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Title: The Name of the World by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0-06-092965-0 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.56 (27 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: He drops the ball
Comment: For the first nine-tenths, maybe, this novel is almost perfect; I got the sense that no _word_ could be replaced. The measured complacency of the prose gives a perfect sense of character; a sense of a man, in fact, who doesn't have a great deal of character, and is aware of it. It's seamless. I never questioned anything about the book - never found myself thinking of it as a novel, or of the narrator as a narrator; I just kept reading it. Near the end, though, it starts to fail. Its climax is so enigmatic - so self-consciously engimatic, it seemed to me - that it doesn't give any real sense of closure, and the small hole that this opens up is absolutley ripped open by the sudden, inexplicable developments on the last few pages (not to ruin anything; the narrator goes through a transformation which didn't seem believable or precedented to me). I think this novel's strongest trait, in the end, is its dignity. Johnson doesn't go overboard with the metaphors or the sense of religious longing; everything is very quiet, subtle and dark, but the sense of something greater still comes through. Again, though, with the right conclusion, it could have been overwhelming; as it is, it's just interesting.
Rating: 3
Summary: Great Right Up To The Time He Lost Control
Comment: Mr. Denis Johnson had quite a good book until the main character decided to digress and the story unraveled. Some Authors say they like to start their stories and let the characters develop on their own, others like to rigidly control these potentially wayward fictional constructs. Professor Michael Reed not only goes his own way, he hijacks the book leaving the Author and his story behind and unfinished. Were this felonious act even a moderate success it would be welcome, however our Professor is still recovering from personal tragedy, and coping with a group of people that minimally merit the description of bizarre.
Middle aged Professors consistently seem to not only find companionship from their much younger students, they also seem to discover those who have activities that most folks would find a bit to the left of strange. An attractive young woman competing as a stripper to earn a few dollars to make budgetary ends meet is hardly shocking. But this lass is also a performance artist. Suffice to say that if it was found The National Endowment For The Arts have given this woman a dime, Congress would be burned to the ground. I realize that sounds extremely right wing, but that would be the reaction whether you agree with her conduct or not. The woman in real-life who slathered herself in chocolate in substitution for clothes would rate a PG or perhaps PG-13 to this woman's show.
This co-ed's name is Flower Cannon; I wish I were making it up. The stretch of her name evoking flowers being forcefully dispersed by unnatural means fits perfectly with what ails the good Professor. It is also a tie that is the sorriest and lamest efforts for a writer of this caliber. When you read it you will groan or laugh depending on your mood.
This book is very expensive in hardcover form. This would be less of an issue if the work were brilliant. However I expect more than six pages per dollar spent, and in reality more like two or three when the drivel is left out. Great beginning, poor transition, hideous end.
Rating: 1
Summary: Writer's Exercise
Comment: This is my first Amazon.com review. I was compelled to do so because of Denis Johnson's short novel. It is a quick read, one-sitting. This is my first introduction to the writer. While I enjoyed the underlying structure: expansion and collapse of the narrative I found the story itself very frustrating. We read of academic life and its random structural changes - money for some projects, not others. Very little interaction between professor and students. There is an elusive sprite who (surprise?) makes money as a caterer, art class model, stripper, artist, who is also part of a pseudo-new-age religon for the singing? The main character's introversion is severe throughout, but then turns to direct observation with the reader, as if we are the character's confident - it doesn't work. Ultimately, I feel like this work was an exercise by the writer that got him to another, better place - based on some passages I'd recommend the writing - avoid this example.
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Title: Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0060976098 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Angels: A Novel by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0060988827 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Already Dead: A California Gothic by Denis Johnson ISBN: 006092909X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Jesus' Son: Stories by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0060975776 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 December, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Resuscitation of a Hanged Man by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0060934662 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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