Damascus Gate

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Stone is a fine author and this is the best novel I've read this year. Rich, atmospheric writing and beautifully developed characters. A stunning book worthy of a reader's time and money. Don't miss it!

Rating:
Summary: Jerusalem is here in all Her madness & metaphysical glory.
Review: The full power of the main character of this book - the city of Jerusalem - is brilliantly captured in this ingenious novel, especially when taken to it's extreme in the form of the very real Jerusalem Syndrome. Yes, Jerusalem can drive otherwise "normal" people to many forms of madness. And the human characters in this novel are perfect expressions of all the various shapes & shades of human personalities, and honestly portrays how the brooding influence of this ageless city affects them all. I can imagine that Robert Stone's genius in conveying this powerful presence may be lost on anyone unfamiliar with Jerusalem. I lived in Jerusalem for close to 9 years, and - although they're fictional - I know all the characters in this book quite well. In fact, some of my best friends are the Messiah. The sense of humor (a requisite to surviving in Jerusalem with sanity intact) inherent to the book - it begins with the protaganist waking up on Easter morning - is a commodity rarely found in books depiciting the "troubles" of the Middle East. And it is precisely the element needed to communicate the ironies, contradictions, beliefs, and lack of beliefs which embody the region, and the myriads of forms of religious & political ideals which swarm around it like fish in the ocean. In the center of it all is Jerusalem, physically manifesting every ideal, power, & apparent contradiction, equalizing them in one glorious geophysical entity. This is the reality seen by the characters of Adam De Kuff & Raziel Belker; they see the Unity, not the differences - "all is Torah." Unfortunately, it is human nature, brought out to its worst extreme in the Middle East, to focus on the differences. And this is what the main character - Jerusalem - of the book is constantly defying, by being a physical proof of the Unity of All. And Stone gives us an excellent view of how people who come to Jerusalem deal with, or deny, this proof which surrounds them. The results are limited: madne! ss, political or religious zeal (choosing a specific doctrine of differentiation), or denial of it all & loss of self relative to the multitudes of identities which are asserted in & by Jerusalem.

Rating:
Summary: ditto Steve ([e-mail]) from New England
Review: I heard the news of 9 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip and I thought "I was just there!" And I was, with Damascas Gate. I have a vision (and a feel and a smell) fixed in my mind in a way not possible with CNN thanks to this author.

The "adventure" side of this book was OK, but not riveting. I suppose it was the medium that allowed this picture of ethnic angst and religious fanaticism/obsession to be so well painted.

Rating:
Summary: The Middle East, a grave to so many victims, finds another.
Review: Robert Stone may well reap numerous awards for this immediate best seller on the basis of his other, more focused works. The characters in Damascus Gate are flat stereotypes who populate a richly described landscape which belongs in a different novel- a novel where the feeling generated by it's protagonists somehow connects to the locale. Stone provides a travelogue of tiny Israel which is gratuitous and also leaves the impression it is at least the size of Texas. And then there is the theological detail- how many sects can one take?- which serves to obfuscate an already muddled situation. This parody may in some sense explain the evening news until, that is, we add a dose of true mental illness ( one character forgets to take his lithium for six months!) which then makes the religious zealots perhaps the most sane people in this story. I expected less heat from Robert Stone, and more light.

Rating:
Summary: As good as I'd heard
Review: This was good stuff. I am a Stone reader but usually do not pass his books along to my friends for fear of depressing them too much. The Bear and his Daughter is an excellent example. I liked Damascus Gate and the questions pondered. Lucas is a typical disaffected Stone character who is just a tad less jaded than most of Stone's creations. There are many characters to follow but Stone keeps them all memorable and all interesting. So far this is the read of the year.

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: Buy this at once and read it. If you already know Robert Stone (I've read all his books), you'll find this is the best. If you're not familiar with him, here's a great place to start. His Jerusalem reminds me a lot of Phnom Penh, and I have seen his characters drunk beside the Mekong...

