DSL November Read: Gwen's Pick
The Testing of Luther Albright: A Novel by MacKenzie Bezos
I'm not at all trying to rush people with the October read, but since I still haven't received the T.C. Boyle book through interlibrary loan, I thought I could contribute by at least informing y'all of the next book.
I need to say upfront that I cannot in any way vouch for the decency of this book. I haven't read it. I read a couple of reviews that caught my attention and made me want to read it, but I never got around to it. And more importantly, it's a book I actually have access to.
I think it's been out since 2005, but if it's hard to get at the library or whatever, let me know and I have a couple of other potential picks that are older and should be easy to get.
posted by Gwen @ 10:19 AM
9 Comments:
I started reading the book last night and got a couple of chapters in. I'm still waiting to see how the family relations work out--I'm not sure his relationship with his son rings true for me, but I'm giving it longer to develop before I make up my mind. But I enjoy the passages where Luther's perfectionism about construction (whether at home or at work) comes out, and how he substitutes meticulousness for intimacy and escapes from emotions through attention to detail.
Ok, no comments from anyone else so far...do ya'll hate the book, or just haven't had time to start it yet?
Oh dear. It's over a year old, so I hoped it would be easily available.
I'll pick it up this week - my "to-read" pile is ridiculously big right now.
I ordered it, so hopefully it'll show up soon.. John
Oh.. BTW, if any of y'all want a copy of Bob Frank's and my new cd send me an email with your address to johnmurry(at)astound.net and I'll send it to you. I'd love to know what y'all think. John
I'm a really bad book club member this month because I haven't even gotten far enough into the book to know whether Dusty gave away the ending or whether the kid dies in the first 50 pages. I suck.
Anyways, based on the lack of comments this month, I wonder if others are in the same boat as me. How would y'all feel about keeping the discussion going on this book through December, and picking the next one in January?
As soon as I finish writing my review of the Courtney Love diaries (and figuring out how the hell you review somebody's LIFE), I promise Luther Albright will be at the top of my reading list.
Dusty, congratulations on the stories, but more importantly, congrats on the kiddo - you must be completely ecstatic and freaked out right now! I'm very happy for you!
Dusty has not told you anything that will mess up the the book for you.
I sort of found Luther a little unconvincing too. I had read so many great reviews of it, and particularly about how the characters are drawn and the language. But Luther is just so emotionally crippled. I alternated between feeling sorry for him and just being incredibly frustrated at him for continuing to do the same thing over and over.
And sometimes I just didn't really get the motivation behind some of the stuff the wife and kid said and did. But maybe that's the poing--it's from Luther's point of view, and he clearly doesn't understand what they need or what drives them either.
And you can't really review someone's life, but you can decide whether they seem to provide any new insight into themselves, or whether it's one-sided and just rehashes stuff everyone already knew, and whether it just seems to be about making some quick cash.
I think this may be one of those books that does not live up to the reviews. I had read fantastic reviews of it in many different places, so I was really excited about it. I managed to finish it, but my reaction was mostly a big "meh." I mean, not a HORRIBLE book, but I just never got to really care about the characters much--I just didn't CARE what happened to them.
Sorry, guys. My bad.
This book got GREAT reviews - according to Metacritic, it was the 11th best reviewed book of 2005. Hell, Toni Morrison blurbed it.
Yet, every time I pick it up, my eyes just kind of wander over the page and I realize that I've been reading the same sentence for five minutes.
I'm not sure why, because like Gwen said, it's not as though this is a horrible book... I just can't get into it.
But it makes me think, surely there have been instances of men writing female narrators and women writing male narrators that seem more true to life. Any to recommend?
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