously, these are terrible sentences). There is no metaphor. There is no allusion only ham-fisted topical references meant to help us realize the time period. There is nothing literary about this novel and unfortunately because it doesnt fall into the tropes of genre fiction it is a failure and worthless read.
Look, there is no theme here that isn't just as trite as the prose itself (seriously, these are terrible sentences). There is no metaphor. There is no allusion only ham-fisted topical references meant to help us realize the time period. There is nothing literary about this novel and unfortunately because it doesnt fall into the tropes of genre fiction it is a failure and worthless read.
