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Ahora lo veréis
Nadie en Monarch imaginaba que Rob Castor acabara como acabo: suicidándose tras asesinar a su novia. Y menos que nadie, Nick Framingham, su mejor amigo de la infancia. Pasada la conmocion inicial, superado el interes de los medios de comunicacion por un suceso con mucha carnaza sexo, literatura y muerte , el pueblo vuelve a su rutina. No asi Nick, que se empena en entender que llevo a su amigo a tal desenlace. Y de este modo, rastreando las ultimas semanas de vida de Rob, pero tambien su infancia y juventud compartidas, acaba reevaluando su propia vida, su matrimonio en crisis, su desapego a cuanto le rodea, su dependencia de Rob, y se adentra en un cenagoso pasado que oculta secretos familiares cuyas consecuencias todavia supuran, hasta que las piezas sueltas encajan en un final inesperado.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 166 reviews
November 29, 2013
Nick Framingham is coping, albeit poorly, with the loss of his best friend, Rob Castor, a writer of some repute whose devil-may-care attitude the more introverted Nick envied throughout their childhood. We know from the beginning that Rob killed his girlfriend and then himself, leading to a media firestorm that elevates his fame following his final hours and makes his small hometown the center of national attention. What we don't know is why Nick, months later, is refusing to move on and instead is willingly swallowed by the black hole of grief. And we're not the only ones: his wife doesn't understand, his colleagues don't understand, his friends don't understand. But Nick is at risk of losing much more, including his career, his wife, and his children if he doesn't make peace with the past and a friend who seemed self-centered and charmless at his best.
Yawn.
Now You See Him is not what I expected. I thought I was getting a taut literary thriller full of suspense (because that's what the blurb blatantly led me to believe) and instead I got a species of character I find increasingly frustrating and tedious: the navel gazing middle-aged male whining his way through a midlife crisis. Do I empathize with Nick's grief? Sure, but he doesn't make it easy for me to do so. He's not a likable guy (no one in this novel is likable) and seems intent on his own self-destruction. His obsession with Rob's death seems creepy to the nth power and the reader is constantly aware of the fact that Nick is withholding something, but hoards the truth with a Gollum-like "my precious" tenacity. When we are finally given explanation for why his friend's death continues to reverberate throughout his own existence, it's too little much too late and has all the subtlety of a Greek tragedy. It provides perspective, but by that point my disgust with Nick had reached such monumental proportions that I simply couldn't forgive much of what he had already done.
So why a 2 star? Gottlieb can write beautifully and offers some profound and genuine moments that capture the contemplation of grief, but there's also cringe-worthy, soap opera dialogue and the final reveal is a bit of "ta-da!" literary trickery that, provided up front, could have redeemed Nick in the reader's eyes.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
Yawn.
Now You See Him is not what I expected. I thought I was getting a taut literary thriller full of suspense (because that's what the blurb blatantly led me to believe) and instead I got a species of character I find increasingly frustrating and tedious: the navel gazing middle-aged male whining his way through a midlife crisis. Do I empathize with Nick's grief? Sure, but he doesn't make it easy for me to do so. He's not a likable guy (no one in this novel is likable) and seems intent on his own self-destruction. His obsession with Rob's death seems creepy to the nth power and the reader is constantly aware of the fact that Nick is withholding something, but hoards the truth with a Gollum-like "my precious" tenacity. When we are finally given explanation for why his friend's death continues to reverberate throughout his own existence, it's too little much too late and has all the subtlety of a Greek tragedy. It provides perspective, but by that point my disgust with Nick had reached such monumental proportions that I simply couldn't forgive much of what he had already done.
So why a 2 star? Gottlieb can write beautifully and offers some profound and genuine moments that capture the contemplation of grief, but there's also cringe-worthy, soap opera dialogue and the final reveal is a bit of "ta-da!" literary trickery that, provided up front, could have redeemed Nick in the reader's eyes.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
February 24, 2009
Now You See Him by Eli Gottlieb is a bedeviling book. A writer from a small town who rises swiftly to fame with the publication of a brilliant collection of short stories. That fame, however, is nothing compared to the media shitstorm that arises when the author, Rob Castor, shoots his lover and then himself. Though I tend to run from stories about writers, particularly moody-broody, prone to murder types, the suicide angle proved irresistible.
The novel is narrated in the first person from the point of view of Rob’s childhood friend Nick who, much like the small town where Rob is from and Nick still lives, is trying to move on from the tragedy, though not too hard and not too successfully. The storyline follows Nick as he navigates the aftermath and reflects on his childhood and on the dual tragedies. There are so many things wrong with this book I don't know where to start.
1) Ostensibly, it's about a writer. Like most writers I know, I profess to hate stories about writers, but I still find myself getting suckered by stories about scribes hoping I'll stumble upon the next Barton Fink or Wonder Boys. The way Rob's achievements are glorified is almost embarrassing. Nick is like the geeky fan whose fanaticism ruins the fun for normal people.
