Scan barcode
_pickle_'s review against another edition
2.0
A quick read. Interesting, but occasionally silly. Awful dialogue, though.
tmdavis's review against another edition
1.0
This took me forever to read because of the narrator, who rambles on endlessly about everything. The gist of the story here is that Eric Loesch returns to his hometown of Gerrysburg, New York after years away because of a widely publicized bad career move. He buys a house and some land out in the middle of nowhere and then discovers that he doesn't own a portion of land in the middle of the woods. Even weirder is that the owner's name is blacked out on the papers he has received.
Once Eric begins his investigation into who owns the land, apparently repressed memories begin to come back to him from his childhood--and these are not good memories. And finally, almost at the very end of the book does the reader find out Eric's story and what happened that drove him home.
This was a book that is a very slow read and was supposed to be a novel of paranoia and a thriller. Paranoia, I just didn't get and it definitely wasn't a thriller because it moved too slow for me and was at times quite boring. It often brought on a fit of narcolepsy whenever I tried to read it. I finished it thinking that there had to be some redeeming quality since it was a bookmarks pick but by the end I was just fed up.
Once Eric begins his investigation into who owns the land, apparently repressed memories begin to come back to him from his childhood--and these are not good memories. And finally, almost at the very end of the book does the reader find out Eric's story and what happened that drove him home.
This was a book that is a very slow read and was supposed to be a novel of paranoia and a thriller. Paranoia, I just didn't get and it definitely wasn't a thriller because it moved too slow for me and was at times quite boring. It often brought on a fit of narcolepsy whenever I tried to read it. I finished it thinking that there had to be some redeeming quality since it was a bookmarks pick but by the end I was just fed up.
jennyshank's review against another edition
4.0
http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_13122386?IADID=Search-www.dailycamera.com-www.dailycamera.com
Book review: "Castle"
by Jenny Shank
Posted: 05/30/2009 09:34:00 AM MDT
J. Robert Lennon's new novel "Castle" begins simply: "In the late winter of 2006, I returned to my home town and bought 612 acres of land on the far western edge of the country." The narrator, Eric Loesch, has come back to Gerrysburg, the town where he grew up in upstate New York, and for many chapters that's all the reader learns about his past. Lennon treats us to a good dose of Loesch's personality and code of living, however, through his interactions with a realtor, a hardware store employee, and a librarian: Loesch is exacting, disinclined to self-revelation, precise, and a harsh judge of other people. "Castle" bears the wit and inventiveness of Lennon's previous books, but it surpasses them in its psychological complexity.
At first the reader is put in the position of the other townspeople -- who strike us as normally inquisitive but seem nosy to Loesch -- we want to know more about Eric's background and what his business will be in this economically depressed town. Unwilling to indulge idle curiosity, Loesch purchases outright an old house in the middle of a dense wood and sets about renovating it without explaining himself to anyone.
Lennon cleverly releases hints at the many mysteries underlying "Castle" -- Loesch worked in "infrastructure and information," he's "very handy," and two unspeakable occurrences happened to him, one in childhood, one during his working life, that were notable enough that people read about them in newspapers. He has an estranged sister who turns up on his doorstep one day. Loesch evaluates her in this manner: "Living had changed her. Whereas I had staved off the worst effects of aging with exercise, self-discipline, and healthy eating, Jill had indulged herself from an early age, abusing her body, sleeping irregularly, and running with a dissolute, irresponsible crowd." He dispatches his sister quickly.
Loesch seems to have plenty of money and no work to report to, so he doesn't appear to have much to do, but his house keeps giving him assignments. Mysterious provocations arise, such as the fact that the name of the previous owner of the house has been blacked out on all the documents connected to its purchase, and Loesch discovers there is a small parcel of land in the middle of his property that he does not own, according to the documentation.
The forest around the house is almost impenetrable, populated by few creatures apart from a white deer of the sort that is frequently seen in the area -- except that this one turns out to be a particularly helpful deer. Loesch hikes into the woods and discovers a small castle there, like the one he saw in a child's drawing that he found when cleaning out the house. Objects disappear, and other mysteries ensue, giving the appearance of supernatural occurrences. But as Lennon gradually peels back the layers of his story, he reveals that at its core lie several incidents that are as real as the headlines of yesterday's newspaper.
Eric Loesch is unlikable in the sense that you probably wouldn't want to meet him and thereby become a target of his insults, but his perspective is relentlessly enjoyable because of the caustic wit of his insights about himself and others.
He offends the realtor when he interprets her overture of friendship as romantic interest, and nearly gets into a fistfight at the hardware store when he won't let the clerk help him carry his purchases to the car. Loesch must return to the hardware store several more times, and tries to avoid the clerk that he'd fought with, "But," as Loesch describes, "in a frustrating trick of fate, the man in front of me had some intractable problem involving his company charge account," and he's forced to confront the clerk again, who greets him by name. "I noticed that his name tag read RANDALL. But I declined to use this information." Loesch's voice is consistently droll, or at least it seems that way until the events of his past surface and cast his attitude in a different light.
"Castle" is a great ride, and it's a difficult book to discuss without spoiling any of its many surprises. When Lennon reveals the answers to the mystery, it's both satisfying and horrifying. The ending makes you want to turn back to the beginning, which doesn't seem so funny any more.
