Rating: 
Summary: A cheerful tale of homemaking & mayhem in America
Review: America as we know it (and we do know it) is going to hell in a handbasket, but if Maggie Darling has anything to do with it it'll be a Carolina sweetgrass basket, thoughtfully packed with "a fat wedge of buttery St. Andre, a tin of foie gras, boxes of oat and water biscuits" and a "really splendid 1988 Criots-Batard-Montrachet."
This is a delightful and fast-paced romp redolent of Tom Wolfe and P.G. Wodehouse. I was already a fan of James Howard Kunstler's work, especially two of his non-fiction books, The Geography of Nowhere and Home from Nowhere (both of which, by the way, should be required reading for every American). If you've read those, or his acerbic essays on the sorry state of civilization, you may be surprised at the generous tone and likable heroine of this new novel, not to mention a number of extremely funny scenes which I hope to see in a major motion picture someday soon. (Hello, Jonathan Demme?)It's easy to imagine this as a movie, because Kunstler's writing is so vivid and detailed that everything and everyone passing through Maggie's impeccable Connecticut country kitchen and somewhat (!) messier personal life can be visualized in living color. You'll devour this book like one of Maggie's sumptuous feasts, feeling pampered and satisfied afterwards. Still, you may suffer a mild but nagging hangover -- that the fictional whacked-out world falling in ruins around her is not only plausible, but true.
Rating:
Summary: A cheerful tale of homemaking & mayhem in America
Review: America as we know it (and we do know it) is going to hell in a handbasket, but if Maggie Darling has anything to do with it it'll be a Carolina sweetgrass basket, thoughtfully packed with "a fat wedge of buttery St. Andre, a tin of foie gras, boxes of oat and water biscuits" and a "really splendid 1988 Criots-Batard-Montrachet."
This is a delightful and fast-paced romp redolent of Tom Wolfe and P.G. Wodehouse. I was already a fan of James Howard Kunstler's work, especially two of his non-fiction books, The Geography of Nowhere and Home from Nowhere (both of which, by the way, should be required reading for every American). If you've read those, or his acerbic essays on the sorry state of civilization, you may be surprised at the generous tone and likable heroine of this new novel, not to mention a number of extremely funny scenes which I hope to see in a major motion picture someday soon. (Hello, Jonathan Demme?) It's easy to imagine this as a movie, because Kunstler's writing is so vivid and detailed that everything and everyone passing through Maggie's impeccable Connecticut country kitchen and somewhat (!) messier personal life can be visualized in living color. You'll devour this book like one of Maggie's sumptuous feasts, feeling pampered and satisfied afterwards. Still, you may suffer a mild but nagging hangover -- that the fictional whacked-out world falling in ruins around her is not only plausible, but true.
Rating: 
Summary: Satisfying and entertaining
Review: Don't be put off by a man writing from a woman's point of view -- this is one man who gets it right. And don't dismiss the premise (a Martha Stewart-esque character hitting the wall of personal crisis)as standard chic lit fare. Maggie Darling isn't a hyperventilating twenty-something but a fully-formed grown-up, and in between the sly send-ups and knowing glimpses of celebrity life the author presents her with the same real life issues the rest of us deal with. Although some of the plot devices are a bit creaky, Maggie's character easily outshines them, and the book pulls you effortlessly along.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfying and entertaining
Review: Don't be put off by a man writing from a woman's point of view -- this is one man who gets it right. And don't dismiss the premise (a Martha Stewart-esque character hitting the wall of personal crisis)as standard chic lit fare. Maggie Darling isn't a hyperventilating twenty-something but a fully-formed grown-up, and in between the sly send-ups and knowing glimpses of celebrity life the author presents her with the same real life issues the rest of us deal with. Although some of the plot devices are a bit creaky, Maggie's character easily outshines them, and the book pulls you effortlessly along.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read from beginning to end
Review: I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Kunstler's ability to capture the reader's attention is marvelous. He's funny, persuasive and intellegent in his writing. He throws us a little political curve ball here and there, while fully involving us in the seemingly frivolous lives of his characters. I enjoyed meeting Maggie Darling and being thrust into her life. Nicely done, Kunstler. In testimony to the way truly good books engage us, you stole me away for the better part of the week!
