Rating: 
Summary: Of Fun and Flaws
Review: A couple of months ago, I posted a review of Ice Storm in which I put down Rick Moody for his obbession with turning "protean consciousness" (his words) into long, torrid prose, but ironically that's what I've come to enjoy about him the most. Despite the fact that he's just showing off, the fact that Moody isn't afraid to write prose has the scope of Bible passages or Shakespeare is something to be admired. But Moody's loquaciousness is also his major flaw. He can't seem to write stories that encompass the scope of his prose. He's dealing with subjects that are far too large. Story after story in Demonology breaks down mid way through and grasps at abstractions that the stories don't justify. BUT
the stories deal with conventional themes so innate in human experience that when Moody renders them in such unusual ways, it becomes quite magnificent. No writer writing today attempts the kind of merging of style and content that Moody does and he gets hard knocks for it. Which is really quite unfair because he could easily write obvious and bland short stories about topics a million stories have dealt with before and still be considered a talented writer. Instead, he chooses to explore a post-structralist view of literature, refusing to pin down meaning so we can't all just feel satisifed we're dealing with a really smart guy who is going to tell us how to feel. Though ultimately, Moody is outshined by David Foster Wallace, simply because Wallace isn't so pretentious and far more self-consciousness about his own status as "far too smart"., he is still an author that, if read in spurts, can creep up on you like a song you've never liked before suddenly sounding like nothing you've ever heard.
Rating:
Summary: Of Fun and Flaws
Review: A couple of months ago, I posted a review of Ice Storm in which I put down Rick Moody for his obbession with turning "protean consciousness" (his words) into long, torrid prose, but ironically that's what I've come to enjoy about him the most. Despite the fact that he's just showing off, the fact that Moody isn't afraid to write prose has the scope of Bible passages or Shakespeare is something to be admired. But Moody's loquaciousness is also his major flaw. He can't seem to write stories that encompass the scope of his prose. He's dealing with subjects that are far too large. Story after story in Demonology breaks down mid way through and grasps at abstractions that the stories don't justify. BUT
the stories deal with conventional themes so innate in human experience that when Moody renders them in such unusual ways, it becomes quite magnificent. No writer writing today attempts the kind of merging of style and content that Moody does and he gets hard knocks for it. Which is really quite unfair because he could easily write obvious and bland short stories about topics a million stories have dealt with before and still be considered a talented writer. Instead, he chooses to explore a post-structralist view of literature, refusing to pin down meaning so we can't all just feel satisifed we're dealing with a really smart guy who is going to tell us how to feel. Though ultimately, Moody is outshined by David Foster Wallace, simply because Wallace isn't so pretentious and far more self-consciousness about his own status as "far too smart"., he is still an author that, if read in spurts, can creep up on you like a song you've never liked before suddenly sounding like nothing you've ever heard.
Rating:
Summary: why the gimmickry ? O/W recommended.
Review: A strong collection that shows what readers of Moody's novel The Ice Storm already know : This guy can write. His ability to get inside his character's minds is to be admired. One reason for 4 - not 5 stars though. I found the ... of Moody to italize in the middle of a thought to be distracting. Why does an otherwise gifted writer feel the need to be bigger than the form he uses ? Did not using such a gimmick limit any of the great writers ? With that one small critque in mind, I still highly urge you to explore this book.
Rating: 
Summary: enough with those italics
Review: Despite a cool title and gorgeous cover, this book falls short once you open it up. The italics for one. They're the literary equivalent of someone whispering in your ear when you're trying to watch on a movie, they jolt you from your absorption and leave you unsure of what is going on. Second, this collection is very uneven. A few stories are very good, several are passable, and many are downright infuriating to try and grasp the point of. I don't believe "literary fiction" has to wear its incomprehensibility and pretentiousness like a badge of honor, in order to garner admiration. Thirdly, the characters have little to no depth, with the exception of a few narrators. We get their physical descriptions, what music they like, and where they shop, yet nothing about what they believe in, what they enjoy doing in their spare time, their political stands, etc. Brand names do not a multi-dimensional character make. My recommendation: Skip it.
