Rating: 
Summary: Gray, but just like Jersey
Review: Although I dressed really strange in college and high school (I wore the "big black boots" before it was popular for EVERYONE to wear them), and hung out with people who were in bands and wanted to be DJ's, it was kind of hard to believe that everyone in this group of friends had a drug problem. Perhaps that's because I'm a product of the 80's and just never got into drugs. However, I found the descriptions of how the characters in the book felt about their current situations riveting. I was always curious to know why people did it, and I guess "Garden State" answered some of my questions. Mr. Moody's descriptions of New Jersey were like I've always pictured it, gray and industrial, with nothing much going on but trains, cars and malls. It was also amazing that this was somebody's first novel, written by someone who was so young. The chapters seemed to have been written by somebody who is much more older and has lived through a lot more than th! e average college student. Perhaps life experiences have brought this into the novel. More enjoyable to me than the novel, however, was Mr. Moody's story behind it in his added preface. Everyone has their own "cuts that don't heal" (not necessarily in the literal sense), and I think it took a lot of courage on the part of the author to openly write about his life and the background of what went on when he was writing this story (which I probably related to more readily than the story itself). It actually was that preface that helped me understand the novel better. This novel should not be taken just as it is -- there is a lot more underneath the surface and it leaves the reader with a lot to think about.
Rating: 
Summary: Exceptional Short Story Collection
Review: An amazing collection of short stories which take a fresh look at our media-dominated culture. Wherever John Hawkes and Angela Carter are now, I'm sure they're quite pleased with your work. I feel privileged having had you as a classmate in Angela Carter's speculative fiction writing seminar, even if you weren't as interested in science fiction as yours truly.
Rating: 
Summary: Meta-Moody
Review: As the last story in this book proves, Rick Moody's stories are always about, you guessed it, Rick Moody. Even when they're not explicitly about Rick Moody, the prose is screaming out, "Look at me! Look how brilliant I am!" Here's what I don't get about his most "experimental" work in this book: What is it that he's doing that's any better (or different) than what John Barth (and others) did in the '60s? I can tell you: Nothing. I'm not a big fan of Barth, but Barth, at least, is a very smart man, and his experiments are multi-layered. They're also fun, by comparison. You get the feeling that Rick Moody either hasn't read any of the postmodernists or that he doesn't understand that writing a story about writing a story really needs to do something that tops, say, John Barth's "Lost in the Funhouse." David Foster Wallace, another writer I'm not keen on, at least understood this, and he used Barth's "Lost in the Funhouse" as a spring-board for the final story in his collection GIRL WITH CURIOUS HAIR. And Wallace, at least, IS smart. I suppose my main complaint is that Moody is writing in a historical vacuum, and yet he continues, in both his fiction and in interviews, to pat himself on the back. My question is this: If Moody hadn't gone to two Ivy League schools, hadn't worked as an editor at FSG, hadn't lived in (or around) NYC, would anyone have published him? Absolutely not. Step outside of Manhattan, and you'll find Rick Moodys scribbling away and chuckling in Starbucks all across this country. They're dime a dozen.
Rating:
Summary: Meta-Moody
Review: As the last story in this book proves, Rick Moody's stories are always about, you guessed it, Rick Moody. Even when they're not explicitly about Rick Moody, the prose is screaming out, "Look at me! Look how brilliant I am!" Here's what I don't get about his most "experimental" work in this book: What is it that he's doing that's any better (or different) than what John Barth (and others) did in the '60s? I can tell you: Nothing. I'm not a big fan of Barth, but Barth, at least, is a very smart man, and his experiments are multi-layered. They're also fun, by comparison. You get the feeling that Rick Moody either hasn't read any of the postmodernists or that he doesn't understand that writing a story about writing a story really needs to do something that tops, say, John Barth's "Lost in the Funhouse." David Foster Wallace, another writer I'm not keen on, at least understood this, and he used Barth's "Lost in the Funhouse" as a spring-board for the final story in his collection GIRL WITH CURIOUS HAIR. And Wallace, at least, IS smart. I suppose my main complaint is that Moody is writing in a historical vacuum, and yet he continues, in both his fiction and in interviews, to pat himself on the back. My question is this: If Moody hadn't gone to two Ivy League schools, hadn't worked as an editor at FSG, hadn't lived in (or around) NYC, would anyone have published him? Absolutely not. Step outside of Manhattan, and you'll find Rick Moodys scribbling away and chuckling in Starbucks all across this country. They're dime a dozen.
