Elroy Nights

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I am an avid reader and writer, and I had to force myself to finish this novel. Although I appreciate the sentiments the author evokes, the reading is BORING. It seems more like a memoir, or a vehicle solely for the author to convey his personal feelings and/or experiences regarding the disillusionment of mid-life contrasted with the searching and angst of today's youth. A fertile subject matter, but the way this book is written you'd either have to be in awe of the author's personna or had almost exact similar experiences as the narrator for the book to grab you. It doesn't grab me, and I wanted to go there. Berthelme says the same thing over and over again, with the same words re-tossed, and I got it the first few times. This one should've been a short story.

No doubt Barthelme is a good writer. My problem with large portions of this book is that he seems to know this, and the writing gets a little too smart for its own good, at the expense of this reader's interest. What is frustrating is that you have to wade through stilted dialouge and ruminations for the sake of ruminating (like the technicaly great music solo that goes everywhere, but nowhere) to get to the brilliant passages - the nights the protagonist spends outside on his wife's deck, and his detailed noticing of nature with clarity he hasn't enjoyed since youth. Good stuff.

I don't enjoy writing negative reviews, and, therefore, I don't do it often. But, I guess if these pages are to serve what I assume to be their purpose, I need to be honest. This book is NOT a masterpiece. For it to be hailed as one would be unjust in my mind, given that we all have our own notions of justice. The other stuff I've read by Barthelme is better. Read some, because this guy can write. He just misses the mark here, but at least he's shooting.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I am an avid reader and writer, and I had to force myself to finish this novel. Although I appreciate the sentiments the author evokes, the reading is BORING. It seems more like a memoir, or a vehicle solely for the author to convey his personal feelings and/or experiences regarding the disillusionment of mid-life contrasted with the searching and angst of today's youth. A fertile subject matter, but the way this book is written you'd either have to be in awe of the author's personna or had almost exact similar experiences as the narrator for the book to grab you. It doesn't grab me, and I wanted to go there. Berthelme says the same thing over and over again, with the same words re-tossed, and I got it the first few times. This one should've been a short story.

No doubt Barthelme is a good writer. My problem with large portions of this book is that he seems to know this, and the writing gets a little too smart for its own good, at the expense of this reader's interest. What is frustrating is that you have to wade through stilted dialouge and ruminations for the sake of ruminating (like the technicaly great music solo that goes everywhere, but nowhere) to get to the brilliant passages - the nights the protagonist spends outside on his wife's deck, and his detailed noticing of nature with clarity he hasn't enjoyed since youth. Good stuff.

I don't enjoy writing negative reviews, and, therefore, I don't do it often. But, I guess if these pages are to serve what I assume to be their purpose, I need to be honest. This book is NOT a masterpiece. For it to be hailed as one would be unjust in my mind, given that we all have our own notions of justice. The other stuff I've read by Barthelme is better. Read some, because this guy can write. He just misses the mark here, but at least he's shooting.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I bought "Elroy Nights" after reading positive reviews on the back cover, but I only reached halfway after feeling deflated and disappointed with the pace and characters. I don't expect the books I read to have a point or a plot per se, but I do expect them to contain something to consider, mull over, and be worthy of my time and effort.

"Elroy Nights" refers to the title character in the novel, an art professor at a small university in Mississippi. It starts with him feeling discontented with his life with Clare, his wife. This is what pulled me in--the descriptions of Elroy's discontent promise some future insight, or SOMETHING. But I just couldn't sympathize with the main character or find his musings anything but vague and meandering. Nothing really happened and nothing was really noted that made me think it was worth it to keep going. In the end there is nothing really original or wise about this one--avoid it.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I will always remember F. Barthelme's description of "trees the size of explosions." Most books, I cannot remember anything, so this means that this book, Elroy Nights, is a good book.

I also remember some other stuff. Like the dialogue, and the scene where the guy commits suicide (even though this scene wasn't even in the book, I still remember it from the oblique mentionings of it, and this is good).

F. Barthelme doesn't waste your time. He doesn't exaggerate either. He creates real characters. For example, his characters aren't ALWAYS DEPRESSED or ALWAYS JADED or whatever. They go through a variety of emotions and moods, just like real life!

Lolita is one of the dullest books I have ever read. It is the most disengenuous piece of crap ever (that i've read, thus far). I also dislike Catch-22. Major Major Major Major? Just the thought of that SNL-ish PUN makes me want to vomit out my window and jump down with it and land on the concrete in showers of my own vomit.

This book is infinitely better than Lolita and Catch-22 combined and increased in goodness 100x. This book is better than that super-hybrid heller-nobakov book that I just created.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I will always remember F. Barthelme's description of "trees the size of explosions." Most books, I cannot remember anything, so this means that this book, Elroy Nights, is a good book.

I also remember some other stuff. Like the dialogue, and the scene where the guy commits suicide (even though this scene wasn't even in the book, I still remember it from the oblique mentionings of it, and this is good).

F. Barthelme doesn't waste your time. He doesn't exaggerate either. He creates real characters. For example, his characters aren't ALWAYS DEPRESSED or ALWAYS JADED or whatever. They go through a variety of emotions and moods, just like real life!

Lolita is one of the dullest books I have ever read. It is the most disengenuous piece of crap ever (that i've read, thus far). I also dislike Catch-22. Major Major Major Major? Just the thought of that SNL-ish PUN makes me want to vomit out my window and jump down with it and land on the concrete in showers of my own vomit.

This book is infinitely better than Lolita and Catch-22 combined and increased in goodness 100x. This book is better than that super-hybrid heller-nobakov book that I just created.

Rating:
Summary: Masterwork
Review: I've been reading Barthelme since his first collection of stories - the mesmerizing 'Moon Deluxe' - and ELROY NIGHTS is his finest work yet. It's a masterpiece. Measured, beautiful, heartbreaking, and deeply felt.

If there were any justice in the world, this new novel would sweep the literary awards. My fear, however, is that publishing insiders will continue to reward their own mediocrity.

The story does travel some of the same paths as Barthelme's other work, but the language here is more mature, richer than anything else in his catalog.

As always, the characters are remarkable, smart, sassy, and brutal. And impossible not to watch.

The climax of the story is shocking, and the sweet denoument plays honest and forlorn.

I can't recommend it enough.