Life Expectancy

Rating:
Summary: Longevity
Review:
Anyone interested in life ecpectancy should check the book "Can We Live 150 Years?" by Tombak.

Rating:
Summary: A Riveting Tale of A Baker and A Clown
Review: All six definitions of the word FANTASTIC included in my unabridged edition of The Random House Dictionary Of The English Language could easily be applied to this wonderful story, but I will concentrate on the two that most aptly describe my reaction. First, it is a story of truly "unrestrained imagination", as readers familiar with the work of Dean Koontz undoubtedly have come to expect. Second, it is "incredibly great", not in the sense of being a perfect example of what a novel can be, but rather in the sense of being a story which quickly captures the reader and carries him/her along in the rapidly moving first person tale told by narrator Jimmy Tock, a thirty year old pastry chef whose storytelling ability and life's experiences quickly captivate the reader and make it difficult to return to the world outside this novel until you have finished the story.

The book is divided into six (unequal) parts, and the titles of these sections (with some elaboration), provide a convenient way to review the book. Part 1 is WELCOME TO THE WORLD, JIMMY TOCK, and describes the unusual (and tragic) circumstances which surround Jimmy's birth on August 9.1974. His grandfather Josef (a pastry chef, not a fortune teller) was lying paralyzed in the hospital when Jimmy was born, and in fact died at the exact moment of his birth after making ten predictions to his son Rudy (Jimmy's father) that would shape Jimmy's life. Four of these were facts concerning his birth (time, weight, length and syndactyly - fused digits) which immediately proved correct and five were dates on which Jimmy would experience terrible tragedies during the first thirty-one years of his life. As a violent storm rages outside, the tenth prediction is fulfilled when a traumatic event occurs in the hospital which involves another expectant father, Konrad Beezo - perhaps the greatest clown of his era, and which will in retrospect alter the lives of everyone involved and form the basis of Josef's predictions of future tragedy. This section also provides us sufficient background information about Jimmy and his close knit family that we can appreciate their individuality and yet the bond which they share. The plot device introduced here is vintage Dean Koontz, it contains the key premise of the flight of fantasy upon which the reader is invited to embark; Josef's sudden ability to foretell the future is in fact not nearly as implausible as many of the narrative devices routinely used by Koontz (e.g. in SOLE SURVIVOR or THE FACE) and its acceptance will draw the reader into a truly wonderful tale told by a very engaging narrator.

The remaining five sections are organized around the five dates which cause an increasing sense of foreboding as they approach. Part 2 (which involves over one-third of the book) is titled MIGHT AS WELL DIE IF I CAN'T FLY; the first prediction involves Thursday, September 15,1994 - Jimmy and his family have no basis on which to judge the nature of Josef's warning, but the events which transpire on this fateful day leave Jimmy with physical and psychological scars which cause him to worry that his fate will forever be influenced by the tragedy which which occurred on the day of his birth and will be linked to Konrad Beezo, Konrad's baby son Punchinello and Konrad's arch enemy and father-in-law the aerialist Virgilio Vivacemente. Part 3 is WELCOME TO THE WORLD, ANNIE TOCK, which provides the background of Jimmy's life following his survival of the the events of that fateful September 9th until the next date on Josef's list, Monday, January 19th, 1998, exactly a wek following the birth of Jimmy's first child.

Part 4 is ALL I EVER WANTED WAS IMMORTALITY, the search for which obviously involves great danger for anyone who might find themselves in the path of the demented individual seeking such a goal. The last two sections quickly crescendo towards the grand finale as surely as any show under the circus big top. Part 5 is JUST LIKE PONTIUS PILATE, YOU WASHED YOUR HANDS OF ME - a statement so filled with pathos that its actual utterance takes your breath away. Then the story races towards its conclusion, I AM MOONLIGHT WALKING, THE LOVE OF EVERY WOMAN, THE ENVY OF EVERY MAN. All the loose ends are tied up in a scene of great surprises and incredible power - ugliness and beauty, hate and love, violence and tenderness, the past and the future all intermingled. How many authors could manage to insert the poetry of both Emily Dickinson and the pop music of Johnny Tillotson into the narration of his story in a way which not only seems completely natural but actually enhances our respect and affection for Jimmy?

