Rehearsing

Rating:
Summary: Craft was just getting started...and it shows
Review: As one who has read - and immensely enjoyed - all of Craft's Mark Manning series, I decided to return to the author's humble roots and picked up a copy of "Rehearsing".

Well, I am glad that I became familiar with him AFTER this one. Like its successors, the novel does feature Craft's attention to set detail, occasional sexual encounters, and affluent characters.

It is the latter, however, wherein the book is weak. None of the characters have redeemable qualities; they seem to be "pawns" for each other's use.

Perhaps, that is Craft's intention: to paint the theater world as one filled with cutthroats concerned only with their individual successes. Or maybe, he is trying to make a commentary on how we all play different roles as we go through our daily lives.

Nevertheless, I am glad that he found his "calling" in the mystery genre. For that, we can all be grateful.

Rating:
Summary: His roots are showing
Review: I've read most of Michael Craft's later books, all mysteries, and really enjoyed them. But I was reluctant to pick up his first novel, "Rehearsing," which is not a mystery and which the author himself describes as "literary." Setting these reservations aside, I ordered the book and have now read it. I was not at all disappointed. To the contrary, I found it highly entertaining and insightful, not only with regard to the story's two main characters, whose complexity and codependency left me thinking long after I'd finished reading, but also with regard to Craft's roots as a storyteller. In his later books, he has truly blossomed, but in this first effort, the roots of a fine novelist are more than evident.

Rating:
Summary: Spark
Review: Michael Craft, author of the stellar Mark Manning mystery series, delivered this sharp book back in 1993. It centers on Claire Gray, who returns to her alma mater as a visiting professor, and becomes enmeshed in the life of George, a local actor who's gay and much younger than Claire. Each uses the other for her/his own purposes, ultimately ending in both ruin and success. This book is especially significant because Claire, in a slightly different form, has appeared in the Mark Manning series, and will soon be starring in her own.

Rating:
Summary: A pleasant read for a Sunday afternoon
Review: This book is, by far, the most minimal in terms of story complexity and character development that I've read by this author. It is, however brief, a good and pleasant read that you don't have to invest a lot of time with. I read it in an afternoon and enjoyed it, but wasn't engaged by the characters or the simple-ish story arc as I have been with this author's other books. I'd recommend it - I've read a lot worse!

Rating:
Summary: A pleasant read for a Sunday afternoon
Review: This book is, by far, the most minimal in terms of story complexity and character development that I've read by this author. It is, however brief, a good and pleasant read that you don't have to invest a lot of time with. I read it in an afternoon and enjoyed it, but wasn't engaged by the characters or the simple-ish story arc as I have been with this author's other books. I'd recommend it - I've read a lot worse!