Dave Russell read and liked Greg's review of A Confederate General from Big Sur:

"I thought maybe I could give this three stars, but then all of my other three star books would be looking at me like I did them wrong. Consider this a high two star book.

If I had read this book when I was 18 and bored as a freshman in ...more I thought maybe I could give this three stars, but then all of my other three star books would be looking at me like I did them wrong. Consider this a high two star book.

If I had read this book when I was 18 and bored as a freshman in college I would have enjoyed it more, I might have thought that something great was being produced here. Now though I don't feel like anything great is being produced, I feel like I'm being forced to sit down and listen to people I used to know talk about things that they don't really know much about. Most of these people were hippie types and burnt out stoners. This whole book has that adolescent, hedonistic / 'i know everything because i get high all the time' thing going on that is so terribly boring.

Every so often there is a line, or a short chapter that is quite good, but then the good is erased by another line of 'quirky' dialog that doesn't seem to go anywhere except to be weird.

I don't know much about Brautigan. So I don't know if this is true, but this feels too much like the beats and their look how cool me and my friends are. Great, I get it, your cool and weird and different, now produce something that has something more to offer than weird and cool.

But am I not taking this into the historical context, where acting like immature alcoholic, stoners with no real regard for the consequences of one actions and having the empathy for others of an overly selfish four year old was something that was 'revolutionary'? Whatever. The characters in this book who are escaping from the square world, or whatever you want to call it are just more representations of that world, corporate greed, the rat race, whatever you want to call it, the emptiness of bourgeois life, name it what you will; it's just the same shit that's being played out here, a 'counter-culture' frat party, the unrestrained pleasure seeking that makes places like Las Vegas ultimate vacation destinations. Applauding and deifying a parasitic style of existence without any responsibility. In other words hippie culture with it's self-congratulatory trappings and delusions.

Does Brautigan get better than this?

(less) "

Dave Russell read and liked Kasia's review of Bel Canto:

"Art, love and a terrorist attack. Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? I, certainly, approve of the juxtaposition - politicians and opera divas entrapped by guerrilla fighters in a villa, in some undefined South American country, getting affected by the S...more Art, love and a terrorist attack. Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? I, certainly, approve of the juxtaposition - politicians and opera divas entrapped by guerrilla fighters in a villa, in some undefined South American country, getting affected by the Stockholm syndrome by minute. Sadly it wasn't what I expected.

The opening sequence is captivating, but from then on, the plot becomes scarce and progresses forward at a speed of a glacier. The usual character build-up gets nowhere. As a result, characters' motives and behaviors remain largely unexplained throughout the novel, making it hard if not impossible to identify with any. And all further attempts at revealing what makes these individuals tick only skim the surface of their emotional life, leaving them seem cartoonish and flat. Consequently when both captors and prisoners have sudden revelations (Prompted by what exactly? Boredom? It's never fully explained...), we're told to trust their words and random declarations of love. Not all that satisfying, to tell you the truth. Shouldn't the author make me care for and believe the characters? Why am I asked to take that leap of faith. It's a lot to ask, if one's not a romantic at heart. But I'm ranting.

Back to Bel Canto. Towards the end the action picks up a little, FINALLY creating a moment of suspense. But even that fails miserably, as the outcome is predictable and delivered too abrupt. To top it all (Oh, why, Ann Tyler, why?!!) you're given a sappy and uninspiring epilogue. Why was this awarded an Orange Prize? I clearly must be missing something...

Looking back, I'm surprised I stuck with this book till the very end. Usually I have no qualms whatsoever about aborting a book. With Bel Canto, I was determined to persevere, to be able to count it towards one of the reading challenges. Bad judgement on my account, could have gone with some other book. (less) "

Dave Russell read and liked Kasia's review of Salem's Lot:

"I find Stephen King repetitive, his characters not all that likable, his endings BAD. But I like silly potboilers featuring vampires. Don't judge me!! I'm an vampire fanatic, and Salem's Lot is one of the undead classics, I was bound to read it. Ok, ...more I find Stephen King repetitive, his characters not all that likable, his endings BAD. But I like silly potboilers featuring vampires. Don't judge me!! I'm an vampire fanatic, and Salem's Lot is one of the undead classics, I was bound to read it. Ok, I was bound to listen to the audiobook, if I were to be precise. Hiking on a trail in Carpathians (same Carpathians that count Dracula had his monstrous castle in), getting soaked to the bone* (oh how I hate the treacherous mountain weather!), with my ankles notoriously sinking in deep mud (you'd be surprised how quickly that ground on that trail can turn into something with the consistence of butter) with 3 hours of marching left, and scared I would soon go crazy** with cold and exhaustion, as a means of distraction from it all, I pulled out my mp3 player and set it to Salem's Lot.