This is a story that charmed me with its humor and insights into the human condition while totally capturing my interest through the wonderful voice which Koontz provides to his narrator Jimmy as he recounts both the major events and the meaningful minor details which shape his life. Pay attention to those details, they often influence the future in very unexpected ways. And while there is frequent misdirection, it is always accomplished and always accomplished through cleverness rathe than trickery. Even the title is a double entendre, is it about Jimmy's LIFE EXPECTANCY (the age when he will die) or is it about what he expects from life? As the crucial free pass to the circus pictured facing the title page boldly exclaims - PREPARE TO BE ENCHANTED!

Tucker Andersen

Rating:
Summary: Koontz gets ultra-silly with this one
Review: I love humor and I love fun, but, I positively can not tolerate silliness in a mystery or thriller. Sadly, this novel from Koontz can be used as a guideline for "How to Write an Unbearably Silly Novel." I must confess, I only made it 3/4 ways through, and I simply could not finish the rest....I didn't care how it ended at this point. This excercise in silliness seemed to be written by a rookie with a juvenile and unfunny sense of humor, NOT by a top selling author known for his brilliant chills and thrills, and good humor when it was needed. The paper-thin story was utterly predictable, the main characters were cheesy and shallow beyond belief, and the attempts at humor quickly nosedived into the most repulsive silliness I've ever experienced from a usually satisfying author. I warn all readers, and especially fans of Koontz' early and mid career output, avoid this stinker at all costs.

Rating:
Summary: very typical Koontz
Review: I'm not very good at writing a review, but all I can say is that this book was a real page turner. You do need to get past the first quarter of the book for it to really take off, but have patience, it is worth it! Great ending, did not see a few things coming. If you love Koontz, read and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: A good one. Short, and suspensefull without all the gore.
Review: If you like a fast read, this one's for you. After a bizarre deathbed prediction of "five terrible days" for newborn Jimmy Tock, the story jumps immediately to Jimmy at twenty and the first of the ominous days. Life Expectancy shows only the advent and drama of each of the days, but there's nothing sketchy about the oddball characters who seem to thrive on the unique pacing of this story. Without foregoing suspense, Koontz has written a pretty good non-gory novel.

While his other recent books have (sometimes infectively) explored philosophical angles or theological themes, this one's simply a good story. Typically his villains are unrealistic, but these are far from Koontz worst in that area.



Rating:
Summary: A suggestion to Mr. Dean
Review: Mr Dean you have some original ideas I'll give you that (except Odd Thomas and Taking) but please leave the writing job to an author more skilled than you (Stephen King anyone?) so that your nice ideas are not drowned and fizzled out throughout the hopeless process and we, readers, are not treated with sophomoric narrative and characters but an actual story. Please listen to me- you can get the copyrights anyway so don't worry about the money! Many thanks in advance!
Life Expectancy is another great premise suffering from poor writing skills with some of the most stupid witty talks I have come to see in my life, almost to the point of ridiculos. Only read the flapside story- much more interesting than the actual content. You have been warned!

Rating:
Summary: FROM ONE AUTHOR TO ANOTHER
Review: Mr. Koontz!

You are magnificent! A true work of art my friend. I've followed you for many years and must say I'm still impressed. I am now an Author myself and I pray to some day reach your status.

Valencia Williams
Author of "The Hottest Summer Ever Known"

Rating:
Summary: A real page turner
Review: The bottom line is that Life Expectancy is a successful book because the reader wants to keep reading and find out what happens. Even most of its critical reviewers have admitted as much.

Yes, the attempts at "humor" are relentless and heavyhanded. It's true that much of the dialogue is cringe-inducing. But the long-time Koontz reader is prepared to look past these flaws and focus on the story and characters, which are compelling.