Rating:
Summary: Fabulously written
Review: I picked up this book because of the blurb on the cover from Candace Bushnell, who called it a "gourmet writing experience." From the moment I read the first pages, I was mesmerized by Kunstler's lyrical prose, his immense command of metaphor, and the character development of the protagonist Maggie Darling. I read the book during three days of tending to a toddler with the flu over the holidays... unable to sleep because I had to keep turning the pages to see what happens next. For the writing style alone, this book is worth the money. Also, it is a great inside peek at life in the upper crust of New York, always a voyeuristic pleasure for those of us in "fly-over country." I've never read a male author who can write a fantastic, believable female character like Kunstler does here. Great job. The only reason I gave this book a four star review instead of five is that at the end, I felt like throwing myself in front of moving traffic. (I unfortunately live on a quiet road, and my neighbor was unwilling to help out with her minivan.) I know the book is satirical, I know it is exagerated, I know it is tongue in cheek. The novel pointed out that the world basically is a fallen, dark place -- and no amount of satire, or "grit-your-teeth-and-bear-it" bravado can make that horrible truth less acutely painful. Or maybe I was just in a foul mood because my kid had the flu while everyone else had visions of sugar plum dancing in their heads. Great great novel. Superbly written and marvelously entertaining. I plan on reading as much of his work as possible.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulously written
Review: I picked up this book because of the blurb on the cover from Candace Bushnell, who called it a "gourmet writing experience." From the moment I read the first pages, I was mesmerized by Kunstler's lyrical prose, his immense command of metaphor, and the character development of the protagonist Maggie Darling. I read the book during three days of tending to a toddler with the flu over the holidays... unable to sleep because I had to keep turning the pages to see what happens next. For the writing style alone, this book is worth the money. Also, it is a great inside peek at life in the upper crust of New York, always a voyeuristic pleasure for those of us in "fly-over country." I've never read a male author who can write a fantastic, believable female character like Kunstler does here. Great job. The only reason I gave this book a four star review instead of five is that at the end, I felt like throwing myself in front of moving traffic. (I unfortunately live on a quiet road, and my neighbor was unwilling to help out with her minivan.) I know the book is satirical, I know it is exagerated, I know it is tongue in cheek. The novel pointed out that the world basically is a fallen, dark place -- and no amount of satire, or "grit-your-teeth-and-bear-it" bravado can make that horrible truth less acutely painful. Or maybe I was just in a foul mood because my kid had the flu while everyone else had visions of sugar plum dancing in their heads. Great great novel. Superbly written and marvelously entertaining. I plan on reading as much of his work as possible.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful and hilarious
Review: Martha Stewart is an easy target, but Kunstler's hilarious send-up portrays a character whose compulsions and affectations are as charming as they are funny. Maggie Darling, the quintessential Connecticut celebrity hostess, parades her prodigious efficiency from the first page as she surveys her domain, in splendid readiness for "The Christmas Feast for Two Hundred." This breathlessly detailed perfection, capped by the arrival of the first glittering guests and Maggie's ritual panic attack, captures Maggie's life at its peak. But all that is about to change. In the midst of her party, Maggie catches her husband of 26 years in flagrant infidelity and casts him out that very night. It might seem that life could only improve with the dissolute roué banished from her life, but, instead, life begins to unravel. Maggie succumbs to several unsuitable entanglements; her attempt to rescue an old friend backfires; friends and family members become involved in shady activities and worse; crime grows rampant, and the world itself seems to be crumbling around her. But rather than give in to encroaching despair, Maggie rouses herself to cook, or at least make a list, thereby fending off chaos for another day. Though Kunstler ("The Geography of Nowhere," "The Halloween Ball") grants Maggie plenty of human frailties, meanness is not among them and neither is snobbishness, despite her exacting, stylish, rich-gal standards. She is delightful and Kunstler's writing has a stylish, precise archness and a madcap energy that suit his heroine right down to the over-the-top ending. Kunstler's first novel in 10 years is a winner.
