Reviews

he by John Connolly

paulsnelling's review against another edition

4.0

Deep into retirement, Stan Laurel reflects on his life in the movies. He’s clearly loveable but flawed, and his need to avoid being alone is never really explained, resulting in a succession of disastrous marriages and liaisons, hurt caused but never intended (except, maybe, by Chaplain). The enduring theme is his friendship with Babe Hardy and the account of decline and loss is very moving. They both found some fulfilment with their final marriages, and there’s not so much of their romantic success as their previous failures. But this is a lovely book about films, and friendship: Laurel and Hardy. Four and a half stars.

random_spider's review

informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

This may come out more like rant, but I have no regrets.

------Stat Score------

Plot/Content: 1/10
Characters/POVs: 2/10
Prose/Style: 2/10
Themes/Messages: 2/10
Enjoyability/Impact: 1/10

OVERALL RATING: 1/10 (Ironically impressed)

WOW...it's been a while since I rated something this low of a score.
At best, this book was just a bland and sluggish fictional biography of both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy that didn't work for me (since I never knew nor cared about the lives of these comics in the first place.) At worst, a complete failure of its genres that sucked the enjoyment out of my hobby.

I know what will happen when Babe goes, Vera says.
— What will happen?
— Life will stop, but time will go on.

Vera is wrong.
The clock ticks, and life goes on.
That is what makes it all so unbearable.

Synopsis and/or Premise:
We follow Stan Laurel and his life of being a comic during the first half of the 20th century.

The Good and The Bad:
Despite receiving the lowest rating possible, it's a miracle how I still could manage to scrap some few good things about the novel. First, I like the minimalist and clean cover (the main reason why I bought it.) Second, there's some fleeting, faint engagement for following someone being overshadowed in an industry, being limited due to a fat body, and longing of former glories. Last and probably the least, I now know that Charlie Chaplin was a pedophile...yeah.

OH BOY! I'm going to have a field day listing all its shortcomings 😈:

1. Pretentious 🙄 - Too much flowery prose to only deliver some underwhelming substance, thus the dancing of words felt unjustified and is of tricks. The book had this 'inner pride' as if it's the pinnacle of Biography Fiction literature. Book...WILL YOU SHUT UP?!?! THIS IS SO AGGRAVATING!!!

2. Telling 🗣️ - Another day, another crime committed. Who could thoroughly enjoy a narrative flow full of "This happened, and then this happened..."? Not me. This book suffered from one of the most common rookie mistakes in novel composition, though I'm sure this wasn't the debut of the author...WHICH MADE IT EVEN WORSE! But I do understand that there's no absolute rule on how to write a novel. Still, being able to do it doesn't mean you should do it.

3. Lacking ❌ - It had no hook that could attract readers to continue past the first few pages, an absent of some functional tension to keep the readers intrigued, a weak cast of characters that weren't compelling at all, and not even efficient nor effective with its prose (as mentioned being pretentious.) Wow, amazing indeed 👏.

4. Repetitive 🔁 - The prose, being all pretentious, had this annoying habit of repeating what's written just to forced it into the reader's mind. It indeed got into my mine, but not in any good way. It's excessive, in my opinion.

5. Fast yet Slow 🤨 - Book...how did you even made this possible? It's contradictory in concept, but for some unknown reason, the book did it. The chapters were mostly short, averaging about 2-3 pages long. This is a reliable indicator that the narrative pacing was fast. But this novel subverts (and not in a good way) by dragging the story into a crawl. The result was an unpleasant reading experience with hundreds of short chapters, each barely moving the plot forward.

6. Too many characters/events 🗒️ - So many unimportant names cluttered within. So many inconsequential events happened just for the sake of adding something in the pages. So many problems this book had acquired. Just so many it muted the experience and turned it into a chore.

7. Overall numbness 😐 - This book was near lifeless in essence, and a disappointment of its genre. I briefly mentioned from my review of Deadwood that a novel within Historical Fiction genre should accomplish 3 major things: A faithful retelling, a novel perspective, and a powerful plot. If completed, the Historical Fiction genre could be the best as it revitalizes true history from the deliverance of a fictionalized narrative. This book fell short from 2/3rd of the criteria (I am not sure about its historical accuracies, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.) It even sort of failed on its job as a Biography Fiction since I, a stranger to the characters, still didn't give a damn. I felt nothing about this book, and everything that came out of it.

Final Thoughts:
he by John Connolly is a Biography Fiction and Historical Fictional novel set during the early to mid-20th century about the failures, dramas, and successes of a comic duo. It's roughly the worst of 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo' type of books. Now, if you're curious on why I persevered not DNFing this one, I have a few reasons why:
1. I get to finally remove it from my physical TBR,
2. It gave me a justification for this rant (which I occasionally enjoy writing), and
3. I personally do not DNF books to give them a chance of recovery (which this book failed, and I am now rethinking about this policy of mine.)