Despite its casual air, Life Expectancy is actually very well plotted. The reader is told up front what the story is and who its villain is, but there is still a mystery left unanswered: what's it all about? And it's a very gripping one, too. That's what keeps the pages turning. Readers may find themselves repeatedly flipping back to several key pages that give tantalizing hints as to what is really going on.

The main outline of the story is given up front: As Jimmy Tock is being born, his grandfather is dying. The grandfather predicts that five days will be truly terrible ones in his grandson's life. He names the exact dates, but gives only teasing clues as to the natures of the five days' dreadfulness, which makes them hard to prepare for. To stay home or go to a place of safety? To be alone or to be surrounded by family and friends (and thus potentially place THEM at risk)? To involve law enforcement or not?

Of course Jimmy and his family don't always resolve these questions in the best possible way - if they did, there might be no story. And there is a certain, "Don't go in the barn," feel to some of the choices Jimmy makes (You know, as in a horror movie where no one who enters the barn comes out, but instead of running away, the other characters keep going into the barn one or two at a time to see what's up).

Though the run of the story is therefore in some ways predictable, especially once we have been taken through the first of the five days, Koontz continues to liven things up. For instance, Jimmy soon experiences a truly terrible day that was NOT one of the original five. The curveballs keep coming, so you're never tempted to just peek at the end and find out the one big revelation - there are too many good little revelations that would be missed that way.

Koontz is being consciously unserious at times, and that's necessarily not a bad thing. He makes one of his villains a circus clown, after all (not much of a spoiler; this is revealed at the book's start). It's obvious he's writing tongue in cheek at times and he had a good time creating this novel.

The novel is superior to much of his other recent work in several ways. It does not have one specific "moral" (re eugenics (One Door Away from Heaven) or parenthood (The Face), for example) that the story is loosely tacked onto to illustrate. Children are present and important to the story without being precocious and smirky and impossibly adult-spoken. Better yet, as others have pointed out, there is not a single superintelligent dog to be found.

I thought I felt the influence of G.K. Chesterton throughout much of the book. Even stronger was the similarity I saw between Jimmy's picturesque grandmother Rowena and Hazel Stone, the grandmother in Robert Heinlein's The Rolling Stones. Of course two authors could independently come up with cantankerous, amusing, pathologically lying grandmothers, but as a former science fiction writer Koontz would be well aware of the Heinlein book. I mean no slur towards Koontz; Rowena may well have been created as a conscious homage to Hazel and Heinlein.

Rating:
Summary: Flawed--but better than most of his recent books
Review: This story had many things going for it. Once one gets past the first few rambling first-person pages, he sets up a very compelling story line. His primary "good" characters were mostly likable although the "bakery talk" was WAY overused. The romantic element was the "Nick & Nora" type that he has used so often in previous stories.

I get the feeling that he once again was trying to write Jimmy's family in the form of a "screwball comedy." I'm not sure if it is my fault that I cannot enjoy those parts of his book involving unlikely family conversations or if Koontz just doesn't do it quite right. Maybe Ray Bradbury could give him a few hints.

The best thing about the story line was that it promised much and seemed to fullfill that promise--at first. What was bad about the plot was that it seemed to deliver less and less as the story progressed. Koontz's descsription of the grandfather's vision of the five "terrible days" for Jimmy seemed to strongly imply that each terrible day would be worse than the previous one. But, in spite of a surprise near the end, it did not play out that way.

Finally, I wonder if Koontz had been reading "Hardy Boys" or "Goosebumps" books lately. He seems to have adopted their type of clifhanger chapter endings. (And most of them were merely APPARENT cliff-hangers. The chapter written by another--still in first person--was the biggest cheat of all.)

I might have given this book two stars but I added one just because Koontz had no intelligent-beyond-our-understanding dogs in the story.

Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable read
Review: While not an avid reader of Koontz's work, those that I have read have a good mix of suspense, twists and fast pace. Life Expectancy is no different. It starts with a familiar plot, but goes in a direction that is pleasantly unexpected.