Rating: 
Summary: A funny and maddening read.
Review: This book gives a glimpse into the mind of an obsessed guy's search for a relationship that doesn't drive him crazy. He doesn't fare very well, but it's really interesting to go on the journey with him. The book is funny, touching, and maddening. You really get inside the author's head, so when he's on the verge of going insane while waiting for a simple phone call, you feel the same crazed, frustrating frenzy. It's good all the way through, but the best part is the portrayal of Mardi Gras chaos in New Orleans.
Rating:
Summary: Surprising amount of heart, 4.5 stars
Review: This novel reminded me of Nelson Algren's "Walk On the Wild Side." Lasner (refreshingly!) takes risks, some of which pay off and some of which fall flat. His biggest risk is in creating a thoroughly unlikable narrator (and naming that narrator after himself).At the beginning of the novel, "Robert Lasner" exudes a creepy, semi-sociopathic vibe. By the end of the novel, as he shuttles back and forth between "Winnesota" and New York, I began to feel something verging on empathy for this character. I appreciated that Lasner let his characters breathe. He didn't beat me over the head with a forced plot and a forced march toward some life-affirming epiphany. I suspect it has to do with his awareness that characters are more important than story. The characters motivate the drama, not the other way around. Lasner whips up many jazzy riffs. Mostly, the riffs work. (pg 168: I didn't want any "direction" in my life, didn't want to go anywhere but nowhere--every attempt I had made in my life to go "somewhere" had led nowhere, so I figured that if I tried to go "nowhere," maybe I would end up somewhere.) He's too much in love with bad puns and alliteration for my taste. And he has a tendency to overuse crutch words, such as starting sentences with "Well..." and pounding the reader over the head with "real" (as an adjective) and "thus." But this sort of criticism is nitpicking. So I'll shut up about it. Buy this book and support the indy press. I did, and I am anything but disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Surprising amount of heart, 4.5 stars
Review: This novel reminded me of Nelson Algren's "Walk On the Wild Side." Lasner (refreshingly!) takes risks, some of which pay off and some of which fall flat. His biggest risk is in creating a thoroughly unlikable narrator (and naming that narrator after himself). At the beginning of the novel, "Robert Lasner" exudes a creepy, semi-sociopathic vibe. By the end of the novel, as he shuttles back and forth between "Winnesota" and New York, I began to feel something verging on empathy for this character. I appreciated that Lasner let his characters breathe. He didn't beat me over the head with a forced plot and a forced march toward some life-affirming epiphany. I suspect it has to do with his awareness that characters are more important than story. The characters motivate the drama, not the other way around. Lasner whips up many jazzy riffs. Mostly, the riffs work. (pg 168: I didn't want any "direction" in my life, didn't want to go anywhere but nowhere--every attempt I had made in my life to go "somewhere" had led nowhere, so I figured that if I tried to go "nowhere," maybe I would end up somewhere.) He's too much in love with bad puns and alliteration for my taste. And he has a tendency to overuse crutch words, such as starting sentences with "Well..." and pounding the reader over the head with "real" (as an adjective) and "thus." But this sort of criticism is nitpicking. So I'll shut up about it. Buy this book and support the indy press. I did, and I am anything but disappointed.
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