Drowning People Abridged

Rating:
Summary: Grabby opening does not live up to its promise.
Review: My advice: See the movie. When I waste time on a bad movie, it's just two hours of my life and 8 bucks. When I waste time on a book it's $20 bucks and a week's worth of evenings. The hype and the opening line sold me on this book. I will be more careful next time. The author took the entire book to have his protagonist stew in his own juices while he told us that he would tell us why "later", much like my morning news show spends 10 minutes of air time telling me about an upcoming story that lasts a minute and a half. If the author (and my morning news show) has the nerve to do that then it is incumbent upon them to at least surprise us to make up for having to slog through all the blather. Unfortunatley that was not the case with this book. By the time the book ended I didn't care about any of the characters. Moreover, while I refuse to go back to the book to double check, I believe that there's a time line problem with cell phones. What are they doing in scenes that took place 40 years ago?

Rating:
Summary: Words fail me
Review: It's a pity they didn't fail the author of this atrocious book. Comparisons to The Secret History by Donna Tartt have been made. The themes of youth, treachery, passion, betrayal and finally torment are similar. The writing, a thin cop. I'm on vacation at the beach. This book was flung over the porch railing into the gulf at 1a.m. this morning.

Rating:
Summary: pulp
Review: It is beyond my own ability, but perhaps in Mr Mason's grasp, to describe how flaccid and empty-headed this book is. I see no sign of cynicism, no appreciation of the anachronism of the book, and if Mr Mason was aiming at Waughesque wit, he missed his target. Instead he has only re-inforced an image of upper class society as being unconscious parodies of themselves, and their love affairs scripted in cliche and overwraught emotion. I wish Mr Mason every success in any career other than writing.

Rating:
Summary: like the author's potential much better than the book
Review: I really don't understand why instead of just defending their opinion about the novel certain would-be 'reviewers' attack other reviewers who didn't like the novel, declaring them bitter 'unpublished forty year olds' jealous of this good-looking kid's success (and for the record, it was Roland Barthes who declared that 'the author is dead'. Has that guy even read Derrida or does he just like to toss around the name in the most pretentious way possible?). I myself am 27 and published but I still didn't like this book. Mason has a talent for intrigue & compelling story-telling but his attempt to re-invent Henry James/Edith Wharton for the 1990's fell flat -- the dialogue struck me as so silly, the musings of the protagonist so obvious and uninteresting (sandbagging the flow of the narrative) that I ended up skimming the second half of the novel. I do think Mason is very precocious, very talented, and I look forward to reading his stuff in the future -- but once upon a time, a 'literary phenom' meant Truman Capote or Scott F Fitgerald or even, dare I say it, Brett Easton Ellis. These guys produced first novels that impressed you apart from the ridiculously young age of their authors. I don't see 'Drowning People' as a part of that tradition, but as a major find by sales & marketing people who -- in their considerable power in the publishing industry -- saw a good-looking Oxford twenty-year-old with a really cute accent and knew they had something to sell. Mason has a great deal going for him, and he has an opportunity to develop into a powerful novelist if the pressures of his own success don't trip him up. People will be watching now to see if he can beat the fabled 'sophomore slump' -- I wish him well.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: I was thoroughly enraptured by this story, and the style in which it was written. It is still very difficult for me to think a 20-somnething could have written it, and I applaud Richard Mason's parents for genetics they passed on to this wonderfully gifted young writer. It is hard to imagine that age or further life experiences will further develop his talent since The Drowning People seems so full of both already. Great perspective from both sides of a time line. I can't wait for Richard's next novel.

Rating:
Summary: It's the story, stupid
Review: Once again neurotic critics jumped at the chance to criticize a work publish but the youngest literary phenom. From the opening lines to the closing passages from the perspective of the 21st century, Mason engages a reader in a strangely surreal and vaguely gentile journey through the mind of a man who has lived his life through people and places and not (so much) through time. I cannot remember when I last read a modern novel which used language as something undisturbed by so-called "real" modes of speech and diction. At times characterization slips and his technique has not been refined but the kid has a gift of telling a story. It's a good read and has echoes, I think, of henry james. Derrida discovered a while back that the author is dead. He only seems to be revived by tormented, still unpublished 40 year old critics who feel threatened by true genius.

Rating:
Summary: A few too many cobwebs...?
Review: Quite enjoyed the start. However the narrator didn't turn out to be as interestingly evil as I'd hoped, and after a while I found his style a bit heavy going. The lack of context, which some other readers have commented on, does matter I think, not because references to technology are important in themselves, but because some sense of a real world out there might have made the events in the tale seem more anchored, and therefore credible. The dialog's a little creeky too. A great effort for a teen, but not quite enough oomph for this reader anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Long and Stuffy!
Review: "I daresay old boy, jolly good effort but bloody pretentious and snotty, not to mention a bit of a BORE I'm afraid." Seriously, good writing often comes from simplicity of form and ideas not by overdone philosophycal drivel on human emotions or by theatrical writing structure and unusual adverbs. As for the author's age and looks: let's stick to the content of the narrative rather than the photograph on the dust jacket shall we? Don't waist your time. Borrow it from the library if you must.

Rating:
Summary: It's amazing that someone so young could write this book...
Review: I'm at a loss as to why so many people are so critical of this book. While it's certainly not above criticism, the writing style deserves merit and the story holds one's interest, even if some of the plot turns are obvious. My biggest problem with the book was the time line...the setting, dialogue, and characters' actions seem rooted in the 1920"s rather than the 90's...but I did enjoy the book and look forward to the author's second novel. How many people could make the life observations made by the author at age 20?

Rating:
Summary: Great for someone 20 yrs. old.
Review: Why not read a book for enjoyment instead of picking the author apart. This book has suspense, love, hate, revenge and much more. I look forward to more books by Mr. Mason.