Rating: 
Summary: The Drowning People
Review: I was going to review this book until I read the one given by an Oregon reader on March 20 and quite frankly that says it all for me. Very disappointing read especially after all the hype. I was also very confused about when the story was supposed to have taken place - the diction used could hardly be described as modern. I hope the publisher doesn't indulge other authors just because of youth. I won't be fooled into reading another book that is so repetitive and longwinded. The story could have been told in half as many words and with half as much angst.
Rating:
Summary: Exercise in self-indulgent long-windedness
Review: No doubt there are some true prodigies in this world--young people who exhibit maturity far beyond their years in writing, music or other fields of endeavor. Unfortunately, Mr. Mason isn't one of them. When he wrote this book, he was an 18-year-old with some talent. However, talent alone does not a writer make. His publisher should have told him: "Dear Mr. Mason, go home, put this manuscript in a desk drawer, and keep it there for five, seven, or maybe ten years. Then, if you are still interested in the story, do a rewrite. Then come back to us. Or, better still, throw this manuscript in the garbage, and come back to us in about 10 years with a new book." A few years ago I read an article in Publishers Weekly about the state of British publishing, decrying the fact that increasingly younger and younger editors were chasing after increasingly younger and younger writers, with the quality of the work secondary to the author's age as a chief criterion for publication. Mr. Mason and his book seem to be a prime example of this trend. It's too bad that at least one American publisher is following the trend so slavishly. Anyway, once the decision to publish this book was made, couldn't somebody tell the author that he was using at least three times too many words to tell his story, and that he should CUT, CUT, CUT? This book gets 1 star from me, because I am making allowances for the author's age. The publisher gets zero. Oh yes, and when does the story take place, anyway? Is the idea here that the young Mr. Farrell and the young Mr. Mason are the same age, in the present--of the same generation: one and the same person, so to speak! --and that this is why the story is told to us by the 70-year-old Mr. ... Somebody from sometime in the future? If so, it's just too clever for words!
Rating: 
Summary: What a plot!
Review: Just finished this book. I found the plot so compelling that I grabbed the book during any free moment I had. I found the repeated and lengthy musings of the narrator tiresome at times, but willing to pay the price of reading those parts to get to more of the plot. Hope to hear from this author again.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it...
Review: Well, I for one enjoyed the book immensely. I thought Mr. Mason did a fine job writing as a 70 year old man, and I found the timeline believable. If the story begins in 1994, add 50 years to come to a close in 2044. I thought the book was moving, eloquent and passionate. As you move through the story, you are given details which help you feel and understand why each event may have occurred. Although I am not able to completely empathize with each character for likeable or dislikeable traits, this just made the story more interesting. Ultimately, I will recommend this story to my friends.
Rating:
Summary: Halfway through I gave up, should've done it sooner
Review: Not the literate prose that so many reviewers have raved about, not at all realistic, and certainly not interesting! Also, what year is this taking place in? He's seventy, but his parents were teens in the '60's. Couldn't get a timeframe. Storyline? I'm sorry but the critics were amazed that this novel was written by one so young, but it's actually very clear after reading a few pages. Please do not compare this to Donna Tartt's novel "A Secret History". Now that is a classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice story, but too predictable.
Review: Eloquently written, but ultimately predictable. The story kind of dragged on.
Rating:
Summary: In truth it deserves a rating of zero stars
Review: There is a famous quote from a book review which says "this is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." After reading The Drowning People, I have come to understand exactly what that means. This profoundly disturbing and ineffectually told novel takes 220 or so pages to get to its rather grisly point and once gotten you'll wish it hasn't. I had to read this for a class I respect. Were that not the case no power on earth could have persuaded me to finish it. While I have read books I've disliked before, this is the first time I've literally felt the urge to physically rip the pages from the book and burn them immediately. For the love of all things, RUN SCREAMING FROM THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: A ready pen, but...
Review: James Farell's wife has shot herself. At least, that is what the police believe. In fact James has killed her and he tells us so at the beginning of what will become a confession of about 400 pages. In flashback, he tells the reader everything that has led to this deed in great detail, why, after 45 years of marriage he decided to kill her. That is a big challenge to do: Start with the end and go back from there. The writer was 18 when he wrote this and he did a good job considering his young age,but..clearly Mason (yet) lacks the ability to make his characters convincing. He simply might be too young to draw a 70 year-old, tormented man. He tries to put 'deepness' in Farell's thinking but i.m.o. he failed. While reading I couldn't help thinking: This could have been told in 200 pages and I wouldn't have missed a thing, it was only because of his smooth pen and the fact that I somehow wanted to find out what happened that I read on. Mason is trying to show the reader he knows a lot of little facts about classical music, history, Prague etc. which I think are meant to give the story literary quality, but even with that he isn't able to veil the rather disappointing outcome. The writing on itself was rather good, but to me, that didn't save the story. Pondering.. this book does have qualities to become a bestseller: Nice looking young writer, a ready pen and not too bad a story.
Rating:
Summary: Why the hype
Review: "The Drowning People" was a selection for our book club. The paperback wasn't out yet and I didn't feel like popping for the hardback so I got the book from the library. Boy, am I glad I did! If I had paid good money for this book I would have been really angry. I read the book without a hint of the hype, author, subject, etc. About 1/3rd of the way into the book - trying to figure out why it was SO BAD - I turned to the jacket flap and learned that the author was only 20. Well, THAT FIGURES, I thought. How can a 20 year old write from the perspective of a 70 year old, looking back on his life? (Not to mention the fact that the character was completely manipulated by every woman he ever came in contact with - get a SPINE for crying out loud!) I really had to force myself to finish the book if no other reason that to be able to contribute meaningfully to our group discussion. Our group has been meeting monthly for nearly 3 years and this is the FIRST book that we have all soundly disliked. No lukewarm feelings here - we voted it "the book we love to hate". Shallow, unlikeable characters immersed in self-pity; some of the worst dialog I've read in a long time; a contrived plot - Mason kills the only interesting character after subjecting him to a horrible, inexplicable humiliation. If you HAVE to read this book - get it from the library. No reason to support a work like this one. I won't read any more of his work and I've certainly learned a lesson in listening to hype about an author/book.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Debut
Review: Given the hype this first novel received, and its reputed prodigy author, I was disappointed to find this a cliche-ridden, poorly written work of fiction. I think many readers will agree with me and will find some of the conflicts that shape the plot hard to believe, especially ones that sound as if they belong in a Henry James novel and not in one written at the end of the 20th century. Mason gets two stars from me just because it's a first novel. Save your money, don't buy this book and wait till Mason improves his writing skills.
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