2) Overwritten. Try this on for size: "The seasons passed, the leaves fell and in miraculous fits, in tantrums of green, they appeared again, and every day, Rob climbed to his desk like an exhausted swimmer battling the outgoing tide to the beach, and there tried to concentrate." Don't you feel a little embarrassed for Rob? Don't you feel a little embarrassed for all of us? And what do the miraculous tantrums of spring have to do with anything? I used this example to bolster my first point, but the book is littered with constructions like these. But just so that there can be no doubt, here's another one that caused me to actually launch the book across the room. "She laughed at me, but gently, and in a way that was so familiar to me it was like a touch upon the foundations of my soul." And where would that be exactly, the spleen?
3) Bad Dialogue. I'll allow that there's nothing wrong with much of the dialogue (or almost nothing wrong) but Gottlieb's sense of timing is completely off, like he has no idea how a real person would sound if thrust into the scenarios Gottlieb creates for his characters. I'm not going to cite an example because dialoge culled out of context can be made to sound foolish regardless of its author, but the lack of authenticity causes a deep mistrust for the individual putting words in their mouths.
4) Exposition of Convenience. Over and over again Gottlieb will tell us something that hadn't been mentioned before and, cognizant of the lapse, he'll launch into a set-piece of exposition and then never mention it again. He does this at several key junctures, like when he tells us that Christmas is coming. He also does it with plot points. He'll makes use of a minor character and then abandon her as soon as she fulfills her function in relation to Nick. One never gets a sense that the characters have a life of their own.
5) Unlikable Characters. It's one thing to have an unlikable narrator, but the whole cast of characters is made up of shitheels you wouldn't want to sit next to on a plane. The only character I liked was Nick's wife, but only because she lays into him with a savagery reminiscent of Carmela Soprano. If ever there was someone in need of the business, it's Nick. Even the "villain," the weasely childhood friend of Rob's who secures a book deal for an expose about his death, is more likable than Nick by a factor of ten.
6) Conflating Withholding with Suspense. The main surprise at the end of the book, the carrot that keeps the burro going, is not something that Nick uncovers or learns. It's something he knows on page one but chooses not to divulge. I myself have written stories guilty of much the same thing. Sometimes this is okay. This is not one of those times. Some narrators are decietful and duplicitous. You can't trust a thing they say. Nick, however, belongs to that species of supplicant who will tell you what he had for breakfast in excruciating detail, right down to the number of crumbs left on the plate, yet we have to slog through to the end to find out what he's known from the beginning. It just doesn't get any cheaper than that.
Yet, for all its flaws, for all its maddening excesses, I couldn't put the book down. As much as I bitched and moaned, I couldn't tear myself away. I was reading so intently that people would come up to me just to ask what I was reading. Then, when I reached the end, I was caught completely off guard, didn't see it coming at all. So I ask myself, was this a good book? Heaven's no. Was it a good reading experience? Absolutely. I honestly don't know what to make of this discrepancy other than to tip my cap to Mr. Gottlieb.
The novel is narrated in the first person from the point of view of Rob’s childhood friend Nick who, much like the small town where Rob is from and Nick still lives, is trying to move on from the tragedy, though not too hard and not too successfully. The storyline follows Nick as he navigates the aftermath and reflects on his childhood and on the dual tragedies. There are so many things wrong with this book I don't know where to start.
1) Ostensibly, it's about a writer. Like most writers I know, I profess to hate stories about writers, but I still find myself getting suckered by stories about scribes hoping I'll stumble upon the next Barton Fink or Wonder Boys. The way Rob's achievements are glorified is almost embarrassing. Nick is like the geeky fan whose fanaticism ruins the fun for normal people.
2) Overwritten. Try this on for size: "The seasons passed, the leaves fell and in miraculous fits, in tantrums of green, they appeared again, and every day, Rob climbed to his desk like an exhausted swimmer battling the outgoing tide to the beach, and there tried to concentrate." Don't you feel a little embarrassed for Rob? Don't you feel a little embarrassed for all of us? And what do the miraculous tantrums of spring have to do with anything? I used this example to bolster my first point, but the book is littered with constructions like these. But just so that there can be no doubt, here's another one that caused me to actually launch the book across the room. "She laughed at me, but gently, and in a way that was so familiar to me it was like a touch upon the foundations of my soul." And where would that be exactly, the spleen?
3) Bad Dialogue. I'll allow that there's nothing wrong with much of the dialogue (or almost nothing wrong) but Gottlieb's sense of timing is completely off, like he has no idea how a real person would sound if thrust into the scenarios Gottlieb creates for his characters. I'm not going to cite an example because dialoge culled out of context can be made to sound foolish regardless of its author, but the lack of authenticity causes a deep mistrust for the individual putting words in their mouths.
4) Exposition of Convenience. Over and over again Gottlieb will tell us something that hadn't been mentioned before and, cognizant of the lapse, he'll launch into a set-piece of exposition and then never mention it again. He does this at several key junctures, like when he tells us that Christmas is coming. He also does it with plot points. He'll makes use of a minor character and then abandon her as soon as she fulfills her function in relation to Nick. One never gets a sense that the characters have a life of their own.
