Drop

Rating:
Summary: Started Off pretty good
Review: Drop is the story of Chris Jones, who is tired of his life. He has problems finding a job after college. He don't have the drive to do much of anything. He decides to apply for a job in London, thinking all his problems would be over in another country, but all don't work out there, even a tragedy. So, he has to come back to Philly the hometown he hates, and take a temp job which he hates. Chris spend the rest of the book trying to find another job in London. He get's a big surpise when he returns to London. The book started off real good,I could relate what Chris was going through, trying to make it in this world, but toward the end the story sort of dragged on, real boring at times.

Rating:
Summary: YAM-MAN
Review: I am a freshman in college and my vocabulary is quite limited so this book for me was a little difficult to comprehend. However, I got a dictionary and I looked up the terms that I did not recognize and I got through the book. I really liked it. It was quite funny I thought the Yam-Man was the funniest character!

Rating:
Summary: The jury's still out!
Review: I have a hard time making it through this book simply because I am rereading pages multiple times.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing less Than I Expected
Review: I met Mat in college, and he was bright and refreshing, this book was nothing short of that. When I heard he had written a book I bought it because is was a book of someone I once new in college. Well, I was really in for a treat. I enjoyed this book immensely, because I am also a native of Philadelphia and I could see myself in the pages of this book. I laughed so hard my gut hurt and it also made me reflect on how far in life I've come. My friend Debbie bought and read this book also, so when we discussed it, I laughed all over again. How bright, How refreshing, How Mat!!! (smile)

Rating:
Summary: Decent Debut
Review: I must say that for a debut novel, Mat Johnson got a lot of things right. His characters were well developed and the narrator especially had a distinct and accessible voice. Take this brilliant example. The narrator has just said something stupid and hurtful to a female and describes to the reader "the part of me outside myself, the part that was a better thing than the sum of my actions, cried out for her, and for itself that it was related to such a [person]...."

Here is another example. The narrator sees a pitiful disabled woman, and helplessly thinks "[my] eyes that kept looking until they hurt, until it was, Mama, please turn away, Mama, please walk away and heal or die because whatever void is there I can't hope to fill."

Beautiful.

The novel's plot isn't particularly exciting, and the author manages to keep it interesting throughout the book. Some scenes are joyous, others effectively empty. Especially appreciated is that the author knows when to end a story. The book clocks in at just under 215 pages.

Now onto the criticism. The authors "moral" to the story isn't particularly urgent, and not handled very well. His transformation or growth is a little unrealistic. It seems he went from one extreme to another, not to middle ground where the reality most often is found.

Also, I found the ending (last half of the last chapter) to be largely unexpected, non sequiter, unrealistic, and just not working. I can't even describe it. I'm still in shock by it--still trying to figure where the heck it came from.

This book certainly isn't "all that the American novel hopes to be at its best" (said by Victor LaValle)

All in all, the book was pretty enjoyable to read. Not required reading, and I wouldn't tell people to read this book, but I also wouldn't tell them to not read it. Mat Johnson is definitely full of potential and future works should prove to be worth reading. ...

Rating:
Summary: Marketing Works!
Review: I was drawn to this book by its unique and eye-catching jacket. I'm glad I was. DROP might be a debut novel but Mat Johnson is no novice author. From the cynical opening to the story's end, this is a book of laugh-out-loud humor, often eliciting empathetic nods of agreement but always offering observations that are too, too familiar. In some respects, writing a synopsis seems unfair, as though I am denying subsequent readers the opportunity to experience Johnson's incisive skill without foreknowledge. However, sometimes a hook is required:

Chris Jones, a 31 year old recent college graduate is desparate to reach two objectives, escape the desolate existence so many others endure in Philadelphia and to find a job, which of course, will facilitate the first. Through happenstance and creativity, he manages to land a job in London, a city that turns out to be everything he was seeking, and equally as important, not Philadelphia. But his short-lived fragile degree of success comes tumbling down around him when his boss/mentor, David, dies suddenly. Chris, unable to find other employment in London and abandoned by his opportunistic girlfriend, soon finds himself back in Philadelphia, a couple of rungs lower than when he left, trapped in feelings of depression and surrounded by an menagerie of characters he had hoped to soar away from.

How he turns himself around is inspired and to a degree, inspiring, although some "moral" parable of self-sufficiency is not the core storyline. It's Johnson's superlative pace and his inventive use of metaphor that will keep you turning the pages and after reaching the conclusion, awaiting his next book.

Rating:
Summary: The Dividing Line
Review: I weep for the state of black writing. I am a black woman and I'm in tears. A previous reviewer claimed that Johnson's book was hard to get through, hard to understand. A fair point, some first time authors don't know how to use their talents just yet, but then to see that this same reviewer gave Eric Jerome Dickey a five star review! Saying, "He did it again..."

Did what again, exactly? Wrote a book for people with a third grade reading level?

I will just say it because it needs to be said more often: black readers do not deserve the level of talented black writers out there. When I see an author like Mat Johnson passed over for the likes of Omar Tyree, the refried beans of fiction, I can't help but be hurt.

There will always be different knds of books for different readers, that obvious. Hell, I love to read Octavia Butler even though her ideas are much stronger than her (largely) terrible prose. But to imagine that Mr. Johnson wasn't nominated by the NAACP for a fiction award and to see the cavalcade of no talents who were, well, it leaves a sister slightly mad, but more than that it makes me sad.

Mr. Johnson, please remember that there are INTELLIGENT black readers who value the humanity you create. The complexity (not everything has a happy ending!). The reward for your hard work is like the pride Romans may take in their aquaducts: a thousand years after the society crumbles, great works of men (and women) live on.

Rating:
Summary: A fluid use of jazzy prose and intelligent language
Review: If Coltrane or early Miles were writers, their prose would flow similar to Johnson's. His tasteful use of words paints realistic, satirical, fresh views of everyday life. He makes sitting on a couch seem profound and colorful. At times, I felt like Johnson has gone though my e-mails and memoirs to create his characters.At times, his style of prose riffs so far in poetic strokes he loses the true content of his narrative, leaving the reader to wonder what is literally or figurative. The ending is borderline contrived but surprising.This book made me feel less offset by and more trusting of strangers and those in my community. I felt hopeful and humbled after reading this piece. This book showed how brotherhood can still exist and a human spirit can grow despite shortcomings. This is required reading for anyone who wants an example of creative prose at it's best. Surrender yourself to this book and you will be throughly rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: Reality
Review: Johnson's vivid details propel his words into the relm of reality. You will instantly identify with the character's mood and objectives. Splendidly written! This is a must read.

Rating:
Summary: OFF TO A GOOD START
Review: Mat Johnson is going to blow up big! He's the next Eric Jerome Dickey! An amazing story-teller. He just needs a really good story to tell. The plot was a little slow and weak at times, but still worth the read. If you like stories about self-evaluation, overcoming struggles and realizing dreams, then you'll enjoy it. Seriously, this could easily have been one of Oprah's book club selections!

Members of my book club had mixed feelings. Some thought Chris needed some therapy and a Prozac, but others were more sympathetic to his emotional struggles. When his "whoa is me" attitude got to be too much, he finally got it together. Hey, if we didn't have crazy, mixed-up characters like Chris, there would be no interesting stories to tell.