The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. 3W: Fiction

Rating:
Summary: Well written meditations on Manhattan in the 70s
Review: A very well written book that keeps one interested and leaves one thinking. The other Amazon "Reviewers" who disparage this book serve as a warning to me about trusting reviews on Amazon-- I agree with the professional literary reviews that acclaimed this book. If you are not familiar with 70s Manhattan, this book may introduce you to a new (or simply different) world.

Rating:
Summary: The Curious Case of How This Book Got Published; Apt. Sucks!
Review: I was absolutely disgusted by the content of this mediocre, mundane attempt. I found the one story about the boy's older brother to be obscene and offensive. I have no problem with the provocative but this was just smut. I lost valuable brain cells reading this book. I am astounded by the fact that the reviews hailed this book as a Salingeresque masterpiece. I see no relationship whatsoever. If you notice the sales rank of this book, the only people who have read this novel were relatives of the author. I feel awful for those people. For the sake of humanity, I hope that he is never published again.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: It looked like a great read but was dissapointing. There is weird sexual problems and psychosis, but not well written. One never seems to be able to "relate" to the outlandish characters and feeble story lines.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Place to Visit, Wouldn't Want to Live There...
Review: New York for Gabriel Brownstein is full of some very odd characters, and he renders each of them awfully well, but I'm very glad that I don't have to live with his particular cast and crew. Too creepy! Too bizarre. But the writing sings, it jumps, it keeps you reading, and what more can you ask from that hardest of forms, the short story cycle? "The Bachelor Party" is chilling, and "A Penal Colony All His Own, 11E" does a masterful job taking on the impossibility of certain kinds of friendship. But that sounds pedantic...who cares what I thought it was about? The question is, what will you, gentle reader, make of these magical, unfettered tales?

Rating:
Summary: Nice Place to Visit, Wouldn't Want to Live There...
Review: New York for Gabriel Brownstein is full of some very odd characters, and he renders each of them awfully well, but I'm very glad that I don't have to live with his particular cast and crew. Too creepy! Too bizarre. But the writing sings, it jumps, it keeps you reading, and what more can you ask from that hardest of forms, the short story cycle? "The Bachelor Party" is chilling, and "A Penal Colony All His Own, 11E" does a masterful job taking on the impossibility of certain kinds of friendship. But that sounds pedantic...who cares what I thought it was about? The question is, what will you, gentle reader, make of these magical, unfettered tales?

Rating:
Summary: it's okay
Review: This collection of stories is good if you're bored and don't have anything else to read (i.e. don't buy it, borrow it from a friend or the library). I wasn't incredibly impressed, and I'm not sure how this book was awarded the PEN/Hemingway award. It's good writing, but I didn't find it to be quite as incredible or inventive as some of the magazine reviewers did. It was okay.