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Title: As Max Saw It by LOUIS BEGLEY ISBN: 0-449-90947-6 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 11 April, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Disappointing after reading the Schmidt books
Comment: Law professor, Max Strong, visits wealthy friends near Lake Como, and here he meets old college chum, architect Charlie Swan. Max and Charlie haven't seen one another for years. In the interim, both have become successful men, and both are now divorced. Accompanying Charlie, is a very beautiful young man named Toby. Charlie chides Max for not maintaining their friendship, but people often drift apart after college. And so after the Italian holiday, Charlie and Max go their separate ways yet again.
Years later, Max runs into Charlie and Toby in China, and it is obvious at this point that Toby and Charlie are lovers. From this point on, both Charlie and Toby become rather significant characters in Max's life.
I discovered Louis Begley earlier this year, and I read his delightful books "About Schmidt," and "Schmidt Delivered." Both of those books rated 5 stars for me, and I intend to re-read them. So it was with a certain amount of expectation, I turned to "As Max Saw It," and I was quite disappointed. None of the characters had any appeal for me--Charlie, Toby and Max were all uninteresting and one-dimensional, and while it isn't necessary for me to like characters, I do have to find them at least interesting--displacedhuman
Rating: 5
Summary: A modern classic
Comment: Reminiscent of The Great Gatsby yet 100% original at the same time, this novel has all the makings of a classic of American literature. This is a novel of epic proportions, packed into less than 150 pages. It spans three decades and traverses three continents. It is beautifully paced, at times flowing like a gentle stream, offering nuanced, elegant prose and character development, then switching purposefully and gracefully into much broader brush strokes to account for the passage of time. This is the book for which Begley will be remembered several generations from now.
As with the great first-person narrators in classics like Brideshead Revisited and Fifth Business, Max Strong is a keen yet passive observer, comfortable enough blending into the scenery so as not to obstruct the reader's view of the novels fascinating characters. Charlie, the brilliant, extravagant architect with an ego to match his talent, bobs in and out of Max's life, first appearing at an Italian villa where he and Max have been invited as guests, then in Beijing where Max has offered his legal expertise while on sabbatical from Harvard Law School, then again in Cambridge, MA and the Berkshires where Max works and vacations respectively. Their relationship is both antagonistic and co-dependent, as Max serves as conscience and confessor for Charlie in regard to the latter's romantic involvement with Toby, the young, attractive, and troubled youth that Charlie takes under his wing. And yet, while Max rarely asserts himself as anything more than an astute narrator, the book is just as much about him as it is about those that he observes.
It is a remarkable accomplishment that Begley has expressed so much beauty in so few pages. His settings and his characters sing with authenticity, and his prose offers the perfect current to carry his flawlessly-crafted story.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent insight into male friendships
Comment: I enjoyed the old fashioned tone of this novel. The main character, Max, is a kind of "fifth business," telling the story and having things happen to him without his really being involved. His friendship with Charlie deepens over the course of the book, effecting him in ways he never would have imagined. The writing and langauge are exceptional in a modern author. The characters in this short but intense book (145 pages) have a lot in common with those that appear in the Schmidt books where they are further fleshed out. I recommend all of Begley's books: I've read four this year.
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Title: Man Who Was Late by Louis Begley ISBN: 0449909115 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: Wartime Lies by Louis Begley ISBN: 0804109907 Publisher: Ivy Books Pub. Date: 23 May, 1992 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: Schmidt Delivered by Louis Begley ISBN: 0345440838 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 30 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Mistler's Exit by Louis Begley ISBN: 0449004228 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 02 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: About Schmidt by Louis Begley ISBN: 0449911160 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 08 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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