Rating: 
Summary: Get Your Facts Straight!
Review: At the begining of the book, Ms. Nelson has the main character, who has just been released from prison in Larned (west central part of state), flying 191 miles from Kansas City (north east part of state) in 747!!! to Wichita (south central part of state) at an cruising altitude of 33,000 feet. (Why was he flying out of an airport that is located in Missouri??) He had been in prison for 5 years because he caused an accident at a stop light intersection that has not existed for about 25 years.It is not possible to enjoy a book with so many inaccuracies. Strongly recommend that people toss it and tell the author to get her facts straight.
Rating: 
Summary: whiney characters, disjointed pov
Review: First let it be said that I adore Nelson's short stories. She consistently has stories in the Best American collections and they are always the ones I turn to first. United Front, a short story she has in I believe last years edition is easily my favorite of the lot. I started reading her short stories in college at U of A where she got her MFA and have loved her since then. This novel though, seemed tedious, drawn out and at times just plain boring. The characters themselves, though somewhat interesting aren't given enough space. Instead of one point of view she switches around, so I was never really sure who I was supposed to identify with. Also the jacket of the book leads us to believe this is a novel about the brother, when in fact in meanders all over the place. It's one big disfunctional family, which isn't interesting enough to hold my interest. There were times when the writing was wonderful, but the characters and all their whining got to be annoying. A bunch of loser kids, a mother with her head in the sand a father who hides out in the study should equal some sortof huge conflict that never really happens. There are all these little conflicts that never seem to go anywhere. I found myself scanning the last couple chapters but was bored bored bored.
Rating: 
Summary: Antonya Nelson's Best!
Review: I have read all of Antonya Nelson's novels and enjoyed them all, but this is by far my favorite. I fell in love with the Mabies. I loved the structure of the novel. I felt like a ghost in the sprawling Mabie house, following this character, and then that one, as they went about the business of living. I was sad to see it end.
Rating:
Summary: Shallow on characters, jumpy on P.O.V.
Review: I hope that someday, something will show me why Nelson has garnered such acclaim; my guess is, it's in the short fiction. "Living to Tell" is the second of her novels I've read, and did not improve my opinion. In fact, as a book collector, I'm not sure I'll keep it around. First, and most irritatingly, Nelson jumps point of view from character to character juvenilely, within paragraphs. I'm not one to shy away from omniscient narrators, and enjoy p.o.v. switching; see Moody's "Purple America" for an incredible handling of what Nelson attempts to achieve here, from the dysfunctional family (that should have been a perfect family), to the use of alcohol, to the fascination with mortality. Nelson's characters, including Mona, the young woman who can only have relationships with married men; her sister, the perfect-on-the-outside, party-girl-on-the-inside Emily; and their unappreciative, loose cousin Sheila, to name the women, are cardboard cut-outs, annoying, cloying, and entirely uninteresting as people. I can't get close to any of them, nor to their brother, the killer (literally & figuratively) Winston, who is the focus of the first chapter and has the most interesting adventures, which are mainly hidden but (incorrectly) guessed at by his unimaginative family. Nelson fits all the pieces together, but provides us with very little to chew on, although a lot to complain about. I'm just the kind of person who'll try another of her books, though, considering the many accolades named on the cover of the book. Meanwhile, give me Moody for depressive families, Moore for doomed romances, and Wallace for addicts.
Rating:
Summary: Shallow on characters, jumpy on P.O.V.
Review: I hope that someday, something will show me why Nelson has garnered such acclaim; my guess is, it's in the short fiction. "Living to Tell" is the second of her novels I've read, and did not improve my opinion. In fact, as a book collector, I'm not sure I'll keep it around. First, and most irritatingly, Nelson jumps point of view from character to character juvenilely, within paragraphs. I'm not one to shy away from omniscient narrators, and enjoy p.o.v. switching; see Moody's "Purple America" for an incredible handling of what Nelson attempts to achieve here, from the dysfunctional family (that should have been a perfect family), to the use of alcohol, to the fascination with mortality. Nelson's characters, including Mona, the young woman who can only have relationships with married men; her sister, the perfect-on-the-outside, party-girl-on-the-inside Emily; and their unappreciative, loose cousin Sheila, to name the women, are cardboard cut-outs, annoying, cloying, and entirely uninteresting as people. I can't get close to any of them, nor to their brother, the killer (literally & figuratively) Winston, who is the focus of the first chapter and has the most interesting adventures, which are mainly hidden but (incorrectly) guessed at by his unimaginative family. Nelson fits all the pieces together, but provides us with very little to chew on, although a lot to complain about. I'm just the kind of person who'll try another of her books, though, considering the many accolades named on the cover of the book. Meanwhile, give me Moody for depressive families, Moore for doomed romances, and Wallace for addicts.
Rating:
Summary: Forced myself to finish this one
Review: I kept waiting for something to happen, but it never did. A boring story about a boring family. Some good plots were started but then I wondered--"What happened to .........?" Just plain BORING.
Rating:
Summary: Forced myself to finish this one
Review: I kept waiting for something to happen, but it never did. A boring story about a boring family. Some good plots were started but then I wondered--"What happened to .........?" Just plain BORING.