5) Unlikable Characters. It's one thing to have an unlikable narrator, but the whole cast of characters is made up of shitheels you wouldn't want to sit next to on a plane. The only character I liked was Nick's wife, but only because she lays into him with a savagery reminiscent of Carmela Soprano. If ever there was someone in need of the business, it's Nick. Even the "villain," the weasely childhood friend of Rob's who secures a book deal for an expose about his death, is more likable than Nick by a factor of ten.
6) Conflating Withholding with Suspense. The main surprise at the end of the book, the carrot that keeps the burro going, is not something that Nick uncovers or learns. It's something he knows on page one but chooses not to divulge. I myself have written stories guilty of much the same thing. Sometimes this is okay. This is not one of those times. Some narrators are decietful and duplicitous. You can't trust a thing they say. Nick, however, belongs to that species of supplicant who will tell you what he had for breakfast in excruciating detail, right down to the number of crumbs left on the plate, yet we have to slog through to the end to find out what he's known from the beginning. It just doesn't get any cheaper than that.
Yet, for all its flaws, for all its maddening excesses, I couldn't put the book down. As much as I bitched and moaned, I couldn't tear myself away. I was reading so intently that people would come up to me just to ask what I was reading. Then, when I reached the end, I was caught completely off guard, didn't see it coming at all. So I ask myself, was this a good book? Heaven's no. Was it a good reading experience? Absolutely. I honestly don't know what to make of this discrepancy other than to tip my cap to Mr. Gottlieb.
January 6, 2008
Supposed to be a Literary Mystery, but misses both marks in the effort.
Cringe: the narrator describes his wife as having "extremely shapely hands." Shapely hands! I am often bothered by the way women are described by male authors, but this one defies explanation (no, she is not a piano player or anything hand-oriented.) I'm turned off, now, and turn a cranky, suspicious eye to his adverbally-abusive prose.
Lesson: don't name your (unreliable, morally ambiguous, worshipful-of-his-charismatic-yet-fallen friend) narrator Nick. Unless your book can really weather the comparison to THE GREAT GATSBY.
Gottlieb's style felt cloying to me throughout. The essential story and some of its themes-- the fame that comes from crime, the excuses we let artists make for being horrible human beings, paternity, marital warfare, and community reactions-- could make for a really interesting film, in the right hands.
Cringe: the narrator describes his wife as having "extremely shapely hands." Shapely hands! I am often bothered by the way women are described by male authors, but this one defies explanation (no, she is not a piano player or anything hand-oriented.) I'm turned off, now, and turn a cranky, suspicious eye to his adverbally-abusive prose.
Lesson: don't name your (unreliable, morally ambiguous, worshipful-of-his-charismatic-yet-fallen friend) narrator Nick. Unless your book can really weather the comparison to THE GREAT GATSBY.
Gottlieb's style felt cloying to me throughout. The essential story and some of its themes-- the fame that comes from crime, the excuses we let artists make for being horrible human beings, paternity, marital warfare, and community reactions-- could make for a really interesting film, in the right hands.
May 9, 2021
2.5 - a tad better than “ok”. I would have rated this higher if it was not such a slog. The sentences were what I call flowery (another reviewer called them overwritten - that’s a better term) and made me impatient. I kept reading because that’s what I do. I have such a hard time abandoning. Although - I’m glad I stuck with it because I was completely caught off guard with the ending. It made the slogging worth it. It would be hard to recommend this one but I certainly won’t forget it.
March 12, 2018
Male friendship explained -- or not. This literary novel suggests that male friendship can be much more mysterious than female friendship. This is especially true when the friendship began in childhood and has evolved over many years. The friend is a minor celebrity and his suicide has a profound affect on the life of Nick, our protagonist, creating a ripple effect that in turn impacts the lives of those he holds dear.
Rob Castor, an author of minor fame, murders his girl-friend and then commits suicide. Upon hearing this tragic news, Nick Framingham, Rob's oldest childhood friend must come to terms with his own life and past. In doing so he finds that all he holds dear might just be as elusive as the title Now you see him would suggest.
Nick's wife Lucy who had previously been discontent in their marriage, believes that Nick's obsession and grieving over Rob Castor's death might well be the straw that breaks the back of their marriage. This proves to be a belief with grounds when we discover that Rob's sister Belinda was an old love of Nicks and seems to hold an attraction for him still.
Set in upstate New York, in a small town whose secrets become putrid in the heat of the media attention after Rob's death, one can feel the pain of the startling revelations exposed. Skeletons fall from closets and when they do Nick finds that everything he knew to be true is now up for reconsideration. His marriage, his parents, his work, in fact every aspect of his life suffers deeply after the "violent subtraction of Rob from life".
Not a 'whodunit' in the traditional sense, this novel is more a psychological study written in beautiful prose. You know, the kind of novel where certain passages make you want to get out a notebook and write them down because their profoundness strikes a chord in your own life.
