Kill Kill Faster Faster: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A writer sits in admiration of a writer
Review: A book that takes the crime novel paradigm, pulls it apart, and puts it together. It reads like a chant. Admirable, from beginning to end.

Rating:
Summary: Faster Faster
Review: A fantastic book. Fast paced, energetic. Some of the comments about lack of plot or story-line are probably true. So what? This book is probably in my personal favourites top-20 along with Richard Hell's "Go Now", Chuck Palahniuk's "Fight Club' and most books by John Fante and Charles Buckowski. Looking forward to his next book...

Rating:
Summary: A writer sits in admiration of a writer
Review: I recently got my MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia University, and one of my professors, Michael Cunningham, who last year won a Pulitzer Prize, taught this novel. I was stunned at first, because it didn't seem like a book that you would teach in class -- it's too hard-edged and disturbing. But Cunningham made us see the skill of the writer, and his ability to establish voice. I remember the day in class, the discussion centering around the reader's job not to confuse the writer with the voice. The protagonist is vivid, his voice is a rap, it's music, but it's also this interesting amalgam of street and accepted knowledge and culture. Besides that Rose deconstructs the very form of the mystery novel, and puts it back together still pulsating. Makes for a very very interesting book by an acomplished author. Bravo!

Rating:
Summary: Hot Hot Sexy Sexy
Review: I think guys who have a problem with their own sexuality have a problem with this book. I really got off on it. Not only that, I love mystery novels, and this is an excellent one.

Great character, vibrant writing. What more do you want?

Highest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: A REAL BORE, I AM ASHAMED MY NAME IS ON THE COVER.
Review: Okay my name is Joel Rose too, and when I saw this book at the book store I had to buy it and read it just because my name was on it...I thought it was kind of cool...not too many people named Joel Rose....and also what is funny a friend of mine named Stacey thought I had wrote a book, she saw a review in the New Yorker, and thought maybe I had a second career.

But after I read this book I realized what a bore it was, with a dragging plot and a fizzled ending. Fair novel at best.

I won't give anything away in the plot but to say it was a real bore...Yawner....kind of ashamed my name is on it...Now I see why the author put a hat over his face on the backcover....but my friend still has speculation it could of been me....I told her please I wouldn't write this bad. I may not be a great writer, but I wouldn't put something as bad as this out.

A real dud....I give it (2) stars instead of (1) because my name is on the cover!

Rating:
Summary: Rose will kick your shins in.
Review: Pick up a copy of "Kill, Kill, Faster, Faster" and you will finish in a day or two. Not just because it is a short read, but because Rose skillfully moves you between at least four separate worlds: Joey's past as husband, father and murderer; his experiences in prison; his present as a writer for a "gritty" TV crime series and a sometime violent criminal; and a future waiting for him that I won't reveal so as not to ruin a surprising ending.

Joey is a convict and an ex-heroin abuser who killed his wife in a jealous rage and has spent the last seventeen years in prison. While incarcerated he survives through a readiness to defend himself against assailants. He also succumbs to the sexual advances of a cellmate. It is this cellmate, however, that encourages him to make use of his time in prison by writing. Joey completes a script that makes it to the outside world and is a sensation. An established TV executive, Markie Mann, arranges for Joey to be released from prison with the idea that the writing ex-con will "juice up" the scripts for his shows.

Joey soons begins an affair with Fleur, the producer's wife. Fleur is a French woman who has herself spent time in prison for prostitution. She is attracted to Joey from the start and immediately sets out to seduce him. The lovers encounter an obstacle, however, because Joey is unable to consistently achieve intercouse with Fleur. The years in prison witnessing and participating in acts of violence and sexual liaisons have taken their toll. Fleur sticks with Joey for more than three months and the two of them develop a genuine love. This tenderness comes through rather subtly because Joey's wants are what necessarily take center stage in this novel. Those wants are a reconciliation with the twin daughters that he left behind and a hope to avoid the heroin that calls from every corner.

Rose is superb at presenting Joey's desperation. The ex-con is against the clock and Rose never lets us forget it. The novel covers the three months in Joey's life beginning with the limousine that picks him outside of prison in upstate New York and ending with his ultimate fate. Joey's life on the outside is rarely easy. He sleeps in a half-way house at night, and must confront his former mother-in-law in order to make contact with his daughters. At the office Markie and other writers mutilate the scripts that Joey sends them. To further complicate Joey's ability to cope, Markie has his own erotic adventures planned for his "discovery".

Rose's writing is suspenseful and brings to mind the sparsely effective prose of Manuel Puig. Rose writes from Joey's viewpoint and in his voice. The author is mostly effective in bringing this off, but occasionally Rose's erudition peaks through Joey's discourse. A minor flaw in an excellent work.

Rose also provides an insight into the creative process worth at least a dozen graduate papers. The script that earned Joey's release from prison results from the contribution of several of his fellow convicts. Joey freely admits this. His own contributions to the TV show, however, are erased altogether when his name is not included among the credits.

Rating:
Summary: Great read!
Review: Terrific book. If you're a fan of suspense, and not too uptight, you're going to love this book. Beware, however, it's very sexy and violent, and not like any other book you've ever read.

Really enjoyed it. Going to read his other stuff.

Rating:
Summary: This book is doubled spaced!!!
Review: This book is like a Dick and Jane reader...with bad grammar and a lot of cussing. The book is mainly three and four word sentences like:

He look up.

Joey look up.

It's his sense.

The book is doubled spaced! You get the illusion that is a captivating read because it is a 70 page book printed on 300 pages to make it look thick.

It really is nothing more than a poorly written short story with bad grammar and graphic language. I liked the review that compared it to a comic book--only comic book writing takes more talent.

Rating:
Summary: Not your father's mystery
Review: This story is written in a very unusual style, in the first person, as a stream of thoughts in the head of a sociopath/loser. Some of his thoughts are very disturbing and some readers will find this and the author's style equally disturbing. You'll love it or hate it but you won't forget it.

Joey Oneway did good.