Rating:
Summary: Despite what others said, I loved this book
Review: I think that maybe others did not like this book because each character is presented as a mixed bag, very subtle, with good and bad revealed about each. I don't think it's so much a problem of which character to identify with, but rather sorting out how we feel about each character as they are slowly filled in. Everybody gets a chance to be a hero and a dufus, as well as everything between. The characters one least likes as the novel begins, by the end, redeem themselves in various ways (a whole lot like real life). The alcoholism is presented as a constant but not overbearing presence, there but viewed as 'normal' and therefore not spoken of (applies to all of the subjects taboo in most of our families). Yet to the reader it becomes quite clear just what a driving force it is. Regarding the complaint that nothing happens, it is true this is not the thriller or the mystery, or the spellbinder. In my humble opinion it is the story of what goes on in real life, tragedies and triumphs that all of us overlook each and every day. By reading it, I have become a more keen observer of the incredible panoply of events that take place all around me. It is like a puzzle the deliciously fills in.
Rating:
Summary: A good man is hard to find.....
Review: I've been a fan of Antonya Nelson's for about ten years. It's no
surprise to me she's earned the Flannery O'Connor and PEN/Nelson
Algren awards. Like O'Conner before her, Nelson writes stories filled
with the offbeat, dysfunctional, and neurotic (the DSM III made the
term neurotic passe, but what else is there? ). And, like O'Connor,
Nelson has a finely tuned ear for dialogue, which she uses effectively
to portray the psychological makeup of her characters. I can
understand why some people might find this book offputting. People who
grew up in relatively normal healthy homes where alcoholism and it's
attendent dysfunctional behavior weren't the norm might not believe
folks like the Mabies exist. But, they do. Scott Fitzgerald had an
alcohol problem and a wife Zelda some called zany and others called
crazy. He wrote about "3:00 o'clock in the morning of the
long night of the soul." I think of him on those nights when I
wake up and the clock beside my bed says 2:46 a.m. I think about him
when I stumble down the stairs past the night lights placed at
critical junctures between my bedroom and the kitchen. I think about
him when I switch on the light and pick up a book to read. Or,
sometimes I think about Benjamin Franklin, who said if you can't sleep
at night, get up, walk around and flap your arms a bit. Or maybe I
think about my brother who has suffered from an alcohol and drug
problem ever since he dropped out as a flower child in the sixties. Or,
maybe I think about other relatives and friends who've OD'd, died by
their own hand, or been in bizarre accidents while under the influence.
From now on, I'll think about the Mabies--parents and children--up
at four a.m., falling over each other in the kitchen. It's easy to
describe Emily, Mona, and Winston as young adults in various stages of
arrested growth. Through the course of the book, however, each of them
makes an effort to improve. All three Mabie children are doing the best
they can. I recommend this book to anyone who is in recovery,
knows someone in recovery, or works with people who are trying to get
sober. I read passages of the book to a friend who is in recovery and
works with alcoholics and drug addicts in recovery, and he howled
with laughter. Who knows, maybe you will too?
Rating:
Summary: A good man is hard to find.....
Review: I've been a fan of Antonya Nelson's for about ten years. It's nosurprise to me she's earned the Flannery O'Connor and PEN/NelsonAlgren awards. Like O'Conner before her, Nelson writes stories filledwith the offbeat, dysfunctional, and neurotic (the DSM III made theterm neurotic passe, but what else is there? ). And, like O'Connor,Nelson has a finely tuned ear for dialogue, which she uses effectivelyto portray the psychological makeup of her characters. I canunderstand why some people might find this book offputting. People whogrew up in relatively normal healthy homes where alcoholism and it'sattendent dysfunctional behavior weren't the norm might not believefolks like the Mabies exist. But, they do. Scott Fitzgerald had analcohol problem and a wife Zelda some called zany and others calledcrazy. He wrote about "3:00 o'clock in the morning of thelong night of the soul." I think of him on those nights when Iwake up and the clock beside my bed says 2:46 a.m. I think about himwhen I stumble down the stairs past the night lights placed atcritical junctures between my bedroom and the kitchen. I think abouthim when I switch on the light and pick up a book to read. Or,sometimes I think about Benjamin Franklin, who said if you can't sleepat night, get up, walk around and flap your arms a bit. Or maybe Ithink about my brother who has suffered from an alcohol and drugproblem ever since he dropped out as a flower child in the sixties. Or,maybe I think about other relatives and friends who've OD'd, died bytheir own hand, or been in bizarre accidents while under the influence.From now on, I'll think about the Mabies--parents and children--upat four a.m., falling over each other in the kitchen. It's easy todescribe Emily, Mona, and Winston as young adults in various stages ofarrested growth. Through the course of the book, however, each of themmakes an effort to improve. All three Mabie children are doing the bestthey can. I recommend this book to anyone who is in recovery,knows someone in recovery, or works with people who are trying to getsober. I read passages of the book to a friend who is in recovery andworks with alcoholics and drug addicts in recovery, and he howledwith laughter. Who knows, maybe you will too?
|
