Rating: 
Summary: Like it is.
Review: If nothing else, this book seems to be a Rorschach for online reviewers. Here's my "clear-headed" take on it:The book was a chore for me, which I undertook mainly because of its reportedly transcendent possibilities. I was able to grit it out, partly not to be a quitter, but also because the journey kept flinging nuggets of brilliant invention in my path, intense images and perspectives that I found resonant and moving, well above my usual reading fare. FWIW, the author did convince me of his intellect (which I believe was one of his minor aims). In this very long book, I consistently sensed the author's attentive presence in every metaphor-dense line, and never once saw him lapse into mere typing. Finally, though, I suspect that all his unique and remarkable visions (the ones that reached me, anyway) could have been delivered in half as many pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Dow Mossman....John Cotraine at his best....
Review: I have read this book three times in the last few months. It is a difficult, very complicated book. In fact it is perhaps one of the most detailed and intricate books I have ever read and in many ways more dense than The Forty Days of Musa Dagh or Ulysses or Beloved. The first time through was a murky muddy read, and I must admit I almost put it away on several occasions. The second time through however, and the pieces began to fit together, and the bulkiness of Mossman's writing style was no longer a hindrance. The third time through and I must say that I think I truly understand what Mossman was trying to do, and there is no other way to put it, but this is perhaps one of the greatest works ever written. One might argue that for a work to be great it should be great from the first read, and that it shouldn't take three or four reads. Well, I guess there is some truth in that, however, I guess the best analogy would be with jazz music. How many of us who are used to listening to easy music would appreciate the abstract complexities of Ornette Coleman or John Cotraine the first time through? Some of Coltrain's runs are so abstract and are played with such speed that truly one would have to be a musician in order to appreciate what he is doing with only one listen. And I truly believe it is the same with The Stones of Summer. This book is so good that, simply put, it is beyond good. It is in the realm of pure art. It is saddening to think that many of the reviewers would only read the first twenty pages of something this bulky and awesome, and then capriciously come to the conclusion that it is only worth being a "doorstop." The voice of Dawes Williams is such a powerful American voice, and in the first twenty pages the surface hasn't even been scratched yet. It is true you must be an advanced reader to read this book - or at least be willing to become an advanced reader. Is this elitism? Maybe a little. But it seems a little ridiculous to buy a hard book and then turn around when you realize you are out of your league to complain that it should be a "doorstop." If you can't take the heat, stick to Michael Connelly or Stephen King, or if these are too difficult, try the next installment of Jackie Collins.
Rating: 
Summary: Witless...
Review: Applying the axiom that "brevity is the soul of wit," this tome is the essence of inanity. Plodding, antediluvian prose and stultefying characters make slogging through this work a mind-numbing, pointless task. If you want a coming-of-age book, go read McCullers' "A Member of the Wedding" or "Paper Moon" by Joe David Brown. However, if you're an insomniac, a couple of pages is all it will take.
Rating:
Summary: Resurrected for a Reason
Review: The Stones of Summer went down like a blood transfusion; hot! hot! hot! I laughed to see that some of the reviews were porking Mossman with the name of Proust: ironically, that's just what the Dawes' childhood friends would have said, little chuckleheads--- and they'd be wrong and Dawes loves 'em for trying. No, I saw every writer in this Writer: Mossman is Virginia Woolf, Miguel Angel Asturias, James Joyce, Cervantes, Mark Twain, Keri Hume (for me). This is great Midwestern literature. I feel I've been gifted with the reprint of this book, and I hope it never goes out of print again. Through the vehicles of wit, poetry, and brainstuff, the novel becomes in the end, a soul on paper. It is a must-read for all writers and serious readers. I'm buying a copy my struggling artist friends and for my grandpa, let's see if he can take the kick!
Rating:
Summary: I'm laughing hard
Review: This is, of course, a breathtaking book. And I can't wait for some idiot to do a documentary on Thomas Pynchon, so that I can see the rubes scurry to post their one star "reviews" of "Gravity's Rainbow." Anyone up for a little Joyce? How about some Faulkner? Thank goodness those lads wrote in the days before Al Gore invented the internet, else our critics would busily be posting lists of allegedly bad sentences lifted from "The Sound and the Fury." ("what's up with this Benjy guy? Is he retarded or what?") These are the same lackwits (or of the same ilk, anyway) who, back in the day, went to see "Amadeus," got really excited about the idea of listening to classical music, but then decided that it wasn't very much fun after all. These lads and lasses are the same ones who were so delightfully skewered by Paul Fussel in his legendary "Class": they brag about watching PBS and attending important documentaries, but otherwise always play the lead in Can't Buy a Clue. Word up, kids: go back to Stephen King and your classic rock radio stations. Leave the hard books to the big boys.
Rating:
Summary: Like it is.
Review: If nothing else, this book seems to be a Rorschach for online reviewers. Here's my "clear-headed" take on it: The book was a chore for me, which I undertook mainly because of its reportedly transcendent possibilities. I was able to grit it out, partly not to be a quitter, but also because the journey kept flinging nuggets of brilliant invention in my path, intense images and perspectives that I found resonant and moving, well above my usual reading fare. FWIW, the author did convince me of his intellect (which I believe was one of his minor aims). In this very long book, I consistently sensed the author's attentive presence in every metaphor-dense line, and never once saw him lapse into mere typing. Finally, though, I suspect that all his unique and remarkable visions (the ones that reached me, anyway) could have been delivered in half as many pages.
Rating:
Summary: Witless...
Review: Applying the axiom that "brevity is the soul of wit," this tome is the essence of inanity. Plodding, antediluvian prose and stultefying characters make slogging through this work a mind-numbing, pointless task. If you want a coming-of-age book, go read McCullers' "A Member of the Wedding" or "Paper Moon" by Joe David Brown. However, if you're an insomniac, a couple of pages is all it will take.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: There is no doubt why this book disappeared after its first printing 25 years ago, it is terrible. It is boring, its characters don't make sense and the story is hopeless. Why anyone would recommend this book is well beyond my comprehension.
Rating: 
Summary: Needs a good editor
Review: I read this novel after watching the documentary Stone Reader and was terribly disappointed. Stones of Summer is a mudhouse of verbiage that collapses under its own pretentious weight. By the end of the book I felt sorry for the poor author, Dow Mossman. A note on the documentary:
I originally gave Stone Reader a positive review on amazon.com despite reservations about the director's dubious 'search' for Mossman and his annoying attempts to upstage the publishing people he interviews. What changed my mind was a recent newspaper story about how he sent our thousands of e-mails begging others to leave favorable reviews at amazon.com, even if they had never seen the movie. Trickery of this sort lowers my opinion of both the director and his film. Neither is worthy of our consideration.
Rating:
Summary: BEST THING ABOUT THIS BOOK? THE REVIEWS!
Review: I haven't been this entertained reading AMAZON reviews in awhile so I too tried to read it but was stopped cold by too many diverting descriptions starting with the word "like..." This is amateurish so-called "writing" that, thank the Lord, the author failed to follow up with another to compare with it. I only hope that those who gave it 5 stars aren't compelled to try their hand at authorship --- only the negative reviews were worth reading...A BIG WASTE OF PRECIOUS TIME (try reading Proust for a big fat chunk of your life and you might appreciate a well-written doorstop). Oh, and the 2 stars are for the growing body of amusing reviews, not for the useless book!
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