I wouldn't term this a mystery novel. There was no crime to solve or perpetrator to catch. With a shocking ending to rival the best thriller, the suspense was in the relationships and how they interconnect. Not a light read, this book is one I'll remember for a long time. A great novel for those who like a psychological study while being entertained.
Rob Castor, an author of minor fame, murders his girl-friend and then commits suicide. Upon hearing this tragic news, Nick Framingham, Rob's oldest childhood friend must come to terms with his own life and past. In doing so he finds that all he holds dear might just be as elusive as the title Now you see him would suggest.
Nick's wife Lucy who had previously been discontent in their marriage, believes that Nick's obsession and grieving over Rob Castor's death might well be the straw that breaks the back of their marriage. This proves to be a belief with grounds when we discover that Rob's sister Belinda was an old love of Nicks and seems to hold an attraction for him still.
Set in upstate New York, in a small town whose secrets become putrid in the heat of the media attention after Rob's death, one can feel the pain of the startling revelations exposed. Skeletons fall from closets and when they do Nick finds that everything he knew to be true is now up for reconsideration. His marriage, his parents, his work, in fact every aspect of his life suffers deeply after the "violent subtraction of Rob from life".
Not a 'whodunit' in the traditional sense, this novel is more a psychological study written in beautiful prose. You know, the kind of novel where certain passages make you want to get out a notebook and write them down because their profoundness strikes a chord in your own life.
I wouldn't term this a mystery novel. There was no crime to solve or perpetrator to catch. With a shocking ending to rival the best thriller, the suspense was in the relationships and how they interconnect. Not a light read, this book is one I'll remember for a long time. A great novel for those who like a psychological study while being entertained.
January 28, 2008
I was actually borderline-insulted by how little happened in this supposed literary thriller, whose only saving grace is its very occasional bit of pretty/witty prose. Thank god it was a quick read and didn't waste more than a handful of hours of my time, because the real cruelty here is that it DOES draw you in and keep you thinking -- wishing, hoping -- that something really exciting or surprising is going to happen, but then? Absolutely nothing does.
The dialogue alone is painfully elementary and it's impossible to feel any kind of empathy for the midlife-crisising tool of a protagonist. Next time I'll stick to Scott Spencer -- at least his melodramatic tales of smalltown adultery aren't trying to masquerade as anything else.
The dialogue alone is painfully elementary and it's impossible to feel any kind of empathy for the midlife-crisising tool of a protagonist. Next time I'll stick to Scott Spencer -- at least his melodramatic tales of smalltown adultery aren't trying to masquerade as anything else.
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March 20, 2008Weird little freak of a book - hard to like any of the characters. I found his relationship with nearly everyone bizarre - but especially with his wife. The ending should have mattered, but it didn't. Don't torture yourself.
August 20, 2018
One of the worst books I’ve read in a while. The premise has so much potential, but the content doesn’t hold up. Poorly written, so much so where actual sentences are repeated in the same paragraph. The main character is unlikable and selfish. He’s upset with his wife over the state of their marriage, yet doesn’t consider the fact that his having an affair might take some part of that. The book is merely an anecdote. I made no connect to the characters or the storyline, there is no suspense or thrill. It’s just a dude (poorly) telling a story. Oh, and the sporadic flashbacks seem so out of place, mainly due to how unannounced they are.
April 8, 2009
My Mother-In-Law warned me that it wasn't good, guess I should have listened. I guess my main problem is that the main character is so hard to commiserate with until the last few pages. Although the ending was good and clarified many things, it wasn't worth the effort to get there.
March 15, 2009
It's amazing what I will forgive for beautiful writing. Gottlieb is a true master, and though there were elements of this work that I found confusing or overdone, his prose was so poetic and striking that I was more than willing to get over all that.
This novel pieces together a couple of concurrent mysteries in the life of one man who has lost his best friend and is currently losing his marriage. His best friend's sister surfaces, serving as a temptation as his marriage flounders - nothing too extraordinairy - there are twists along the way that I found pretty predictable, and at times the story was more of this author's fantasy than anything I could really relate to - ie, this protagonist, a big nerd, really is so attractive to so many women? His wife, who has gone totally cold on him, is really someone he wants to try to work through stuff with, while we see no redeeming feature? The featured therapist served as a real insult to therapists everywhere, and was yet another one dimensional piece to the overall story.
All that being said, however, it was highly readable and just put to shame so much of what is considered good rading today - you know, the books that go on about the beer bottle glistening with sweat on the refridgerator shelf and all that, in this book, they're just beer bottles, thank you, but when it comes to having precise diction he is totally there.
This novel pieces together a couple of concurrent mysteries in the life of one man who has lost his best friend and is currently losing his marriage. His best friend's sister surfaces, serving as a temptation as his marriage flounders - nothing too extraordinairy - there are twists along the way that I found pretty predictable, and at times the story was more of this author's fantasy than anything I could really relate to - ie, this protagonist, a big nerd, really is so attractive to so many women? His wife, who has gone totally cold on him, is really someone he wants to try to work through stuff with, while we see no redeeming feature? The featured therapist served as a real insult to therapists everywhere, and was yet another one dimensional piece to the overall story.
