Cleveland Anonymous: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A tale to remember, characters to cherish
Review: Keith Gandal is a teacher,and a friend, but most importantly, a fresh, new, and exciting contemporary voice that has emerged from the events of the tail-end of the 20th century. The natural disasters, the unfinished, seemingly unconnected, human tendencies that we all share, and the need to communicate with someone, anyone: these are all themes that one will find in Keith's novel, Cleveland Anonymous.

When I finished reading this novel I thought it was great, but I knew there was more to it; there was a substance below the surface that hadn't hit me yet, which is why I waited a couple weeks to write this review. I wanted it to be from a non-biased POV; and it is. I don't really know what to say, so I will try my best. I thought that by denying a genre, by concentrating on story, not a literary mindframe, which there is way too much of in contemporary fiction, that Gandal approached real life as closely as one can possibly achieve in fiction. The characters were amazing; the dialogue was real; the scenes were perfectly drawn out, perfectly realized, completely truthful; and the prose was dream-like, even magical. The atmosphere that Gandal's has created in this novel is fantastic. When I read a novel I look for something different, something real. I look at a book as an experience; I look at it as a piece of culture that can not and should not be detached from it's place in the world. And when I finished reading Cleveland Anonymous I had a sense of closeness and sense of story and literary attachment to the characters that I have not experienced in any other contemporary novel that I have ever read.

This novel is a wonderful accomplishment, an amazing piece of art, or literary achievement. If a good novel is supposed to give the reader an experience that utilizes all the senses and makes them care about the characters, then Gandal has written one heck of a good book! His fictive world is original and inspiring from not only a writers perspective, but from a human perspective.

I don't want to tell you anything about the plot (I think reviews should deal more with other, more 'inputish' type things, you'll know the plot when you read it!), but I can say that this book moves!! It moves with speed, with grace, with purpose, so fear not. It is a concise piece of fiction, a collection of people that all seem to exist in this modern world of ours without the slightest hint or notion that the bigger things that they experience shape them and make them who they are. But this is special. Too often an author will tell you what you need to know, but Gandal lets you figure it out; he writes a book filled with people, realistic people who think, act, and react like you and I do. If nothing else, read this book for a good, fast story, but if you, like me, like to see a writer experiment with the lives we take for granted everyday, then there is something here for you too.

The list of people who may have inspired this book must be immense, but here are some ideas: Thomas Pynchon (same sense of magical realism [though that is more Gabriel Garcia], the same witty sense of humor), Flannery O'Conner (short, sweet, but emotion filled sentences), Cormac McCarthy (the use of imagery), amongst many others.

Please read this novel. It is a magnificent story, and I hope that this review has inspired someone to pick up Keith Gandal's first (but hopefully not only) novel, but if you don't read it, at least I can say (when this thing hits big) that I told you so!!! Happy reading!

Rating:
Summary: Essential for ex-pat Clevelanders
Review: Let's face it: If you're from Cleveland, you don't get no respect. No respect at all. And it mostly stems from the Cuyahoga (pronounced "Cuya-HOG-uh" you out-of-towner) River catching fire. (Well, *that* and our...sports teams.) It's the ultimate absurdity--a body of water catching fire--and therefore a good jumping off point for a stridently absurdist novel.

Gandal's novel delivers. It's the great absurdist Cleveland novel that I've been waiting to read for more years than I can count.

The best moment in the novel, for me anyway, takes place in New York. One of the Cleveland Anonymous members has been discovered with a one-way ticket back to Cleveland in his possession. The Clockwork Orange-esque method used to keep him from going back is an absolute scream.

...

Rating:
Summary: clever, fun, poignant, compelling
Review: The setting of this book shifts back and forth in place and time -- between Cleveland, Ohio in the 1960's and New York City in the late 1980's. It helps if you know something about one or both of those cities, otherwise you'll miss some of the inside jokes. But ultimately this book is not about Cleveland or New York (and I say that as a compliment). Ultimately this book is a love story, a relationship that actually doesn't even begin -- or resume? -- until the book is almost over. It's a mix of romance and friendship between a man who's not quite sure who he is or what he's about, and a woman who's essentially just the opposite -- or maybe she isn't. You'll have fun trying to figure it out. An amazing, original, and haunting love story.

It's also a murder mystery. And a suspense thriller. But if you're looking for something that reads like John Grisham, look elsewhere. Gandal is speaking to a more thoughtful, more profound audience. If I had to describe this book in one sentence, it would be: "This book is a cross between Fight Club (the book, not the movie) and the poems of Emily Dickinson."

If that's hard to imagine, then you'll just have to read the book. Cleveland Anonymous has the intensity, the directness, and the muscle of Fight Club (the book, not the movie). But Gandal's book also has an extraordinarily light touch with language. Over and over again Gandal taps you on the shoulder -- or gooses you in the rear -- with the precisely-right word, the perfect phrase. Like an Emily Dickinson poem.

This is the best novel I've read since . . . well, since Fight Club (the book, not the movie).

Don't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: Buy this book!!!
Review: This book is amazing! It really does have it all. Murder, mystery, and damn funny as well! The story is very original and keeps you guessing throughout the entire book. It also has an amazing cast of characters. One of which is probably the craziest, and funniest character in any book i have ever read. This book is completely great, and everyone should read it!