Rating:
Summary: Modern-day Americana, comically written
Review: That's right, Portland, Oregon. (See above.) Of course I'm going to like it. The Amazon-review scandals of the past few months require full disclosure. So I'll come out: I think Kunstler's a goddam hero, Mencken+Orwell+Balzac, with a wicked eye for the puerile and a merciless pen aimed at everything venal and sinister in our car-encamped culture. I must think that--I live in the greatest--the only?--city in America, where our civic leaders have committed JHK's non-fiction to memory, chapter and verse, and even the Republicans (like me) adopt his aesthetic visions. No, not the only city in America. New York, too. Even it, though, is imperiled by the vast expanse of plasticized waste parasitically feeding off the metropolitan core. (See: Long Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, etc.) How did we get this way? That's the premise of Maggie Darling. How have we turned on ourselves so viciously, like those snakes that start gnawing at their own tailis? Kunstler knows, and here he takes the reader on a narrative trek for answers, through a socially-supposed anti-hero, the Stewartesque Maggie Darling. A great choice on two levels. One, because while it's easy to lampoon Stewart, it's harder (and therefore worthier, for a writer) to find the redeemable in her empire. Two, because Stewart's pre-Imclone image--perfect timing on that, huh, James? How cruel the Gods are--depends precisely on that which our modern country disdains: standards. (Which goes a long way to explaining the horrible Martha backlash.) It's not as if we've abandoned standards for decadence. No. Counterintuitively, our standardlessness pushes us in the other direction, toward a vaguely Protestant servile depravity. So enslaved are we to our Forman grills and Chevy Tahoes and hastily prefabbed pseud-Scandinavian furniture, we seize anything foreign to this lifestyle and, like beasts encountering alien objects, our instinct is to kill it. Functional downtown? Kill. Walkable neighborhood? Kill now. Homegrown produce? Kill, of course, Taco Bell is two exits down the highway. Maggie's dedication to excellence and craft is a refreshing departure from the sneering, ironic, consumerist navel-gazers--both the characters and their authors--who dominate so much of the best-seller list. No wonder she's stunned by the brutish civilization that's grown to surround her.
Rating:
Summary: Modern-day Americana, comically written
Review: That's right, Portland, Oregon. (See above.) Of course I'm going to like it. The Amazon-review scandals of the past few months require full disclosure. So I'll come out: I think Kunstler's a goddam hero, Mencken+Orwell+Balzac, with a wicked eye for the puerile and a merciless pen aimed at everything venal and sinister in our car-encamped culture. I must think that--I live in the greatest--the only?--city in America, where our civic leaders have committed JHK's non-fiction to memory, chapter and verse, and even the Republicans (like me) adopt his aesthetic visions. No, not the only city in America. New York, too. Even it, though, is imperiled by the vast expanse of plasticized waste parasitically feeding off the metropolitan core. (See: Long Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, etc.) How did we get this way? That's the premise of Maggie Darling. How have we turned on ourselves so viciously, like those snakes that start gnawing at their own tailis? Kunstler knows, and here he takes the reader on a narrative trek for answers, through a socially-supposed anti-hero, the Stewartesque Maggie Darling. A great choice on two levels. One, because while it's easy to lampoon Stewart, it's harder (and therefore worthier, for a writer) to find the redeemable in her empire. Two, because Stewart's pre-Imclone image--perfect timing on that, huh, James? How cruel the Gods are--depends precisely on that which our modern country disdains: standards. (Which goes a long way to explaining the horrible Martha backlash.) It's not as if we've abandoned standards for decadence. No. Counterintuitively, our standardlessness pushes us in the other direction, toward a vaguely Protestant servile depravity. So enslaved are we to our Forman grills and Chevy Tahoes and hastily prefabbed pseud-Scandinavian furniture, we seize anything foreign to this lifestyle and, like beasts encountering alien objects, our instinct is to kill it. Functional downtown? Kill. Walkable neighborhood? Kill now. Homegrown produce? Kill, of course, Taco Bell is two exits down the highway. Maggie's dedication to excellence and craft is a refreshing departure from the sneering, ironic, consumerist navel-gazers--both the characters and their authors--who dominate so much of the best-seller list. No wonder she's stunned by the brutish civilization that's grown to surround her.
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