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OK, to all you folks who gushed & raved about The Art of Fielding, I ask: at what point will this book becoming as engrossing as you promised? I'm halfway through it, but it just isn't doing it for me yet. The names (really? Westish College? Lev Tennant? ugh!) are cheesy, the plot hasn't grabbed me, and the author's heavy-handed use of compound adjectives annoyed me from the first chapter.
Granted, his writing is tight enough, and I suppose the characters are developed sufficiently or I would've tossed it aside three chapters in. Still, it hasn't yet merited the glorious dust jacket accolades given by other, more accomplished authors.
TELL ME IT GETS BETTER!?!
Hmmm - I'd like to say it gets better, but I was very conflicted on this book. At times it reminded me of a college lit paper with cutesy devices (like the weak double entendre scene where he's listening outside the gym). And the complete lack of homophopia throughout a sports-themed book was refreshing but totally unrealistic. Other times, the book reminded me of early Chabon or Updike with the tightness of some of the writing and the way characters were developed.
Overall, I enjoyed it and thought it did get better as it went along - it's pretty good for a first novel, but I also agree that it was probably not worth the super high accolades it received. One of the ways I review a novel is: after I'm done do I wonder what happens to the characters. With this one, yes, I did think about what would be next for some of the main characters. I will try his next one, as I think he will improve novel over novel.
OK, to all you folks who gushed & raved about The Art of Fielding, I ask: at what point will this book becoming as engrossing as you promised? TELL ME IT GETS BETTER!?!
... it's pretty good for a first novel, but I also agree that it was probably not worth the super high accolades it received.
^ OK, that's reassuring! Thanks!
Now you've got me thinking about fantastic first novels. Maybe that's why I'm hypercritical about this one. It doesn't seem in the same league as some of these debut novels (from the last decade or so) that I simply could not put down:
Dave Eggers - A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Jeffrey Eugenides - The Virgin Suicides
Joshua Ferris - And Then We Came to the End
Arthur Golden - Memoirs of a Geisha (I'm biased; he's a local boy & a former boss's son!)
Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner
Jhumpa Lahiri - The Namesake
Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus
Chuck Pahlaniuk - Fight Club
Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things
Jonathan Safran Foer - Everything Is Illuminated
Donna Tartt - The Secret History
Neither Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao nor Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections made my list despite their critical praise. And so far, Chad Harbach doesn't seem poised to join the list, either. But I'll keep pluggin' along. Maybe he'll surprise me.
It was pretty good, but not his best. It reminded me of Death of a Salesman in parts, and the Rabbit novels in others. A lot of "stuff" bubbling under the surface - global economy, America's place in the new world order, impotence of man, etc. On the surface, he looks at family issues from a lot of different angles. But as usual with Eggers, there are ideas that get started only to die out and two characters of importance are left out of the climax and conclusion. He always has passages that leave me thinking when I'm done reading (which is success as far as I'm concerned) - they sound so clever when I first read them, but the more I think about them, I'm not sure whether they really make sense or not - which is probably just how Eggers would like it.
*FINALLY!* The Art of Fielding has grabbed my attention. Yay for that! But boo to the fact that I fall asleep reading the damn thing almost every night...only to have the professor who loaned it to me ask all sorts of questions the next morning about how much I'm liking it. I feel like a real winner when I admit, "Well, I got through about 4 pages before I passed out. Sorry about the drool that's on the pages."
I got a Kindle almost a year ago for my birthday and looked at my list yesterday and have read over 100 books since I got it! Not quite sure when but did/ Any recommendations for next year?
Also, it got rave reviews from Tom Robbins, Sarah Vowell, Ira Glass, et al.
Pretty sure you'll love that. I've read the Found books and a collection of short stories Dave did and all have been incredible. I need to waitlist this at the library. Plus finally buy all the issues of Found. In case y'all didn't know, Found is on a massive tour right now. I don't really know what their live events are like but I'm hoping to see it in Portland.
"In the darkness hundreds of glowsticks streaked the air like tracer shots in war. Giant inflatables bounced over dozens of light sabers pointed skyward. Stuffed animals impaled on sticks danced above the hot crowds, puppeted by someone just given ecstasy by a friend made seconds before."
Rereading The ILLUMINATUS! Trilogy fer the first time since high school. The writin' style isn't quite as strange or hard to follow as I remembered, but there are definitely parts where I still have no idea what is goin' on. Fun read though!
Post by Fiddler's Green on Sept 29, 2012 14:01:02 GMT -5
Wow - just found out I'm going to meet and drink with Michael Chabon at a private reception tomorrow before seeing him get the Fairfax Prize for literary achievement at George Mason tomorrow night!
Do I fanboy it up and bring my 1st editions for autographs or hipster it down and tell him I thought he copped out in key parts of Kavalier and Clay? I'm thinking somewhere between those two is probably the way to go...
Post by Fiddler's Green on Sept 29, 2012 14:25:31 GMT -5
Thanks Holls! I hope he doesn't ask how I like his new novel as I'm still only about 75 pages in...he probably won't, but once, when I met Jim James, he actually asked my opinion on a bunch of different things with the band - and I was totally flummoxed.
Druid and I got to see Michael Chabon read and answer some questions tonight. He's quite the handsome dude
BUT, we also learned that Margaret Atwood will be in town on Oct 27, holding a lecture at the downtown library. If anyone is in town that weekend (and not in the one-letter-away-from-Nashville town) wants to go with me, let me know!! I'd love to see her.
I have started on this book last night. Different kind writing style, but I believe I will like it. I have put off seeing the movie so I can enjoy the book first.
I'm rereading this. I can see why a lot of people wouldnt like Tao Lin, but I cant help my love for his work. It's so damn depressing with nothing happening and nothing being said.
JHo & I are both fans. I would LOVE to see his books adapted for the big screen, but honestly, I have no idea who they'd cast as Minty Fresh. Part of me thinks RuPaul would be perfect. Ellen Page is Abby Normal, no question about it.
(If you haven't read his others, I can bring them to you @ Moog!) So glad you're in the F*ckstockings fan club now!
JHo & I are both fans. I would LOVE to see his books adapted for the big screen, but honestly, I have no idea who they'd cast as Minty Fresh. Part of me thinks RuPaul would be perfect. Ellen Page is Abby Normal, no question about it.
(If you haven't read his others, I can bring them to you @ Moog!) So glad you're in the F*ckstockings fan club now!
Just started this. It highlights the superficiality and shallowness of the standardized, corporatized culture that many of us exist in. It reminded me a bit of "American Psycho" in the main character's obsession with materialism; but, you know, without all the killing and stuff. The plot itself is actually quite funny.
^ Not yet! It's on my list! A lovely Inforooster gave me a gift card to my favorite bookstore, so maybe I'll use it to snag that one. (Thanks for the reminder!)
Just started this. It highlights the superficiality and shallowness of the standardized, corporatized culture that many of us exist in. It reminded me a bit of "American Psycho" in the main character's obsession with materialism; but, you know, without all the killing and stuff. The plot itself is actually quite funny.
If that's all you are getting, you have to dig a lot deeper.
As someone who is almost a 2 million miler and at the top tier of the airline program, 2 hotel programs and a car rental program, there is a very different message to me in that story. I realize that that life may seem shallow and cookie cutter to you, but there is a lot more to his message than that.
