The Black Veil

Rating:
Summary: Poorly written waste of time
Review: I'm a professional writer and a recovering alcoholic with 25 years' sobriety. This book is a pretentious and incomprehensible attempt to be 'literary.' I wasted my time and hard-earned cash on the hard-cover edition. Go to a movie instead.

Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment.
Review: In the last pages of this memoir, Rick Moody expresses his worry about "leaving something out." Yeah, Rick, you left YOURSELF out of your own memoir. Though Rick's experiences of alcoholism are interesting and self-reflective, the weaved in literary criticism of Hawthorne's parable attenuate any emotional potential of the memoir. We can feel bad for Rick, but we better shut up quickly and think deeply about his examination of what the black veil means. Also, as one reviewer pointed out, Rick just seems wordy here. He actually writes sentences like, "i don't know how to describe this..." Well then don't!

Ahh.... . the days of The Ice Storm

However, after reading the first chapter of this book (even the first page), you will think you are in for a treat. So it is worth just reading the first chapter in a book store.

Rating:
Summary: remakes the memoir
Review: The "digressions" part of the subtitle primarily refers to the fact that this is not only a memoir but also a sort of family genealogy, or an attempt at one. Moody finds that he may be the descendant of a Reverend Moody who was fictionalized as the title character of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil." Digging through obscure histories and travelling about New England in an attempt to find out more about the man behind Hawthorne's self-loathing minister, Moody creates a sense of very powerful parallels to his own struggles with severe depression and drugs. These sections alternate without Moody making explicit connections between the two stories, but the format keeps the pages turning and the reader intrigued.

Rating:
Summary: Full of Himself: A Memoir
Review: The "digressions" part of the subtitle primarily refers to the fact that this is not only a memoir but also a sort of family genealogy, or an attempt at one. Moody finds that he may be the descendant of a Reverend Moody who was fictionalized as the title character of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil." Digging through obscure histories and travelling about New England in an attempt to find out more about the man behind Hawthorne's self-loathing minister, Moody creates a sense of very powerful parallels to his own struggles with severe depression and drugs. These sections alternate without Moody making explicit connections between the two stories, but the format keeps the pages turning and the reader intrigued.

Rating:
Summary: Full of Himself: A Memoir
Review: What can I say? Those who love Rick Moody's work will defend it by employing the logical fallacy that those who don't like it don't get it. Well, I have a PhD, an MFA, I've published several books, and guess what? I don't like it, and I DO get it. His work is a one-trick pony, and once you've seen the trick (especially by authors who are far smarter than Mr. Moody -- i.e., John Barth, David Foster Wallace), it's simply not very interesting.