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Links to my ratings and reviews:
Goodreads reviews
The StoryGraph

emckeon1002's review against another edition

5.0

Anyone who has stood next to me when my iPhone was ringing has probably chuckled. Most say: "Three Stooges?" I correct them and say: "Laurel and Hardy." My ringtone is Marvin Hatley's "Dance of the Cuckoos" which was noted, many years ago, by the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/magazine/21FOB-medium-t.html), as possibly the first musical piece ever to use beeps as part of the score, when Hatley composed is for the comedy duo. It's my ringtone because I grew up on Laurel and Hardy shorts in the days when a 20-minute film was perfect for a thirty-minute TV segment, and local television was hungry for cheap filler. While I watched plenty of Three Stooges and Marx Brothers as a kid, and learned to recognize the genius of Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton as an adult, I always had a soft spot for Laurel and Hardy and the strange tension and affection that characterized their on-screen partnership. I enjoy John Connolly's writing, so when I read that he'd "reimagined" Stan Laurel's life in a fictional biography I ordered a copy. It took me a few (short) chapters to become captured by the spare inner monologues, and imagined dialogue, but I was hooked by the tragic story of a beautiful friendship and a lifetime of "fine messes." I loved this book, and the way Connolly has woven well-researched history while creating a deep sense of the emotional life of Laurel. I've rewatched several of the old shorts while reading, if only to determine whether Connolly captured the men behind the flickering images, and I think he has.

ashsando's review against another edition

3.0

I got bored of this book and had to force myself through it, being a bit repetitive and no real excitement. Its just not my genre, but I can see why other people do like it, it did make me care for the people towards the end and made me think a lot about life.

kathys1977's review against another edition

1.0

I was really looking forward to reading this book. When I got it and started I was quickly disappointed in it. I hated the style of writing that the author used in this book. It made me not care about the people and the story was hard to follow. This book fell really short for me, which is a shame since it had a lot of promise. :-(

soulkissed2003's review against another edition

4.0

My husband and I watched the movie "Stan and Ollie", which recently came out on DVD. I was curious to learn more about these two men, who were funny on stage and screen, yet who had so much sorrow in their own personal relationships.

In "he: a Novel", John Connolly takes us through the disjointed memories of Stan Laurel, who, at the start of the story, is in his oceanside home, preparing to die. As he -- yes, he -- reflects back on his past, we get to know this man who flitted from marriage to affair to remarriage to divorce again and again, yet seemed to remain lonely throughout his life.

Not only it is an interesting story with a unique construct, relying heavily on that title pronoun, it is incredibly well written in that it hardly ever uses "he" or related pronouns for other characters in the book.

maybeitsmallory's review against another edition

5.0

I will admit that the only reason I purchased this book was because John was doing a book tour and it gave me the opportunity to finally meet him! John had quickly become one of my favorite authors, so I was excited to meet him. After hearing him discuss what this book was about and his 10 year process of writing it, I was intrigued.

Not really knowing who Laurel and Hardy were, I didn’t know what to expect. This book, however, is so beautifully written, it didn’t matter that I didn’t know these men before, but I do now. John wrote this so well, I really feel as if I stepped into their lives. I felt the emotions they appeared to go through. Their love for one another.

If you’re a fan of John, and if you are or even if you’re not a fan of Laurel and Hardy, I recommend giving this book a read. It may surprise you! Beautiful, beautiful written book!

dws405's review against another edition

4.0

A unique book about the life of Arthur Stanley Jefferson more commonly known as Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy fame.

The writing style is different and Stan is mostly referred to as 'he' in the book. At first, I didn't understand why....but thinking about this book and why would Stan be 'he' I finally understood. It, in my opinion, is a brilliant approach by the author.

What I liked about this book is that it broaden my understanding of how vaudeville gave way to moving pictures and the intersection that Charlie Chaplin and Stanley Laurel shared with each other. It also really pointed out the need that Stan had for Oliver. Stan was never complete by himself. It was only when he was with his friend Oliver Hardy was he complete.

This book also prompted me to search out and watch clips of Laurel and Hardy's work. It was a joy to read.

wviellevoye's review

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

adamsockel's review

5.0

When I was young, we spent our sunday's at my Jewish grandmother's house. She had dementia for most of the time she was alive that I knew her so there wasn't much to do there but she always adored Turner Classic Movies and other channels of the Ilk. B/c of this, I have seen more Laurel & Hardy movies than any human born in the last 30 ish years should.

This story did such an amazing job of tracking everything that I thought I knew and some I didn't, mixed with emotion and heartbreak. My old timey, old hollywood loving self adored this book so much.