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Summary: A novelist who would be a poet
Review: Wonderful, Alice. I almost wanted to re-read chapter one so many times I thought I'd never move on. It brought back memories I didn't know I had stored away. Billy Lynch wasn't the only one with the soul of a poet, Alice McDermott! For the great unwashed and unIrish, may I suggest that the next edition include a map of Long Island. It REALLY is long and probably seemed even longer in the 1940s. After a while it hardly matters, but a Lynch family tree would also help those memory-challenged among us. Charming Billy lives on in every Comeallya ever held, or will be held.
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Summary: I can't believe this book won an award.
Review: What a boring and confusing book. I have read hundreds of books and this was one of the worst. I am glad I got it from the library and did not purchase it. There are so many wonderful books to read I wouldn't waste my time on this one.
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Summary: Alice, learn how to write!
Review: Don't know why this was award-winning. Hard to follow, too many loose phrases. Her writing style bothered me so much that I had a hard time really getting into the book. Kept expecting it to get better...it didn't. Don't bother...
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Summary: Vastly overrated
Review: In the past, I have used award winners as a guide to read some outstanding modern fiction such as "All The Pretty Horses", "Cold Mountain" and "Snow Falling on Cedars". Maybe my expectations were too high, but "Charming Billy" was not nearly as enjoyable as those listed. It was a chore to finally finish it. It was better by far than anything Danielle Steele ever wrote, but I don't understand why it won any awards.
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Summary: wow
Review: I almost didnt read this when I read several reviews describing the book as "boring". Oh no! This is beautiful..true..real..that one special book that we're always searching for. Now I'm off to read everything else she's written. Thanks Alice!
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Summary: Give yourself up to the gorgeous prose
Review: After reading the negative reviews on this book, I too, like other readers who loved it, feel compelled to write my own five star review. I was charmed, enchanted and mesmerized by this book, and moved to tears at the end. I am a slow, methodical reader, but when I read Charming Billy, I just let the prose unwind, and very uncharacteristically allowed myself to be confused by the ambiguities of who is narrating, when do the events occur, what is going on, etc. The tapestry of the story unfolds, the important plot twist is told very early on, and then the reader is on a roller coaster. The author almost expects us to interpret, and understand what will take place, in advance of data. With pure genius, she tells us something subtly, then later in more detail, so that we have a memory of somehow knowing it. After a rather rapid read, I reread the book more meticulously, and was moved just as much the second time around. And during the second read, the accuracy of all details (and there are many details) are corroborated. The detail of "ordinary" events was as charming as the title. She has a way with words, and cleverly uses encapsulated parentheses to point out details that have been previously mentioned. I am bringing this book to my book group with great anticipation.
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Summary: boring
Review: I do not understand how this book could have won an award. I found it dull and very slow. I forced myself to finish this book which took me what seems like an eternity. Do not waste your time or money on this one.
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Summary: A masterful technique
Review: McDermott shows a mastery of technique in this book. Her ambiguity over the gender of the first-person narratory allows all readers to imagine themselves into the story. She was also clever to dispense with cheap thrills. All of the plot "twists" are telegraphed long before they appear in the narrative, which emphasizes that the focus is on the characters, and not on what their rather ordinary actions and lives. McDermott also shines in these portrayals. Her descriptions made me feel like I knew the characters and had visited their homes. I was also impressed that she pruned out everything that was necessary, leaving a trim, compelling book quite distinct from the bloated monstrosities that so many popular writers churn out.
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Summary: Uninteresting
Review: This book is uninteresting and dull. I had to force myself to read the entire thing hoping it would get better.
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Summary: a family's kitchen-table talk
Review: The charm in _Billy_ is in its capacity to evoke the kitchen-table gossip families engage in on a quiet Sunday afternoon. Family legends are recalled, and each story-teller reveals as much about himself or herself as about the subject of the tales. A member from a new generation, who is trying to piece the story together, is alternately bored by the repetitiveness in the stories and intrigued by the secrets that are nonetheless regularly revealed.
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