All that being said, however, it was highly readable and just put to shame so much of what is considered good rading today - you know, the books that go on about the beer bottle glistening with sweat on the refridgerator shelf and all that, in this book, they're just beer bottles, thank you, but when it comes to having precise diction he is totally there.
March 17, 2008
As they move in and out of narrator Nick Framingham’s life, the other characters in Now You See Him possess the page with surges of the ugliest emotions: envy and contempt, open hatred, lusts both bold and rotten. Now You See Him is about puzzling out identities: Who would expect, among this small New York state crowd, a killer? Who is the best at swallowing their horrible truth? And who finds themselves soured by what their introspections peel away? All said and done, this novel, in places beautifully written, creates something like a shredded collage of identity - an image wholly manufactured, and destroyed in an explosion of faces and memories and beliefs at the deaths of writer Rob Castor and his wife.
I am surprised to find such strong things to say about these characters because while reading them they seemed as familiar, understandable, even as noble as you could hope for families never forced to confront themselves. And that may be the best thing about this literary thriller: that you come away unsettled, with a strange urge to dig out the seed of your own identity, examine it, and decide if it has grown as healthy as you thought.
I am surprised to find such strong things to say about these characters because while reading them they seemed as familiar, understandable, even as noble as you could hope for families never forced to confront themselves. And that may be the best thing about this literary thriller: that you come away unsettled, with a strange urge to dig out the seed of your own identity, examine it, and decide if it has grown as healthy as you thought.
February 29, 2016
What a depressing, hopeless, pretentious novel. If the writing style of this author is indicative of him as an individual, I hope to never cross paths with the man and have no interest what so ever in reading anything else he has written. The writing in this novel reminds me of a literary student who received an assignment from the professor, only to try and wow them with the large words they use and complicated sentence structures built. Do not waste your time on reading this book. It is truly a window through which to view the sad train wreck of a middle age crisis, complete with the carnage that is left in it's wake. This tale is one of a spiraling descent into darkness, depression and self destruction at so many levels. There is no sense of completion or satisfaction upon closing the cover of this book, other than being glad to put the whole story behind you and moving on. Wish I had never picked this book up. An utter waste of time!
September 29, 2011
Reviews I read about Now You See Him were great and made me want to read it, but it's actually quite boring. Its saving grace, perhaps, is that Eli Gottlieb's writing style is somewhat like Ian McEwan's writing style; both write beautiful sentences, so good you want to read them twice.
However, Gottlieb differs from McEwan in all else. Although McEwan's stories sometimes start out slow, they always go somewhere, make you want to keep turning the pages.
The narrator of Gottlieb's Now You See Him is a friend of a well-known author who gets writer's block and kills his girlfriend, a successful author, and himself. The rest of the book goes on and on in boring detail about how this affected his family and friends, about the narrator's marriage problems, and about the narrator's past and present experiences with the dead man and the dead man's alcoholic mother. BORING!
However, Gottlieb differs from McEwan in all else. Although McEwan's stories sometimes start out slow, they always go somewhere, make you want to keep turning the pages.
The narrator of Gottlieb's Now You See Him is a friend of a well-known author who gets writer's block and kills his girlfriend, a successful author, and himself. The rest of the book goes on and on in boring detail about how this affected his family and friends, about the narrator's marriage problems, and about the narrator's past and present experiences with the dead man and the dead man's alcoholic mother. BORING!
January 9, 2015
One of the pleasures of the library experience is plucking a book off the shelf, reading the blurb, and, knowing only that about it, taking it home and be blown away by what you're reading. I could barely put this down - and it's not a thriller, or not in the conventional sense, but it is a page turner. How was it that the demise of one person could have started such a spiralling, near-fatal injury cascade in another's life? Nick rhetorically asks this question near the end of the story. The dead person is Rob Castor, Nick's best friend from boyhood who has murdered his girlfriend then killed himself, and Nick's life is spinning out of control. Gottlieb is able to really get into the heads of his characters and it makes for riveting reading. For anyone wanting a novel that is both heartbreaking and breathtaking, take this home.
September 10, 2015
I knew I was going to like this within a couple of pages of starting it: the author has a pleasant rolling style of prose that picks you up like an ocean wave and keeps you bobbing along - and he keeps the tension high by dropping each strand of the plot at just the right moment and picking up somewhere else.
Told from the point of view of Nick, who had an unhappy childhood, in particular having an unsatisfactory relationship with his father, and who lost his best friend in dramatic circumstances, it traces the effects on Nick's marriage as he becomes steadily more isolated from his wife. Every aspect of the story is observed beautifully, and as more of the circumstances emerge, it provides the reader with an opportunity to consider whether or not they actually sympathise with Nick. A brilliant novel; one of my reads of the year for sure.
Told from the point of view of Nick, who had an unhappy childhood, in particular having an unsatisfactory relationship with his father, and who lost his best friend in dramatic circumstances, it traces the effects on Nick's marriage as he becomes steadily more isolated from his wife. Every aspect of the story is observed beautifully, and as more of the circumstances emerge, it provides the reader with an opportunity to consider whether or not they actually sympathise with Nick. A brilliant novel; one of my reads of the year for sure.
