Scan barcode
pam_fuze's review
3.0
Not his best, by far - and I must have read them all now. Oh, he's a wonderful writer, but this one - one of his earliest - needs a good developmental edit. It meanders and goes off piste a few times (Petra - I didn't see the point of all that really), the subplots are weak and only just holding up the main plot, also weak (and vice versa). And the protagonist wasn't particularly likeable either. Must be the first Boyle to feel this way about.
spiderfelt's review
4.0
It’s difficult to rate a book such as this. I picked the book out of a Little Free Library because I’ve enjoyed several of TC Boyle’s previous books. He is a clever wordsmith, a master of simile and metaphor, who writes descriptive curlicues around every scene. This particular book struck me as particularly old, written in a time where certain jokes were accepted simply because they were common, even if they made people cringe. TC Boyle has written a man’s adventure story featuring bumbling men falling into traps they have created through their own misguided grandiosity. There are no heroes here, just bunglers, thieves and liars. And where are the women? They appear as occasional window dressing, the objects of insatiable lust. While I won’t recommend this title, it was cheap entertainment that filled the paperback hole I needed.
the_naptime_reader's review against another edition
4.0
I came into this book not expecting to like it, given the subject matter, but that's one of the things I love about being in a Bookclub, I'm exposed to books outside of the normal scope of what I would seek out. First and foremost, I think TC Boyle is a talented writer, the King of figurative language, every scene left a clear image in my mind. I found myself rereading lines, and savoring them. His characters are three-dimensional, and leap off the page in all of their quirks and oddities, they never seem fake. Additionally, given the topic of marijuana farming, he could have spent the book moralizing, glorifying, or vilifying, but he did none of these things. To me the book is about growth, both literally and figuratively. The last line is a memorable one.
To me the only negatives would be that at time he seems to be too much in earnest with the craft of writing. I can picture him writing with a thesaurus at his side, hunting down the most obscure words possible. So at times it comes across as pretentious. Second, and spoiler alert, not to sound prudish, but I felt like the "glory hole" scene was just unnecessary and frankly gross, he had already gotten across his point about these characters being the dregs of society. It almost felt to me like an added, but unneeded shock factor, or a moment out of Cards Against Humanity.
Irregardless, I will definitely be reading more of his books. A captivating writer.
To me the only negatives would be that at time he seems to be too much in earnest with the craft of writing. I can picture him writing with a thesaurus at his side, hunting down the most obscure words possible. So at times it comes across as pretentious. Second, and spoiler alert, not to sound prudish, but I felt like the "glory hole" scene was just unnecessary and frankly gross, he had already gotten across his point about these characters being the dregs of society. It almost felt to me like an added, but unneeded shock factor, or a moment out of Cards Against Humanity.
Irregardless, I will definitely be reading more of his books. A captivating writer.
bagoody's review
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
More...