Two Guys from Verona: A Novel of Suburbia

Rating:
Summary: Middle-aged, surburban angst
Review: As a fellow boomer, the characters of "Two Guys" drew me in. The trials and tribulations of the very different yet long-term friends, Joel and Will, are colorful, realistic and oh so painful to someone of the same era.

Kaplan has an indirect, poetic flourish. He notes and vividly describes colors, sounds and smells. These visceral aspects of his style complement and round out the development of characters and scenes. At times the non-linear exposition and delayed description of characters can be frustrating, but it is worth the wait. These are characters worth discovering.

Who hasn't left behind some deep-seated memories, ones you'd just as soon avoid as pursue? What middle-aged male has not looked twice at younger women? And what same male has not anguished over lost hair, an expanded waistline, a looming mortgages, and or spousal distance? Well-worn subjects brought to life by a skilled author.

Rating:
Summary: Middle-aged, surburban angst
Review: As a fellow boomer, the characters of "Two Guys" drew me in. The trials and tribulations of the very different yet long-term friends, Joel and Will, are colorful, realistic and oh so painful to someone of the same era.

Kaplan has an indirect, poetic flourish. He notes and vividly describes colors, sounds and smells. These visceral aspects of his style complement and round out the development of characters and scenes. At times the non-linear exposition and delayed description of characters can be frustrating, but it is worth the wait. These are characters worth discovering.

Who hasn't left behind some deep-seated memories, ones you'd just as soon avoid as pursue? What middle-aged male has not looked twice at younger women? And what same male has not anguished over lost hair, an expanded waistline, a looming mortgages, and or spousal distance? Well-worn subjects brought to life by a skilled author.

Rating:
Summary: Yuppie mid-life angst
Review: Being in my mid-forties I had an epiphany reading this book. Haling from metropolitan NY the book had some resonance for me, and I was highly entertained by Kaplan's descriptions of a bourgeois lifestyle both familiar and very amusing (from a distance). Initially, I was detached reading what I thought were descriptions of a long gone era, but abruptly realized when reading of Will's class of 1974 high school reunion that this book was talking about me! Accordingly thereafter the text became more pointed and I became more personally engaged.

Kaplan aptly describes the superficial and label oriented culture culture predominant in much of suburban NY. He also poignantly depicts the marginal accomplishment and sense of lost opportunity, shallow satisfactions, and sacrificed ideals this lifestyle often represent. The beauty of the book is that he conveys a meaningful, thought provoking message in an entertaining fashion without being morose or pedantic.

The book sustains a credible plot until the last quarter in which events become increasingly fantastic and absurd. However, throughout it remains entertaining despite a weak ending.

This is a perfect read for middle class, middle aged, metropolitan readers.

Rating:
Summary: Can You Say "Who Cares?"
Review: Cliches abound in Two Guys. And even if they're cliches because they're true, that's no excuse to write a 300 plus page novel about them. Will is whiny, perfectly matched with an equally whiny wife. Joel is stuck on the past and seeing dead people, though much less entertainingly than the little boy in the Sixth Sense. Will gets his comeuppance and Joel, mightily effective in his infrequent sexual activity, gets a life. For his next novel, I would like to see James Kaplan aim his sardonic satirical talents at targets that are a little less broad than the side of a barn. And oh yeah, easy on the brand names next time, too.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece of baby boomers in suburbia
Review: Frankly, I bought Two Guys From Verona because I grew up in Cedar Grove, the New Jersey town that neighbors Verona. And when I read the jacket copy comparing Kaplan's fiction to Updike, Salinger, and Cheever, I thought I was being set up for a big disappointment. Quite to the contrary, the book swept aside my reservations from the moment I opened it. I was drawn into the lives of Kaplan's incredibly engaging characters and the wonderfully tense situations he creates for them. I found myself compelled to recount every scene to my girlfriend who also hung on every word. If the book has any fault, it is its all-to-quick wrap-up; I would have preferred the loose ends to remain unravelled. Though I am a lifelong reader, it is the rare book that "I can't put down." Two Guys From Verona is one such book.

