Barry Stewart Levy's Blog, page 9
June 29, 2018
Book Review #87
You Will Know Me
by Megan Abbott
"You Will Know Me" (a very good title, by the way, for a not very good book that I increasingly grew to dislike) is a kind of cross between "I, Tonya" and "The Bad Seed." Eric and Katie are the parents of Devon, a teenage girl upon whose shoulders lie the hopes and dreams, not only of her family and herself but apparently the entire town. Their wish is that she will rise to the status of an Olympian gymnast. Devon is as driven as everyone around her. Virtually all the parents, including her own, are willing to sacrifice everything, money, morals, the truth, to achieve success for "our Devon." To almost everyone Devon is a stranger. "Nearly sixteen. Fearless. Extraordinary. Like no one else. Only like herself. Whoever that was." Katie, too, is a stranger (or estranged) within her own household. She no longer recognizes her daughter or her husband. No one is who they seem. The entire town is riddled with secrets and lies.
I realize that I am making this novel sound a lot better than it is. Yes, it is highly readable and suspenseful and stuffed with enough red herrings to fill a fish market. But it is also peopled with ugly and unpleasant characters lacking any semblance of morality whose sole purpose in life is driven by ambition. There are also nightmarish words and phrases that jump out at you like cheap shock effects in a horror movie.
Abbott keeps you guessing while creating an undercurrent of desire and dread throughout. But the ending, which should have culminated in a sinister and cynical conclusion, is a complete cop-out.
Devon lies to her parents about what really happened to Ryan, her secret paramour, that fateful night on Ash Road. Eric and Katie and others cover her tracks and shield her from the prying eyes of the police. But how much more powerful would this ending have been if everyone had continued protecting Devon, knowing that she had not been involved in a tragic accident but rather had committed a coldblooded murder? Also, the final sentences of the book are as flat and anticlimatic and disappointing as those that end that other acclaimed thriller "Gone Girl."
by Megan Abbott
"You Will Know Me" (a very good title, by the way, for a not very good book that I increasingly grew to dislike) is a kind of cross between "I, Tonya" and "The Bad Seed." Eric and Katie are the parents of Devon, a teenage girl upon whose shoulders lie the hopes and dreams, not only of her family and herself but apparently the entire town. Their wish is that she will rise to the status of an Olympian gymnast. Devon is as driven as everyone around her. Virtually all the parents, including her own, are willing to sacrifice everything, money, morals, the truth, to achieve success for "our Devon." To almost everyone Devon is a stranger. "Nearly sixteen. Fearless. Extraordinary. Like no one else. Only like herself. Whoever that was." Katie, too, is a stranger (or estranged) within her own household. She no longer recognizes her daughter or her husband. No one is who they seem. The entire town is riddled with secrets and lies.
I realize that I am making this novel sound a lot better than it is. Yes, it is highly readable and suspenseful and stuffed with enough red herrings to fill a fish market. But it is also peopled with ugly and unpleasant characters lacking any semblance of morality whose sole purpose in life is driven by ambition. There are also nightmarish words and phrases that jump out at you like cheap shock effects in a horror movie.
Abbott keeps you guessing while creating an undercurrent of desire and dread throughout. But the ending, which should have culminated in a sinister and cynical conclusion, is a complete cop-out.
Devon lies to her parents about what really happened to Ryan, her secret paramour, that fateful night on Ash Road. Eric and Katie and others cover her tracks and shield her from the prying eyes of the police. But how much more powerful would this ending have been if everyone had continued protecting Devon, knowing that she had not been involved in a tragic accident but rather had committed a coldblooded murder? Also, the final sentences of the book are as flat and anticlimatic and disappointing as those that end that other acclaimed thriller "Gone Girl."
Book Review #86
yes I said yes I will Yes: A Celebration of James Joyce, Ulysses, and 100 Years of Bloomsday
by Nola Tully (editor)
Appropriately enough, I began reading this book on June 16, Bloomsday, in anticipation of that night's annual festivities at Symphony Space, where actors would read aloud passages from Joyce's "Ulysses" and musicians would play Irish melodies. Frank McCourt, who wrote the book's Forward and "Angela's Ashes," and Isaiah Sheffer, who wrote the Introduction and who had been instrumental in creating "Bloomsday on Broadway" at Symphony Space, have since passed on.
On the evening that I attended the celebration at Symphony Space, Frank McCourt's brother Malachy, seated in his wheelchair, turned in a lively, spirited set of performances, imbuing each role with characteristic Joycean bravado and gusto.
And as for the book in question, editor Nola Tully manages to cover a great deal of ground in less than 150 pages with both intelligence and humor on such subjects as censorship, scholarship, typography, history and biography, while honoring James Joyce's massive literary achievement and
Bloomsday as it is celebrated every June 16 around the world.
by Nola Tully (editor)
Appropriately enough, I began reading this book on June 16, Bloomsday, in anticipation of that night's annual festivities at Symphony Space, where actors would read aloud passages from Joyce's "Ulysses" and musicians would play Irish melodies. Frank McCourt, who wrote the book's Forward and "Angela's Ashes," and Isaiah Sheffer, who wrote the Introduction and who had been instrumental in creating "Bloomsday on Broadway" at Symphony Space, have since passed on.
On the evening that I attended the celebration at Symphony Space, Frank McCourt's brother Malachy, seated in his wheelchair, turned in a lively, spirited set of performances, imbuing each role with characteristic Joycean bravado and gusto.
