Book Review: And Sons

And Sons: A Novel by David Gilbert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A good book, if not perhaps the work of genius that all the quotes on the cover want you to believe it is. It's the story of a famous literary author (ala J.D. Salinger) and his sons--both real and psuedo--and the relationship between them. When it comes to privileged white celebrity fathers and the effects they have on their sons (angst, self-destruction, never measuring up to a father who was mostly emotionally absent), there's really not much new here. What elevates this book from the morass of pretty classic father-son dynamics is 1)the prose, which is really fantastic (with at times a bit too much gamemanship) and 2) the characterizations, which are first rate. Each of the characters is sharply defined, and each feels very true and real. They are interesting enough that I sped through the first half of the book, unable to put it down.

Gilbert adds a rather fantastical element about halfway through, which only partly works. While I admire the effort--and it WAS different and interesting--the book never really regains traction afterwards. The narrator, while an interesting character in his own right, feels under-utilized, and at times one feels the strain the writer must undergo to get the narrator where he needs to be. The end result is that--for me--the book never really had the emotional impact I wanted it to have, or that I felt it could have had. But again ... it was entertaining, never boring or slow, well-written, and I admired how well Gilbert brings his characters to life. Well worth reading.



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