January 21, 2009
A minor cult celebrity murders his girlfriend, then commits suicide in this haunting and suspenseful novel. To cope with the tragedy, his best friend begins to reevaluate his life and stumbles on dark family secrets that propel him to the novel's startling conclusion. This is a local Boulder author that I am quite taken with who has written a real spellbinder. An unusual and very well written book by an author to keep your eye on. If you're looking for something cutting edge and drastically unique, this is the read for you.
January 1, 2021
Finished 2020 with 276 books read - this is my first book for 2021.
I like Mr Gottlieb’s writing style, but I didn’t like the subject matter of this novel. Dark and depressing. He incorporated some excerpts from his own growing up that made me realize how much he was affected by his own brother.
I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. Not a good book to start the year off with - I now need something happy and uplifting to get the bad taste this one left in my mouth!
I like Mr Gottlieb’s writing style, but I didn’t like the subject matter of this novel. Dark and depressing. He incorporated some excerpts from his own growing up that made me realize how much he was affected by his own brother.
I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. Not a good book to start the year off with - I now need something happy and uplifting to get the bad taste this one left in my mouth!
February 11, 2011
This is the story of a young man, Rob Castor, from a small town who makes it big in the literary world with a best selling book. His story is told through the eyes of Nick Farmington, who was his childhood boyfriend. The story tells of their life together growing up in a small town. There are shocking revelations exposed concerning Rob's mother who was an aspiring actress, now turned alcoholic due to failed dreams, an unfaithful husband, and the shock of moving from the glamour of California to a small town in upper New York. The problems do not stop here, but continue with the experiences of both Rob and Nick as the reach maturity. Nick becomes entralled with Rob and his handling of life and accepts him as an older brother figure.
Rob moves to New York City and finds Kate Pierce, who he falls madly in love with. Rob is also faced with a severe case of writers block and is unable to produce another work of quality. Kate, in the meantime, meets an older man who is able to promote her and becomes a success. Rob, who has been abandoned by Kate, becomes a drifter in the city faced with the lose of Kate and his writing ability.
Rob murders Kate and returns to his hometown. He commits suicide, and Nick tries to put the pieces together. In his attempt to understand the how and why of all of these happenings he must come face to face with some startling facts concerning his realtionship with Rob.
Rob moves to New York City and finds Kate Pierce, who he falls madly in love with. Rob is also faced with a severe case of writers block and is unable to produce another work of quality. Kate, in the meantime, meets an older man who is able to promote her and becomes a success. Rob, who has been abandoned by Kate, becomes a drifter in the city faced with the lose of Kate and his writing ability.
Rob murders Kate and returns to his hometown. He commits suicide, and Nick tries to put the pieces together. In his attempt to understand the how and why of all of these happenings he must come face to face with some startling facts concerning his realtionship with Rob.
August 6, 2010
The publisher asserts on the front cover that this book is "Irresistible... Moving... Jaw-Dropping revelations."
This is a book I finished in hopes of finding the moving and jaw-dropping stuff. Didn't happen.
I think Gottlieb tried to shove too much into the book, had too many competing ideas and ran with all of them, instead of opting to focus.
I will say in terms of writing, the two scenes with Mrs. Castor and then the scenes with Purefoy the shrink, were great fun, snappy dialogue and just very well done.
Beyond that, this book I think could have been good - if it had been edited, in terms of plot lines or if any of those plot lines had been given some real depth.
The ending was a huge cop out.
This book was disappointing and reinforces my notion that the front cover blurb, if it tries to hard to convince, I should just leave the book on the table.
This is a book I finished in hopes of finding the moving and jaw-dropping stuff. Didn't happen.
I think Gottlieb tried to shove too much into the book, had too many competing ideas and ran with all of them, instead of opting to focus.
I will say in terms of writing, the two scenes with Mrs. Castor and then the scenes with Purefoy the shrink, were great fun, snappy dialogue and just very well done.
Beyond that, this book I think could have been good - if it had been edited, in terms of plot lines or if any of those plot lines had been given some real depth.
The ending was a huge cop out.
This book was disappointing and reinforces my notion that the front cover blurb, if it tries to hard to convince, I should just leave the book on the table.
July 6, 2016
I started reading this book by Eli Gottlieb after picking it at random from my daughter's books. I had never heard of him. To my surprise the writing was excellent, the plot so intriguing, I finished it in 2 days; I could not put it down. Eli Gottlieb is a talented writer and I can't wait to read others by him.
Nick is married unhappily to Lucy; she blames him for being disengaged from their marriage and children especially since the time his boyhood best friend shot his girlfriend and comitted suicide. No spoiler since the book begins with this tidbit. How Nick resolves his and Lucy's problems, how he faces secrets from his past and the suicide of Rob, his feelings for Rob's sister Belinda, take up the bulk of the book. In most novels one waits for the lovers to find each other; in this novel, one waits to see how they don't. An intelligent and fun read. Recommended.
