Now It's Time to Say Goodbye

Rating:
Summary: Captivating look at prejudice and hatred
Review: As I read this book, I was constantly reminded of the brilliant fiction of James Baldwin. James Baldwin, in books such as "Another Country" and "Tell me how long the train's been gone", uses fiction to dissect the dynamics of inter and intra-race relations. Although probably not quite so successful as his predecessor in this arena, Dale Peck brings a number of characters together into a small town in the wastelands of the Midwest where racism and homophobia are more alive than the citizens themselves. In an "Apocolypse Now" manner, the book traverses the real and the surreal to reveal the underlying truths of collective guilt, racism and homophobia. Dale Peck has maintained his style of prose that exposes the heart and soul of the citizens of this town. It the unfolding of the history of Galatia/Galatea (read: Black/White)Kansas, through a modern-times hanging and an abduction, we recognize that each of us has a perpective but none alone holds the truth. Dale Peck stirs the dust on this midwestern town and exposes the collective nature of anti-gay violence and racial tension. When I picked up this book, I was looking for the masterpiece of "Law of Enclosures". What I found instead was an intriguing experiement with narrative (many of the citizens of this town get a voice in the book, in their own words and history), a puzzle no less masterful than "In Cold Blood", and a story whose universal truths flowed through the stories and lives of the Kansans in the story. If you are a Dale Peck fan, or a James Baldwin fan, for that matter, then definitely read this book. If you haven't read any of Mr. Peck's works, then read the other two first.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating look at prejudice and hatred
Review: As I read this book, I was constantly reminded of the brilliant fiction of James Baldwin. James Baldwin, in books such as "Another Country" and "Tell me how long the train's been gone", uses fiction to dissect the dynamics of inter and intra-race relations. Although probably not quite so successful as his predecessor in this arena, Dale Peck brings a number of characters together into a small town in the wastelands of the Midwest where racism and homophobia are more alive than the citizens themselves. In an "Apocolypse Now" manner, the book traverses the real and the surreal to reveal the underlying truths of collective guilt, racism and homophobia. Dale Peck has maintained his style of prose that exposes the heart and soul of the citizens of this town. It the unfolding of the history of Galatia/Galatea (read: Black/White)Kansas, through a modern-times hanging and an abduction, we recognize that each of us has a perpective but none alone holds the truth. Dale Peck stirs the dust on this midwestern town and exposes the collective nature of anti-gay violence and racial tension. When I picked up this book, I was looking for the masterpiece of "Law of Enclosures". What I found instead was an intriguing experiement with narrative (many of the citizens of this town get a voice in the book, in their own words and history), a puzzle no less masterful than "In Cold Blood", and a story whose universal truths flowed through the stories and lives of the Kansans in the story. If you are a Dale Peck fan, or a James Baldwin fan, for that matter, then definitely read this book. If you haven't read any of Mr. Peck's works, then read the other two first.

Rating:
Summary: Frustrating at times, but brilliantly written and puzzling.
Review: Because of its complex approach to telling the story of two gay men, who move from New York to a small Kansas town after the deaths of five hundred acquaintances from AIDS, through the eyes and voices of a dozen or more characters, this absorbing puzzle is a bit hard to get into at first. Persistence pays off, for Peck brings all of his characters to life, and makes us care what happens to them. He is equally successful in his characterization of the African-Americans and the whites, the gay and the straight, and he keeps the denouement a surprise to the end. The conclusion does not make us feel good, but we know we have been in the presence of a master of the English language and of imaginative story-telling.

Rating:
Summary: Kansas thriller
Review: Colin and Justin flee New York City for the small Kansas town of Galatea (also known as Galatia), where Colin hopes to be able to write again. Soon the two are drawn into the racially-charged, secretive town's web as a young woman disappears. Every denizen of the town, whether from the poor black side of Galatia or the slightly more wealthy white side of Galatea, holds a secret or a sliver of one, and this immense pile of kindling nearly destroys the town. Sowing his novel's field with seeds of Southern literature, social commentary, and intriguing observations, Peck cultivates what he hopes is a lush and vibrant garden, but it doesn't reach fruition by the final pages. Too many story seeds and too many quirky elements (the constant unique names, for one), which all are invigorating at the beginning, soon become monotonous. I felt trapped by the story, held hostage, and while the story compelled me to the end, I didn't feel fulfilled by it. Several passages could have been edited out of the novel, and this might have created a tighter, brisker story. Overall, it's a fascinating mystery set in a small town, but the horizons it reaches for are not reached.

