Too Much of Nothing

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: A fine book that got my attension from the first page. A fun read with great depth.

Rating:
Summary: A quick read with a predictable ending
Review: Despite the addage of never judging a book by its cover, I did exactly that when I picked this one up. The cover intrigued me enough to pick up the book and read the first few pages. Once I got home, I could not stop reading it. The use of description is what really pulled me in, the accurate portrayal (of a fictional town) in SoCal evoked memories of my own childhood in the same locale during the early 80s. The conflicted youth, between Establishment and individualism, rings hauntingly clear. However, the ending of the book seemed forced, predictable, and ultimately unsatisfying. I guess I should be glad that it did not turn comical by having the two freinds meet after death while floating above San Francisco.

Rating:
Summary: A quick read with a predictable ending
Review: Despite the addage of never judging a book by its cover, I did exactly that when I picked this one up. The cover intrigued me enough to pick up the book and read the first few pages. Once I got home, I could not stop reading it. The use of description is what really pulled me in, the accurate portrayal (of a fictional town) in SoCal evoked memories of my own childhood in the same locale during the early 80s. The conflicted youth, between Establishment and individualism, rings hauntingly clear. However, the ending of the book seemed forced, predictable, and ultimately unsatisfying. I guess I should be glad that it did not turn comical by having the two freinds meet after death while floating above San Francisco.

Rating:
Summary: not worth the time
Review: I grew up in the environment Moore describes and can confirm that he has captured it perfectly -- but brought its shallowness into a clarity that I sure didn't see growing up. Moore is biting and funny, nostalgic and sad all at once, and he performs a brilliant trick of sneaking a looming dread into a narrative bright with the glare of upper-middle-class sunniness. Just as nice is his creation of complex, true-to-life characters and a beach town that seems to bleed off the pages of the book, like Altman movies seem to have a life outside the camera's eye: You get a sense that there's much more going on. You want to come back and keep poking around.

Rating:
Summary: Rebels Without A Clue
Review: In response to Jaydekitten's comments, I do not believe that Mr. Moore was conveying a message intended to discourage non-conformist thought and behavior. In point of fact - and his book amply demonstrates this - most teens (of any generation) lack the empirical life knowledge, the bumps and bruises and contusions that the adult experience delivers, to make a considered choice and proclaim "I don't want to be a part of that." They are still evolving as humans.

Consider, for instance, the video tape released last year of Columbine killers Klebold and Harris taking the day off for a little target practice in the woods near their suburban Colorado home. There is a smug arrogance about the duo, a simmering hatred of everything and everybody who doesn't respect their self-entitled right to be "different", that is so undeserved. Simply put, these are kids who couldn't accept and adjust to the amplified traumas and social blunders of high school, for cyin' out loud, so how were they ever to adapt to the "real world"? From my point of view, what we witness with Eric and Tom and Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold is harsh Darwinian theory in action, the universe, if you will, stepping in and straightening out a couple of design flaws; unfortunately and tragically, a few innocents usually get taken out of line in the process.

Rating:
Summary: lyrical, engrossing, and razor-sharp
Review: Moore's first long-form outing certainly doesn't seem like it; he writes with grace and assurance. The Calaveras Beach of Eric Sperling's childhood is realized both poetically and economically, and Eric's friends, classmates and family are realistically drawn, yet still have a certain unearthliness. Anyone who was a teenager in the eighties or later should recognize Moore's unsentimental adolescents with a pang--the shifting allegiances, the social faux pas, the desperation of kids on the brink of adulthood trying to make a place for themselves. I didn't expect to be drawn in or held as closely as I was; too many coming-of-age stories focus on shock without substance, but such is not the case here at all. Looking forward to more from this author.

Rating:
Summary: Looking Rorward to His Next Work
Review: Since finishing the book, it has been in my thoughts frequently; it is a gauge against which I compare my own experiences growing up with the characters Moore has created. The author and I grew up in the same area, only a couple of years apart; we attended the same highschool for a couple of overlapping years, and a number of the locations he has so successfully described in the abstract are readily identifiable as "real" locations in our hometown. The imagery that he manages to pull up elicits a gut level comprehension of the Los Angeles climate. Los Angeles is constantly buzzing with activity, a proof of the converse of the adage "still waters run deep." The surface buzz of Los Angeles is sizable, its populace constantly vibrating on the edge of the now and the next, but with limited consideration for what comes after "next," or the past. Los Angeles isn't so much "sunny" as in a state of constant "glare." The sky isn't blue, nor is it often brown with smog; it's usually a matte silver tone -- a color that tends to simply amplify the sun's natural brightness to a dizzying shine that makes things stand out intensely. But over time that glare damages that which it shines upon, simply by its own intensity. Moore's novel is like that as well. As clearly as it depicts the world we lived in, it also has worn some of the polish from it.

With regard to another review that posits that deviation from the norm is what leads to the death of the main character, I read it as the reverse: Eric is brought down because of a critically mistimed attempt at bald honesty. It has less to do with conformity than a lack of emotional tools in youth to deal with difficult situations, or to reason out their consequences.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Darn Good
Review: The author of this book is not trying to say "non-conformism" is a dangerous thing" (see below). The novel is a subtle satire on American counterculture; it shows how some people who talk the loudest about individualism and freedom don't know the first thing about either one. I thought it was dark and funny.

Rating:
Summary: The Title Speaks for Itself
Review: Yet another installment in a series of books tackling the issues that plague suburban youth, except this time it's set in the 1980's. While overall I enjoyed this book, I can't help but feel that the topic of teenagers and drugs has been done to death. "Too Much of Nothing" opens with the narrator Eric retelling the story of his murder. The reader witnesses as Eric relives his struggles to break free from his conforming to society standards and to present himself as an individual. In order to achieve this goal, he gives into his friend Tom's hoodlum wannabe antics. While Tom procliams himself as being a non-conformist, he reveals that he is easily swayed by other people's opinions and ideals.

My biggest problem with this book is that I couldn't quite grasp the point that Michael Scott Moore was attempting to present to the reader. Non-conformism is a dangerous thing? Because attempting to be an individual turns Tom's life into shambles and the second Eric steps away from his moral ideals, it gets him killed. And I promise that wasn't a spoiler, you know from the beginning that he dies :) Furthermore, the ending was too open and rushed for my tastes. And for as short as this novel is, I think Moore tried to tackle too many social issues and jam in too many pop culture references. It was overkill. In conclusion, while "Too Much of Nothing" was a quick and intriguing read, I would in no way consider it life-altering or flawless.