Rating:
Summary: An enthralling drama; a disappointing thriller
Review: This book is a fine example of how the best art can render a time and place so vividly that the reader is left with an understanding of the subject more real and immediate than countless journalistic pieces, and possibly even travel, could provide.

I have read all of Robert Stone's fiction and a good deal of his criticism. I look forward to his thoughts on any subject more than any other writer. "Damascus Gate" was a surprise to me. I had no idea Stone was writing a book on Israel - I was expecting his new book to be about America in the 1960s.

"Damascus Gate" excelled in its presentation of characters and the volatile situation of Jerusalem and Israel. I was enthralled with the religious and social aspects of the novel and feel I now have an understanding of this part of the world from, I can only say, a street level. This book is not about politics, but how people live day to day in this incredible tension and in a place where things spiritual carry a considerable heft in the material world.

I think the novel fails as a thriller and was disappointed to see it head in that direction. I found the characters and their situations so well drawn that I would have been happier with less plotting.

Melville's thoughts on the Holy Land came to me when reading this book: "Is the desolation of the land the result of the fatal embrace of the Diety?" Stone's new book is a searing meditation on a God-touched place that surely suffers from such an embrace.

Rating:
Summary: Probably his dest work
Review: This novel, written by perhaps my favorite living author, meets the high expectations I had for it. It is reminiscent of Stone's "Flag for Sunrise" in terms of its scope, but surpasses that novel in depth of feeling. I thought "Outerbridge Reach" was the best novel of that year, this one is even better. Its unfortunate that we have to wait so long between this author's works, but thats the price we pay for such strongly crafted work.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!
Review: We've done this dance before...or at least something with similar steps. What makes a good book great, what makes a book large and weighty, etc? Characters, plot, prose--not necessarily in that order.

I've only read one other novel by Robert Stone: Dog Soldiers. Now that I've read two, I feel fairly confident in describing him in this way: weighty, without all the sweat and showmanship. He finds a big STORY--a plot with combat boots--and attaches his characters to it. Loners, addicts, misanthropes--his characters are united by three apparently contradictory traits: rage, confusion, and indifference. And this works, trust me. Like some strange literary gyroscope, Stone hooks his characters to his plot, gives it a whirl, and steps back--almost into the reader's lap--and just watches it go. Perhaps the reason Stone is A) critically acclaimed, but not usually referred to as one of the "great" writers and B) not a bestselling author is that he never connects the dots, something B-writers do too much of and something A-writers also do too much of, but at least do well. By "connecting the dots" I mean what usually constitutes most of the prose that sits between the dialogue--the paragraphs where we read what Joe's feeling, why he's feeling that, and why it's all ironic. (Two writers who do it very well are Delillo and Richard Ford.) Perhaps Stone's greatest skill is his subtlety. In "Damascus Gate" he sticks a bunch of religious zealots (of all strains, shapes, and colors) in millenarian Jerusalem and, as I wrote previously, just lets them GO. The meaning of everything (most characters are of mixed religion and race, never quite knowing how to describe themselves) is left unwritten. Ah, sweet subtlety. A perfect example: Christopher Lucas, the main character, visits Yad Vashem (the Holocaust museum) and the Gaza strip on the same day. Stone does not ask the question that a lesser author would insist on asking: How does one reconcile the will to survive as a people with the will of others to survive?

I'm neither skilled enough as a writer nor as a critic to attempt to connect the dots in a little pointless review. It's a great book, the way great books are often dreamed of--big, weighty, etc. It's a love story, suspense novel, black comedy, and inquiry into religion all rolled up into a very entertaining 500 pages. There is a plot to blow up the temple mount, drug dealing immigrants, riots, messianic cults, and more. Stone pulls it off expertly. Having spent time in Israel, I am astounded by how much his story is immersed in Israeli culture and Israel itself, but never does it read like a tour guide or something born from too much research.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent treatment of a difficult problem
Review: If you are looking for a thrill-a-minute page-turner, this book is not for you. If, however, you are more interested in depth than in flash, I recommend Damascus Gate. In a nutshell: Damascus Gate gave me a better understanding of the Israeli/Palestinian situation than any number of non-fiction pieces I've read.