Nick is married unhappily to Lucy; she blames him for being disengaged from their marriage and children especially since the time his boyhood best friend shot his girlfriend and comitted suicide. No spoiler since the book begins with this tidbit. How Nick resolves his and Lucy's problems, how he faces secrets from his past and the suicide of Rob, his feelings for Rob's sister Belinda, take up the bulk of the book. In most novels one waits for the lovers to find each other; in this novel, one waits to see how they don't. An intelligent and fun read. Recommended.
May 13, 2008
The writing in this book is, for the most part, wonderful. It was the great writing--evocative descriptions of relationships and actions--that saved this story for me from being awful. In its essence, the plot is predictable and depressing (it's nice when a book lets it characters have even one or two positive moments, which this book did not). The plot synopsis is fairly simple: a famed (at least in his home town) author commits a murder-suicide, and that sets the narrator into a deep downward spiral. My real problem with the book is that at the end, the narrator has apparently learned nothing; if I have to read about the guy's spiral into misery, it'd be nice to have him at least grow a little from it. The writing is willing, but the story is weak.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2009
I respect Eli Gottlieb as a writer, especially as a Colorado writer. He's fairly preeminent among the pack, but I don't feel this book does him justice. It would have been an amazing novel had he been ten years younger, but there were too many elements that felt slapdash and rushed-through. Without giving too much away, the protagonist Nick's reaction to the revelation about his relationship with Belinda stands out as one of the most understated and--in this case--half-baked character developments in any literature I'm aware of. And the final revelation concerning the true nature of Rob's demise was not as dramatic as I was led to believe. He is truly a gifted writer, no doubt, but in the end, it was too weak a pay-off given the limited sympathies I felt for the characters.
July 14, 2010
Do not read this book. Although I'm in a bad mood because my back hurts, this review will probably be nicer than it should because I've had a day to not think about it.
This book is without any redeeming characters, nor does it have any no heroes or comic relief or anything to look forward to. Everyone is immoral or so shallow they can be called amoral. And then to top it off, the main "adult" characters gets to blame his life on his parents and others of that generation.
The dust jacket said this guy won some award in Britain. Guess he rent in Colorado was due, so he pooped this out one snowy afternoon. Awful.
This book is without any redeeming characters, nor does it have any no heroes or comic relief or anything to look forward to. Everyone is immoral or so shallow they can be called amoral. And then to top it off, the main "adult" characters gets to blame his life on his parents and others of that generation.
The dust jacket said this guy won some award in Britain. Guess he rent in Colorado was due, so he pooped this out one snowy afternoon. Awful.
July 25, 2011
I thought this book was good, not great. Sadly, it had a tremendous amount of potential. Now You See Him is the story of Nick Framingham, whose life (and the lives of his fellow residents of Monarch, NY) is turned upside down when his childhood friend--and the town's big celebrity--kills his girlfriend before killing himself. This book had lots of twists and turns which kept me reading, but in the end, Nick was a hard character to feel much sympathy for as things in his own life went awry. I'm always frustrated when situations in stories could be solved if the characters would just TALK to each other (much like life).
April 15, 2010
I read this book while at my in-laws in Phoenix. It was left behind by another person who had visited. I was surprised how quickly I read the 300 or so page book. The story was interesting, and it definitely kept me reading. However, I am always a bit disappointed when I read contemporary fiction because of the unnecessary use of foul language and sexual explicity. Oh well..maybe I should be a bit more relaxed. Maybe not.
November 21, 2012
A story about a guy who was best friends with a guy when they were kids and then when they are adults everything gets messed up in a big way. It starts out interesting and quickly becomes unpleasant and nearly sordid by the end. Our main character is a quiet guy with a poor sense of morals who does not appreciate what he has. The only thing he seems to value is his best friend. Well the book starts out with this best friend murdering his wife. And as I said it goes down hill from there.
January 23, 2017
I have tried no fewer than four times to read this book, and I just cannot make myself finish. With apologies to those friends who insisted it was one of the best they'd recently read, I found it inflated, offensive, and tedious. I kept waiting for the much-touted "suspenseful" "lyrical" "page-turner" aspects to kick in, but they must have been omitted from my copy.
January 8, 2010
Overwritten prose, utterly contemptible characters, and a climax that almost feels like a cheapshot. Despite that, I read it all in two sittings which must say something about the overall quality of the writing. I certainly won't be reading it ever again, but I don't regret reading it the first time.
February 2, 2011
I’m not quite sure how Now You See Him ended up on my radar; I’d never heard of its author, Eli Gottlieb, before. Ann Patchett declared that the book is a “true literary page-turner in which a string of startling revelations unfolds within the constructs of lush and beautiful prose. It is at turns both heartbreaking and breathtaking.”