Rating:
Summary: The voice of privilege
Review: Here it is, folks, the voice of privilege: Guggenheim endorsed, Connecticut hip, Brown University hip hoo ha. Would you want your children to read this book, or your uncle, or yourself? Purple is as purple does. Demonology ideed. Hawthorne's the one.
Rating: 
Summary: awesome
Review: I bought this in hardcover and bought it again in paperback. I have loaned it to friends who never gave it back. So I bought it again. I am on my fifth or sixth copy. If you buy this, try to hang onto it.
Rating:
Summary: Do you have Demons?
Review: I defy anybody out there to claim that they have no demons. The trick is bringing them out in the light. Nobody does this better in modern fiction than Mr. Moody. Passages turn from horrifying to hilarious in three words - and back again in the next three. How many books have you ever read that could make you laugh uncontrolably and then cry in the same way? For twenty bucks you can buy a mirror for your soul - hold it up, find the demons that scare you, the ones you have fun with; choreograph a dance with them and then tuck them into bed. Tuck yourself in too, but don't count on sleeping - this book will make you keep reading. I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: I like this book
Review: I don't know... I think that Rick Moody isn't recognized enough by most book buyers. As this collection proves, we should pay more attention to him. His cool indictment of upper-class suburban society, his inventive language, his reinvention and reimagining of the short story, his commentary on genre and, above all, his wonderful abilities as a storyteller, all point to him as the shining literary star of today. He gets lumped in with others who don't hold a candle to him. Read this book and be touched and proud.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic, emotionally charged collection
Review: I had already read several of these stories in the New Yorker and heard others at readings, but those previews took nothing away from the fact that Rick Moody's "Demonology" is a powerful collection of short fiction. Despite some weak spots (like "Pan's Fair Throng," which I couldn't bring myself to finish), Moody lays down one moving story after another, making for a diverse and satisfying read. My favorite pieces here are the ones in which Moody does what he does best and what few of his contemporaries dare to do: strive for emotional climaxes that are well-earned, not cynical but not naïve, and incapable of being overly sentimental or cheesy. The first story, "Mansion on the Hill," is probably the best example of all that will follow. Moody leavens a heavy emotional backdrop (the narrator is writing a letter to his departed sister on the event of her fiancé's marriage to another woman) with outrageous humor (his job wearing a chicken mask, the strange inner workings of a wedding production company) and the effect is beautiful and bittersweet. Moody has all the humor of writers like Michael Chabon and Douglas Coupland, and the same comic cultural awareness. What sets "Demonology" apart, though, are some of the cleverer, more experimental stories that aren't stories so much as, well, liner notes for a CD box set representing the evolution of a certain Wilkie Fahnstock's listening habits, from the Almann Brothers to Aphex Twin; or a book catalogue that becomes a journey into a comically unhealthy crush that the cataloguer can't seem to put behind him. This willingness to push the boundaries of his chosen format while still producing classically satisfying narratives puts Moody in a class all his own. But the more lyrical moments are just as powerful, often reminiscent of the astonishing first chapter of "Purple America," and possessed of a motion dictated more by feel than by grammar. It is this mode (in full effect in this collection in stories like "Drawer" and "Boys") that gives many readers of Moody trouble; it is true that he can be a difficult read at times, but it's a price well worth paying for the reward his stories often carry at their end. I loved "Demonology" and would recommend it highly, although readers should bear Moody's occasionally difficult, Virginia Woolf-ish prose in mind. In my opinion, he's worth the sweat, and each story's pay-off sticks with you for a while after you put the book down. If you prefer the blunter style of Hemingway, though, most of these stories may not be to your liking.
Rating:
Summary: An incredibly beautiful story collection...
Review: I must admit that I'm not a fan of Rick Moody's novels (Ice Storm, Purple America, and Garden State all nearly put me to sleep), but when it comes to short stories, man, there's no one better (aside from Lydia Davis and Ray Carver, mind you). He's constantly creative, his stories are filled with an innovative simplicity that's quite remarkable. Most notable is the story "Boys," which, in seven short pages, follows two brothers from childhood to adulthood. This is great stuff...
|
