The King Is Dead

Rating:
Summary: Best novel of the year, easily
Review: A masterpiece. Unbelivable. Stylistically perfect. If you care about literature this is a book you should not miss out on.

Rating:
Summary: Best novel of the year, easily
Review: I wish I'd never read this book so I could read it for the first time. I wish I'd never read this book so that I could read other fiction without being disappointed. I wish I'd never read this book so I could go on thinking that I could write a decent novel without "The King is Dead" hanging over my head like the law. This is the best novel I've read in a good while.

Rating:
Summary: Great story
Review: I wish I'd never read this book so I could read it for the first time. I wish I'd never read this book so that I could read other fiction without being disappointed. I wish I'd never read this book so I could go on thinking that I could write a decent novel without "The King is Dead" hanging over my head like the law. This is the best novel I've read in a good while.

Rating:
Summary: The King is dead but literature is not.
Review: This is a difficult book to recommend because as much as I loved it I wouldn't argue with someone who didn't, they'd probably have some valid points. Halfway through I threw it in the trash and woke up a few nights later to dig it out and read at three am. My copy is still stained and smells. Not a perfect book if perfection means universal appeal but if you think quantity has displaced quality both in number of books published and number of pages in each book this is the one for you. Jim Lewis is the best author alive in my opinion and has two things most don't - a real gift and the ability to be concise. Anyone can convey a miserable and interminable experience by creating one for the reader but a precious few can do it, or anything else, in one sentence. If 'I know this much is true' was half as long, twice as good, and a little more brutal it would be 'The King is Dead' on its best day. I agree completely with the reviewer who said Jim Lewis makes him reluctant to write by showing what the best are capable of. Robert Penn Warren, John Steinbeck and Annie Proulx come together in this brilliant author. If you like it read 'why the tree loves the axe' if you can find it.