Now You See Him depicts the mid-life crisis (although I think the character is only in his mid 30s) of of its narrator, Nick Framingham. Things might not have been so complicated and devastating for Nick if his childhood best friend, Rob Castor, hadn’t murdered his girlfriend and then killed himself. Rob’s death, however, is the catalyst from which Nick begins that horrible self-examination which seems to usher in middle age. Rob was, in Nick’s eyes, the golden child: beautiful, charming, funny, irreverent, talented (he attained celebrity for writing a book of well received stories and then seemed to drop off the literary map).
Rob’s mystifying death – how could someone who seemed to have it all, kill someone and then themself? – sets in motion Nick’s own journey. It’s a significant one because he has a wife and children and his grief pushes him away from them. He loves his wife, but no longer feels connected to her. Instead, he laments what might have been with Belinda, Rob’s vibrant, kooky, beautiful sister.
This is a book, it seems to me, about loss and losing oneself. Nick is so full of anger and regret and sadness, it tears at the very thing that should sustain him in this time of crisis: his family. There are dark secrets in Now You See Him and as those secrets are revealed one at a time, instead of freeing Nick they seem to anchor him more firmly to the past.
Gottlieb is a beautiful writer, Patchett got that right. This story is layered and moving and, at times, difficult to read. An early sex scene between Nick and his wife, Lucy, is devastating – especially difficult to read, I suspect, for those readers who are married.
Now You See Him is a well-written, intelligent book on the nature of friendship, family and love.
Now You See Him depicts the mid-life crisis (although I think the character is only in his mid 30s) of of its narrator, Nick Framingham. Things might not have been so complicated and devastating for Nick if his childhood best friend, Rob Castor, hadn’t murdered his girlfriend and then killed himself. Rob’s death, however, is the catalyst from which Nick begins that horrible self-examination which seems to usher in middle age. Rob was, in Nick’s eyes, the golden child: beautiful, charming, funny, irreverent, talented (he attained celebrity for writing a book of well received stories and then seemed to drop off the literary map).
Rob’s mystifying death – how could someone who seemed to have it all, kill someone and then themself? – sets in motion Nick’s own journey. It’s a significant one because he has a wife and children and his grief pushes him away from them. He loves his wife, but no longer feels connected to her. Instead, he laments what might have been with Belinda, Rob’s vibrant, kooky, beautiful sister.
This is a book, it seems to me, about loss and losing oneself. Nick is so full of anger and regret and sadness, it tears at the very thing that should sustain him in this time of crisis: his family. There are dark secrets in Now You See Him and as those secrets are revealed one at a time, instead of freeing Nick they seem to anchor him more firmly to the past.
Gottlieb is a beautiful writer, Patchett got that right. This story is layered and moving and, at times, difficult to read. An early sex scene between Nick and his wife, Lucy, is devastating – especially difficult to read, I suspect, for those readers who are married.
Now You See Him is a well-written, intelligent book on the nature of friendship, family and love.
February 16, 2008
“Now You See Him” starts out with the deaths of a semi-famous writer, Rob Castor, and his estranged girlfriend in a murder/suicide, but quickly veers off into a laundry list of the problems currently being faced by a close friend of the writer. The book is not about Castor’s death, instead it is a character study of the people who are left behind by the tragedy, their feelings and coping strategies.
Nick Framingham was one of Rob’s best friends from childhood, he grew up almost as part of the Castor family, dated Rob’s sister Belinda, and knew Rob better than anyone else. Or so he thought, as the revelation that his friend was a murderer is almost more than he can bear. Nick’s marriage, already on shaky ground, really begins to founder when Nick immerses himself in his own misery.
As media attention awakens, and the interviews begin Nick finds himself facing one unwanted revelation after another. He learns things about Rob, about Belinda, and most importantly about himself and his family. There are so many layers upon layers of secrets to this story that turning the pages is like peeling an onion.
Ann Patchett the author of the award winning Bel Canto (2001) calls Now You See Him “a true literary page-turner in which a string of startling revelations unfold within the constructs of lush and beautiful prose. It is at turns both heartbreaking and breathtaking." Little more needs to be said, other than that this book is a fantastic journey into the human psyche, which is all the more fascinating because the characters feel so real.
Reviewed by Sarra Borne (Hectaizani)
Nick Framingham was one of Rob’s best friends from childhood, he grew up almost as part of the Castor family, dated Rob’s sister Belinda, and knew Rob better than anyone else. Or so he thought, as the revelation that his friend was a murderer is almost more than he can bear. Nick’s marriage, already on shaky ground, really begins to founder when Nick immerses himself in his own misery.
As media attention awakens, and the interviews begin Nick finds himself facing one unwanted revelation after another. He learns things about Rob, about Belinda, and most importantly about himself and his family. There are so many layers upon layers of secrets to this story that turning the pages is like peeling an onion.
Ann Patchett the author of the award winning Bel Canto (2001) calls Now You See Him “a true literary page-turner in which a string of startling revelations unfold within the constructs of lush and beautiful prose. It is at turns both heartbreaking and breathtaking." Little more needs to be said, other than that this book is a fantastic journey into the human psyche, which is all the more fascinating because the characters feel so real.
Reviewed by Sarra Borne (Hectaizani)
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