The story did its job splendidly. I was scared shitless and soon nearly forgot about my drenched socks, clingy, heavy with water jeans and the tortured groans of my taciturn travelling companion. I adore the guy but he has no stamina, easily falls into foul moods and makes a wretched conversationalist, so in this case snubbing him out with an audiobook made perfect sense.

The fact that as all King's stories, and this one too, are repetitive in their nature, worked in my favor, that day. Brown puddles of water and wet twines leaping at my face would require my full attention now and again. The reader would continue on with the story while I dealt with the crisis at hand, and once the unpleasantries were over, jump back into the narrative created no problems. The fact that the mp3 player insisted on playing chapters in random order (must have been all the moisture), seemed to be of little consequence as well. It required some awareness and mental straining as the end of one chapter was reached, and an arbitrary other was selected. But in all honesty, not all that much awareness and not that much straining was necessary. Conclusion: sometimes repetition is not that bad.

Funny how despite the wretched weather, or maybe because of it, and because of randomization of Salem's Lot's chapters that hike turned out to be a memorable experience. The drenched socks and wet itchy hair, were making me groan with displeasure. While the beautiful views around me and the evil tirades of bloodthirsty vampires, were wrinkling my brain in a good way. Such a mind-body dissonance is going to be hard to repeat. Shame, because it sure was fun!

_____________________________________________________________
*I did not pack my rainproof coat that morning, BIG mistake.

**There's no documented history of mental disorders in my family, but you never know, especially when you're dealing the constant cold showers intercepted confusingly with brief moments of sunshine.(less) "

Dave Russell read and liked Angie's review of The Little White Trip:

"“Does Anyone Read Anymore?” the signs proclaimed. My friend Brad brought them to my attention, knowing I’m a reader/writer.

We were stranded a second day in LA trying to get home from our month-long India/Thailand study program, and ...more “Does Anyone Read Anymore?” the signs proclaimed. My friend Brad brought them to my attention, knowing I’m a reader/writer.

We were stranded a second day in LA trying to get home from our month-long India/Thailand study program, and spent that second day walking up and down Venice Beach, where Peter Joseph Gallagher caught our attention.

Peter is a really nice guy, which helped in selling his book. He seemed like a cool guy and after a quick read of the back cover and first page, I looked at Brad and pleaded that he buy me the book (since I had been stuck in LA with no money to my name).

I wanted this book to be great, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.

Frankly, I think Peter is a better writer than this book. His writing was spot-on at times, and I really got into the book once I suffered through the first 200 or so pages. Nothing really happens up until then, and unfortunately, the foreshadowing isn’t strong enough to make those first pages seem worthwhile to read.

I liked the characters; they didn’t seem too cliché, but his presentation of them was a little weary. Instead of using the narrator to describe his friends at the beginning of the book, I would have liked to see the characters grow throughout the book, rather than read a couple of paragraphs about what kind of kids they are, and then hear nothing more about them as people.

Another thing I didn’t like was the sporadic “notes” from the narrator to the author (Peter is supposed to be ghostwriting for a real person). They helped create intrigue when you’re first reading the book because they focus on what happens later in the book, but they suddenly drop out after a few chapters. I would have liked to hear a second narrative throughout the entire book, perhaps giving us more information into what the main character was thinking all along. As it stands, the notes seem a bit pointless because they serve no purpose other than a dire attempt to catch and keep the reader’s attention, as well as making the book seem “real.” Also, as an editor, I cannot help but point out that the Comic Sans used for the notes is a horrible choice, and italics would have been much more professional. Or any other font other than Comic Sans!

As for the plot, when I finally got to the climax of the story, I rolled my eyes. True, I didn’t see it coming (then again, I don’t think the foreshadowing was good enough), but suddenly I felt like I was reading a young adult Christopher Pike book. Slim down the first 200 pages and you would essentially have a shocking, Pike-esque novel.

The plot was simply not original enough. For the MTV-viewing crowd, sure, but for someone who is a serious reader and serious reader of the snapper-ending genre (think Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling), it didn’t pack the punch that it should have. The characters do seem to spend an unnecessary amount of time getting drunk and high, which is not to say that kids that age don’t, but from a reader standpoint, there’s no real reason for us to keep seeing it.

The foreshadowing that was done was good, and tied in nicely to the end, but again, the entire book lacks something.

I think Peter is a good author and I hope to see more from him. Unfortunately, this book, for me, was a completely average pseudo-”Scream”-movie novel. An easy, entertaining read, but mostly unoriginal and even boring at times.(less) "