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Title: The Stones of Summer by Dow Mossman ISBN: 0-7607-4884-5 Publisher: Barnes & Noble Pub. Date: October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.75 (57 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Modern Classic
Comment: Like most people, I saw the documentary. Like most people, I bought the book because of the documentary. I saw the programme on BBC4 and ordered the book through the UK wing of Amazon. Quite frankly, I don't know what is going on with both the reviewers and the people who rate the reviews. There is clearly an orchestrated campaign against this book. How else can a two sentence"review" giving the book one star be rated as helpful by so many people? And yet if someone is positive and gives a detailed and thought-out explanation as to why they think the book has merit they get canned? It is actually quite depressing to see so much ignorance and vitriol aimed at a book. It is particularly depressing that a person can only read 10 pages of a book and think they are therefore in a position to provide an informed critique.
There is no doubt that Mossman is a great visionary writer. His mixing of styles and narrative turns present a challenge to the majority of readers who may well be used to reading their book club's recommended read. Whilst the book needs some careful editing to clear itself of some of the more self-indulgent aspects of Mossman's writing, it is without doubt the most important American novel I have read in 5 or 6 years. The downward spiral that Dawes finds himself in is told with great wit, great pathos, with an intellectual vigour that frightens as much as it compels, and, the mark of any great artist, with real truth. I only hope Mossman breaks his writer's block and tries to create something else as worthwhile and important. I only hope he does not have to read some of the poisonous nonsense written about his work.
I expect to have lots of negative ratings of my review within the next week. Predictable and tiresome......
Rating: 5
Summary: An amazing book! Ulysses meets a Confederacy of Dunces
Comment: I, like a lot of people, read this book after seeing "Stone Reader." Basically, I wanted to know what kind of book would inspire such a great movie. The answer to that is complicated, but the upshot is that I enjoyed reading this book very much.
The three parts of this book have very different styles from each other. The first part reads more like poetry than prose. There are rich descriptions that leave more of an impression rather than a telling. The second part focuses on dialog with much fewer descriptions. I found the dialogs to be very real. The third part uses out-of-time-line narrative, writings (including the start of a novel) by the main character, letters from other characters, and other techniques. The overall impression is that this novel is like James Joyce's Ulysses: a massive and well-constructed work. I am amazed that a first-time writer could create this book.
As to the story, there can be no doubt that the main character has few redeeming values; he is difficult to like. He and his "friends" (does he really form any real relationships with anyone?) do many violent and vicious things to themselves and others. How can you like that? In some ways, though, Dawes Williams reminds me of Ignatius Reilly in "A Confederacy of Dunces". Both characters are quite repulsive. Ignatius has none of Dawes' violent nature. Where Ignatius' life seems to always backfire on him, Dawes' life seems to result from Dawes' explicit attack on it. Repulsive, violent, vicious--what's to like about that?
For me, though, I like the book. I find the construction and prose to be incredible. There is a wit and creativity behind this book I admire even if I don't admire the characters in it.
Rating: 3
Summary: Like it is.
Comment: If nothing else, this book seems to be a Rorschach for online reviewers. Here's my "clear-headed" take on it:
The book was a chore for me, which I undertook mainly because of its reportedly transcendent possibilities. I was able to grit it out, partly not to be a quitter, but also because the journey kept flinging nuggets of brilliant invention in my path, intense images and perspectives that I found resonant and moving, well above my usual reading fare. FWIW, the author did convince me of his intellect (which I believe was one of his minor aims).
In this very long book, I consistently sensed the author's attentive presence in every metaphor-dense line, and never once saw him lapse into mere typing. Finally, though, I suspect that all his unique and remarkable visions (the ones that reached me, anyway) could have been delivered in half as many pages.
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Title: Call It Sleep : A Novel by Henry Roth, Alfred Kazin, Hana Wirth-Nesher ISBN: 0374522928 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1992 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title:Stone Reader (Special Edition) ASIN: B00012YIE6 Publisher: NEW YORKER FILMS VIDEO Pub. Date: 17 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $39.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $35.96 |
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Title: SOMETHING HAPPENED by Joseph Heller ISBN: 0684841215 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 12 November, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Stop-Time by Frank Conroy ISBN: 0140044469 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Fortress of Solitude : A Novel by JONATHAN LETHEM ISBN: 0385500696 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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