Rating:
Summary: Hits close to home, literally
Review: I am from Montclair, NJ and Montclair is often mentioned in Two Guys from Verona. This novel is excellent in exposing the inner mechanisms of the suburban home, and challenging the reader to feel the stagnancy of these characters lives. Personally, living next to Verona, everything was extremely vivid, as I have been to all of the settings involved in this novel. I recommened those intrigued by the suburban life to read Two Guys from Verona.

Rating:
Summary: interesting characters, but 2 guys need a life and an editor
Review: i grew up in new jersey territory covered by book. found moods and characters evocative and often moving. james kaplan can clearly write--often beautifully and lyrically. he is way too in love with his own voice, however, his description of places and things and people often painfully overdrawn and convoluted. we get it: he knows language. but sometimes a sentence fewer than 10 lines long, with fewer than 6 parentheticals and dashes, isn't a tragedy. it's exhausting reading the sometimes overblown and tediously and needlessly complexly woven sentence structures around secondary and terciary characters and story elements. there were times i wanted to shout, get to the point, say it more simply and clearly. one less adjective please; use 6 adjectives in the sentence instead of 11. this isn't graduate school fiction writing in which you're trying to impress your colleagues and professor.

having said that, kaplan's observations about suburban life--its foibles and flaws and eccentricities--are often sharp and great fun. so are some of the nuances of his core characters. sometimes his references and comments dazzle.

what's not so sharp are some of the critical plot developments and resolutions. too neat and simple and quick. why, for example, wouldn't core character joel have investigated more carefully the disappearance of his beloved girl friend (cindy) years earlier? it makes no sense that he would have waited so long to visit the hospital from which she disappeared just after high school. and why, when "relatively" early in the story he learned that cindy had a local daughter, didn't he jump all over that, and confront the "supposed" very accessible father. joel's life transformation after finally finding and meeting cindy--from borderline schizophrenic and complete screw up to proprietor of a suburban coffee house--is equally implausible. it all happens way too fast and without necessary development.

the ending, and the weaving together of various plot lines, reads too much like a hollow hollywood movie. kaplan clearly can do better than that.

he's created the edges of something very special here. i was hooked; i read much of the book eagerly. i just wish he filled in more of the content with a little less attention to style and a little more to reality--the real shapes and patterns of real human interactions and dynamics.

Rating:
Summary: Tremendous potential with disastrous ending
Review: I purchased Two Guys From Verona with high expectations after reading the customer reviews. The first two thirds of the novel were an insightful examination of the lives of middle aged men in suburbia. The ending, however, was full of such bizarre coincidences that I completely forgot about what I had previously read. The title's allusion to Shakespeare was faulty. The Bard's tragic heroes at least had flaws; protagonist Will Weiss' destruction seemed totally undeserved. By the end I simply felt that I had wasted my time in reading the book.

Rating:
Summary: Provocative, haunting book
Review: Several months ago, I finally got around to reading Two Guys from Verona by James Kaplan. The book is set in Verona, N.J. (I believe that's near where James grew up), and follows two friends in their early 40s, friends since high school. One, destined for greatness, lives with his nutty mother and has difficulties with mental illness. The other did all the things he was supposed to do, including joining his father's business, marrying, having children, buying a house... Besides capturing upscale suburbia and the way many of us live now uncannily well, this book also explores how much of life is beyond our control--especially for those who just follow it rather than trying to take control."

Rating:
Summary: What an excellent view
Review: This was such a well-written, emotional book that I had trouble keeping my eyes dry. It's a little hard to get into, but this tale of everyday life in Verona, NY is very intriguing once you get into it. It shows all the little connections that there are and takes you behind the scenes of the everyday people you watch walking down the street and never think twice about. Definitely read this book.