And as for the book in question, editor Nola Tully manages to cover a great deal of ground in less than 150 pages with both intelligence and humor on such subjects as censorship, scholarship, typography, history and biography, while honoring James Joyce's massive literary achievement and
Bloomsday as it is celebrated every June 16 around the world.
Book Review #85
A Year in the Merde
by Stephen Clarke
Considering the title, I did not expect to like this novel/memoir of a Brit's year in Paris. But even though I winced at each reference to merde, bodily functions and other "stuff," this turned out to be a funny, sexy, satirical and romantic romp of a read.
by Stephen Clarke
Considering the title, I did not expect to like this novel/memoir of a Brit's year in Paris. But even though I winced at each reference to merde, bodily functions and other "stuff," this turned out to be a funny, sexy, satirical and romantic romp of a read.
Book Review #84
You Deserve Nothing
by Alexander Maksik
It's a good book, very well written with some beautifully composed scenes. And as a former English teacher, I very much appreciated the literary and philosophical classroom discussions. However, I wish the novel had been less leisurely paced and had greater momentum, driving the story to its bitterly ironic and melancholy conclusion.
by Alexander Maksik
It's a good book, very well written with some beautifully composed scenes. And as a former English teacher, I very much appreciated the literary and philosophical classroom discussions. However, I wish the novel had been less leisurely paced and had greater momentum, driving the story to its bitterly ironic and melancholy conclusion.
Book Review #83
The Wraith
by Goodloe Byron
I met Goodloe Byron two years ago at the Brooklyn Book Festival where he handed me two of his books, "Revisions Of" and "The Wraith," for free. He has written five or six books and has been traveling throughout the United States, giving away thousands of copies of his novels. Good for him! He wants his books read, and they are being read.
I liked "Revisions Of" and gave it three stars. "The Wraith" is an even better book, extremely funny, suspenseful, touching and ultimately unsettling due to its puzzling, inconclusive, and tragic finale.
Well done, Goodloe, wherever you are! Keep writing and keep sharing...
by Goodloe Byron
I met Goodloe Byron two years ago at the Brooklyn Book Festival where he handed me two of his books, "Revisions Of" and "The Wraith," for free. He has written five or six books and has been traveling throughout the United States, giving away thousands of copies of his novels. Good for him! He wants his books read, and they are being read.
I liked "Revisions Of" and gave it three stars. "The Wraith" is an even better book, extremely funny, suspenseful, touching and ultimately unsettling due to its puzzling, inconclusive, and tragic finale.
Well done, Goodloe, wherever you are! Keep writing and keep sharing...
Book Review #82
The Woman Who Wouldn't Shake Hands
by Chocolate Waters
Full disclosure: I know Chocolate Waters. She has hosted readings where I have read from my novella and where she has read her poetry. We reciprocated, buying each other's books. And now that I have finally gotten around to reading hers, I can say in all honesty that it's a really good read. As I read her poems, I could hear the sound and rhythm of her voice. There is humor, irony, sarcasm, anger, pain, regret, sadness, fear, frustration, love and desire within this slim paperback book. Trust me. There's good stuff here.
by Chocolate Waters
Full disclosure: I know Chocolate Waters. She has hosted readings where I have read from my novella and where she has read her poetry. We reciprocated, buying each other's books. And now that I have finally gotten around to reading hers, I can say in all honesty that it's a really good read. As I read her poems, I could hear the sound and rhythm of her voice. There is humor, irony, sarcasm, anger, pain, regret, sadness, fear, frustration, love and desire within this slim paperback book. Trust me. There's good stuff here.
Book Review #81
What the Night Knows
by Dean Koontz
Highly readable and tough to put down. But Koontz does tend to go on and digress, using one purple prose metaphor after another. Also, the ending, which could have been devastating had Koontz not copped out, is muddled and rushed. While I understand that this is horror/fantasy, some things made no sense: the ghost dog, the Lego contraption, time travel, etc.
By the way, the novella, "Darkness Under the Sun," which is included in the mass market edition and which features the same villain, is even better and much, much shorter." I would rate it 3 and a half stars.
by Dean Koontz
Highly readable and tough to put down. But Koontz does tend to go on and digress, using one purple prose metaphor after another. Also, the ending, which could have been devastating had Koontz not copped out, is muddled and rushed. While I understand that this is horror/fantasy, some things made no sense: the ghost dog, the Lego contraption, time travel, etc.
By the way, the novella, "Darkness Under the Sun," which is included in the mass market edition and which features the same villain, is even better and much, much shorter." I would rate it 3 and a half stars.
June 27, 2018
Book Review #80
Watership Down
Richard Adams
No wonder it's called a classic. This is one of the most exciting, suspenseful and humane novels I have ever read. And obviously one of the best.
Richard Adams
No wonder it's called a classic. This is one of the most exciting, suspenseful and humane novels I have ever read. And obviously one of the best.
Book Review #79
Watchers
by Dean Koontz
This is - as far as I and his zillions of fans would say - his best book! He was in "the zone" when he wrote this one.
by Dean Koontz
This is - as far as I and his zillions of fans would say - his best book! He was in "the zone" when he wrote this one.
Book Review #78
The Unnamed
by Joshua Ferris
Frankly, I did not enjoy reading this book, despite it being well written. I found the subject matter (illness, obesity, a failing marriage) unpleasant and depressing. However, the final segment, and, in particular, the last page, were very affecting.
by Joshua Ferris
Frankly, I did not enjoy reading this book, despite it being well written. I found the subject matter (illness, obesity, a failing marriage) unpleasant and depressing. However, the final segment, and, in particular, the last page, were very affecting.