Rating:
Summary: Pulp-modernism!
Review: Dale Peck's new book is probably his best. The heartbreaking fragility of his first two books -- due not only to the author's age and the autobiographical nature of his writing, but the strange and shocking mix of the very real and the very imagined -- is gone. This mythic tale of a racially split Kansas hamlet is full of stories of the darkest and sometimes most outlandish variety, delivered to the reader by many of the town's longing citizens. Peck loves his town and details it with exquisite care; now baroque, now biblical, sometimes as bare as the flat stretches of dust-land so prevalent in the book's literal landscape, the prose engages and keeps moving, as the plot's complex design works for optimum story-pleasure. A book about self-mythologizing as a defense against trauma -- racial, sexual, romantic, familial -- "Now It's Time To Say Goodbye" bids farewell to Peck's sublime, solpisistic fictions, promising a wide and varied career ahead. This is an American potboiler for everyone. Forget cliche by-the-numbers realism like Richard Price's "Freedomland." If you really want to know what's going on in America, forget Price, forget Oprah, and read this book. Get ready to be shocked, in the only way that matters: there's a truly vital new American book out there. Yeah!

Rating:
Summary: A Twisted Tale from Many Vantage Points
Review: Dale Peck's Now It's Time to Say Goodbye is a wonderfully written trip through a Kansas prairie town that is sparked off by the arrival of two New Yorkers, Colin Nieman and Justin Time. The story is told from many, many different vantage points as each snippet of a section focuses on a different personality in the town, actually two towns, one black and one white, with many secrets. It is all of these supporting characters that will carry the reader throught the myriad strands of the plot. It is wonderful that the author has been ablet to use his accomplished skill in the short story and transferred it to this epic novel. Like his short stories, much will be left unexplained and that will frustrate many readers but this is not a book about solutions (although there are some) but about crossing boundaries (and there is much of that). It is a wonderful book about America, all of America, the real America.

Rating:
Summary: A Twisted Tale from Many Vantage Points
Review: Dale Peck's Now It's Time to Say Goodbye is a wonderfully written trip through a Kansas prairie town that is sparked off by the arrival of two New Yorkers, Colin Nieman and Justin Time. The story is told from many, many different vantage points as each snippet of a section focuses on a different personality in the town, actually two towns, one black and one white, with many secrets. It is all of these supporting characters that will carry the reader throught the myriad strands of the plot. It is wonderful that the author has been ablet to use his accomplished skill in the short story and transferred it to this epic novel. Like his short stories, much will be left unexplained and that will frustrate many readers but this is not a book about solutions (although there are some) but about crossing boundaries (and there is much of that). It is a wonderful book about America, all of America, the real America.

Rating:
Summary: YOU'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE, DEAR READER
Review: I only write reviews of books I truly love. I don't have time to review books I don't enjoy. I want people to read the books I love. Therefore I am adding my five stars worth to the other reviews. I can understand how this book might elicit a wide range of reviews. Understand this: this book is not for the squemish, or people who feel uncomfortable with gay lead characters. This book is a wonderful thriller. The author has managed to create a gothic thriller set in the lonely environs at the center of our country. If this book does not make you afraid of the dark, or make you wince, or at the very least, make you feel uncomfortable, then please check your pulse.

Rating:
Summary: YOU'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE, DEAR READER
Review: I only write reviews of books I truly love. I don't have time to review books I don't enjoy. I want people to read the books I love. Therefore I am adding my five stars worth to the other reviews. I can understand how this book might elicit a wide range of reviews. Understand this: this book is not for the squemish, or people who feel uncomfortable with gay lead characters. This book is a wonderful thriller. The author has managed to create a gothic thriller set in the lonely environs at the center of our country. If this book does not make you afraid of the dark, or make you wince, or at the very least, make you feel uncomfortable, then please check your pulse.

Rating:
Summary: Initially interesting and then repetitive and unconvincing.
Review: I was originally interested in this very circuitous novel and then it began to come apart. What a disappointment. Just when I thought it was going to go somewhere interesting and alarming it became very melodramatic and silly. And worse still, manipulative. Not to say that fiction shouldn't be manipulative. But I prefer NOT to know that I am being manipulated. It should make a wonderful made-for-TV movie on a future gay romance channel.