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Title: We Can Still Be Friends: A Novel by Kelly Cherry ISBN: 1-56947-323-4 Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Brilliant writing
Comment: Definitely something new, this work took me by surprise. I especially enjoyed the story as it was told from four different viewpoints. While this is not a new technique, author Kelly Cherry handled it with grace and determination. A fresh voice in the sea of nowadays writers, I look forward to reading more by this brilliant author. Kudos to Ms. Cherry for her atmospheric and pleasurable writing that comes to life on the page.
Rating: 4
Summary: Intuiton, or Fate
Comment: This novel made me think. I can not say that about many novels that I read, because the majority of literature today is a series of active scenes connected by sexual encounters, or wishes of sexual encounters.
I enjoyed reading this novel of a variety of levels. I found it to be an interesting story, told in a very readable format. The chapters are all short, and they are told from the various viewpoints of the 4 major characters. I normally enjoy a story told like this because I enjoy seeing different aspects of the same situation (you know the saying- there's what he said, there's what she said, and then there's the truth). I do agree though that this novel does start to get repetetive, especially towards the end. It's almost as if the author got bored by the time she got to the last quarter of the book. But the sections in the beginning are very powerful, and give you a good incite into the characters and their behavior patterns.
My major literary problem with this novel is that the reader is given little knowledge of Ava's mother, and this information is doled out at practically the end of the novel. Given the nature of this book I felt that this relationship whould at least have been mentioned more than just in passing. I realize this was supposed to be some sort of literary device, but it didn't work for me. Ava's character was incomplete to me, and though I finished the book last night, I am still thinking about her motivations. Score one for th author because I continue to think about the book, but take one away because I am not thinking about the many wonderful things this book has to offer.
The language of th novel is simple and poetic and beautiful. Many of the passages were almost lyrical, and it was a pleasure to see language so simplistically, yet creatively used.
Though I have some problems, I do recommend reading this novel.
Rating: 5
Summary: women's fiction that understands men
Comment: At a time when the publishing industry divides fiction into two rigid categories, "commercial" - meaning it's readable and entertainingly plotted but trashy -- and "literary" - meaning it's pretentious, overwritten, and academic and no one in their right minds would read it for pleasure - Kelly Chery is successfully writing fiction that straddles the two: it's smart, meaningful, lyrically written, and enjoyable. Isn't that what readers really want?
Other reviews here have summarized "We Can Still Be Friends" and praised its feminism. I'll avoid redundancy by not doing the former; and as a "guy," I'm not that concerned with the latter (except in the sense that the novel neatly taught me some things about the ways women think and feel). But what really struck me about this book, in contrast to a lot of "women's novels" and contrary to what a previous reviewer said, was the depth and sympathy with which the male characters were drawn. Cherry obviously worked conscientiously at that aspct of the book, and it paid off. Boyd, the movie producer, is quite nonstereotypical for his profession, and for me he was the most interesting and complex of the quartet. Tony, the multiracial heart surgeon who is tensely balanced between selfishness and generosity, came in a close second. Though it's true that the two women, Ava and Claire, are the driving forces of the action, the characterizations of Boyd and Tony may show the author's gifts even more impressively.
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Title: The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty ISBN: 1401300316 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 02 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters: A Novel by Elisabeth Robinson ISBN: 0316735027 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 07 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Today Show Book Club #13) by Mark Haddon ISBN: 0385512104 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 31 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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