Rating:
Summary: Meta-Moody
Review: As the last story in this book proves, Rick Moody's stories are always about, you guessed it, Rick Moody. Even when they're not explicitly about Rick Moody, the prose is screaming out, "Look at me! Look how brilliant I am!" Here's what I don't get about his most "experimental" work in this book: What is it that he's doing that's any better (or different) than what John Barth (and others) did in the '60s? I can tell you: Nothing. I'm not a big fan of Barth, but Barth, at least, is a very smart man, and his experiments are multi-layered. They're also fun, by comparison. You get the feeling that Rick Moody either hasn't read any of the postmodernists or that he doesn't understand that writing a story about writing a story really needs to do something that tops, say, John Barth's "Lost in the Funhouse." David Foster Wallace, another writer I'm not keen on, at least understood this, and he used Barth's "Lost in the Funhouse" as a spring-board for the final story in his collection GIRL WITH CURIOUS HAIR. And Wallace, at least, IS smart. I suppose my main complaint is that Moody is writing in a historical vacuum, and yet he continues, in both his fiction and in interviews, to pat himself on the back. My question is this: If Moody hadn't gone to two Ivy League schools, hadn't worked as an editor at FSG, hadn't lived in (or around) NYC, would anyone have published him? Absolutely not. Step outside of Manhattan, and you'll find Rick Moodys scribbling away and chuckling in Starbucks all across this country. They're dime a dozen.
Rating:
Summary: Moody fans: try Mark Jude Poirier
Review: Fellow fans of Rick Moody: Try Mark Jude Poirier's book Goats if you want something that is as touching and thoughtful as Ice Storm. I love both and you might, too!
Rating:
Summary: Moody fans: try Mark Jude Poirier
Review: Fellow fans of Rick Moody: Try Mark Jude Poirier's book Goats if you want something that is as touching and thoughtful as Ice Storm. I love both and you might, too!
Rating:
Summary: I hate myself for trying to read this book
Review: I bet the talentless Dave Eggers loves Rick Moody's books. Call it a hunch. You want to read some short stories? How about KENTUCKY STRAIGHT by Chris Offut. Or BIG BAD LOVE by Larry Brown. Or ADULTERY AND OTHER CHOICES by Andre Dubus. For the love of God, read anything other than Moody! (Or Eggers, Foster Wallace, et al.)
Rating:
Summary: I hate myself for trying to read this book
Review: I bet the talentless Dave Eggers loves Rick Moody's books. Call it a hunch. You want to read some short stories? How about KENTUCKY STRAIGHT by Chris Offut. Or BIG BAD LOVE by Larry Brown. Or ADULTERY AND OTHER CHOICES by Andre Dubus. For the love of God, read anything other than Moody! (Or Eggers, Foster Wallace, et al.)
Rating:
Summary: My Favourite
Review: I have only recently discovered Rick Moody & in a short period have read almost all of his books - this is my favourite. The stories here are reasonably varied in content, & he has a lot of fun taking liberties with form & style & content (what a story should be). These are not necessarily just straight narratives, but play around with ideas of meaningful coincedence & circles of happenings. It's always good to see a writer unafraid of taking risks in order to get at some sort of truth - it's what great artistry is all about (I think anyway). I too, along with the other person who has written a review, like the stories 'Phrase Book' (the girl who took a massive hit of acid) and 'The Apocalypse of Bob Paisner' (a term paper in which a guy flunking out of school relates his life to the Bible). One thing about Moody, apart from everything else, is that his characters here are always wholly believeable. Even if the situations are sometimes extreme, the characters ring true - they are created with a great deal of empathy, & if the reaction to them isn't always empathetic, at least it's with understanding. This, to me, is the most important feature. The last story in the book is quite self-revelatory. It's a neat idea - Moody uses a selection of books from his bookshelf as a 'Bibliography' & footnotes occasional ones in order to explain certain parts of his life. I think it takes a person a lot of courage to expose themselves implicitly like this (but it sure beats a publishers blurb on the back cover). Rick Moody is a very good writer & you don't get too much better in contemporary writing than Ring of the Brightest Angels Around Heaven.
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