Book review: "Castle"
by Jenny Shank
Posted: 05/30/2009 09:34:00 AM MDT
J. Robert Lennon's new novel "Castle" begins simply: "In the late winter of 2006, I returned to my home town and bought 612 acres of land on the far western edge of the country." The narrator, Eric Loesch, has come back to Gerrysburg, the town where he grew up in upstate New York, and for many chapters that's all the reader learns about his past. Lennon treats us to a good dose of Loesch's personality and code of living, however, through his interactions with a realtor, a hardware store employee, and a librarian: Loesch is exacting, disinclined to self-revelation, precise, and a harsh judge of other people. "Castle" bears the wit and inventiveness of Lennon's previous books, but it surpasses them in its psychological complexity.
At first the reader is put in the position of the other townspeople -- who strike us as normally inquisitive but seem nosy to Loesch -- we want to know more about Eric's background and what his business will be in this economically depressed town. Unwilling to indulge idle curiosity, Loesch purchases outright an old house in the middle of a dense wood and sets about renovating it without explaining himself to anyone.
Lennon cleverly releases hints at the many mysteries underlying "Castle" -- Loesch worked in "infrastructure and information," he's "very handy," and two unspeakable occurrences happened to him, one in childhood, one during his working life, that were notable enough that people read about them in newspapers. He has an estranged sister who turns up on his doorstep one day. Loesch evaluates her in this manner: "Living had changed her. Whereas I had staved off the worst effects of aging with exercise, self-discipline, and healthy eating, Jill had indulged herself from an early age, abusing her body, sleeping irregularly, and running with a dissolute, irresponsible crowd." He dispatches his sister quickly.
Loesch seems to have plenty of money and no work to report to, so he doesn't appear to have much to do, but his house keeps giving him assignments. Mysterious provocations arise, such as the fact that the name of the previous owner of the house has been blacked out on all the documents connected to its purchase, and Loesch discovers there is a small parcel of land in the middle of his property that he does not own, according to the documentation.
The forest around the house is almost impenetrable, populated by few creatures apart from a white deer of the sort that is frequently seen in the area -- except that this one turns out to be a particularly helpful deer. Loesch hikes into the woods and discovers a small castle there, like the one he saw in a child's drawing that he found when cleaning out the house. Objects disappear, and other mysteries ensue, giving the appearance of supernatural occurrences. But as Lennon gradually peels back the layers of his story, he reveals that at its core lie several incidents that are as real as the headlines of yesterday's newspaper.
Eric Loesch is unlikable in the sense that you probably wouldn't want to meet him and thereby become a target of his insults, but his perspective is relentlessly enjoyable because of the caustic wit of his insights about himself and others.
He offends the realtor when he interprets her overture of friendship as romantic interest, and nearly gets into a fistfight at the hardware store when he won't let the clerk help him carry his purchases to the car. Loesch must return to the hardware store several more times, and tries to avoid the clerk that he'd fought with, "But," as Loesch describes, "in a frustrating trick of fate, the man in front of me had some intractable problem involving his company charge account," and he's forced to confront the clerk again, who greets him by name. "I noticed that his name tag read RANDALL. But I declined to use this information." Loesch's voice is consistently droll, or at least it seems that way until the events of his past surface and cast his attitude in a different light.
"Castle" is a great ride, and it's a difficult book to discuss without spoiling any of its many surprises. When Lennon reveals the answers to the mystery, it's both satisfying and horrifying. The ending makes you want to turn back to the beginning, which doesn't seem so funny any more.
hooptron's review against another edition
2.0
There were about 20 interesting pages in this book. The rest.....not so much.
invertible_hulk's review against another edition
2.0
This one started off strong -- nicely ominous and foreboding.
And then the main character turned into a complete prick for no descernible reason. And I just lost interest in it.
And then the main character turned into a complete prick for no descernible reason. And I just lost interest in it.
erat's review
2.0
The story in this book was interesting, fairly entertaining, and had the potential to be explosive, but instead it merely fizzled along with just enough action to keep me reading. And although I don't mind unhappy or unclean endings, the ending to this book was unsatisfying, rushed, and lame.
The writing in the early stages of the story felt compressed and clumsy. The main character spends the first half of the book wondering why he's doing the things he's doing even though he's fully aware of his past and his motivations in the second half of the book. Other mysteries in the first half of the book aren't mysterious at all in the second half, again without the benefit of adequate connective tissue. I'm not sure why so many leaps occur in the narrative. Perhaps the publisher (one that I have never heard of before) was cheaping out on page counts and editing staff? I don't know.
Overall, this book was lightly entertaining but frustrating and ultimately unsatisfying.
Ouch?
The writing in the early stages of the story felt compressed and clumsy. The main character spends the first half of the book wondering why he's doing the things he's doing even though he's fully aware of his past and his motivations in the second half of the book. Other mysteries in the first half of the book aren't mysterious at all in the second half, again without the benefit of adequate connective tissue. I'm not sure why so many leaps occur in the narrative. Perhaps the publisher (one that I have never heard of before) was cheaping out on page counts and editing staff? I don't know.
Overall, this book was lightly entertaining but frustrating and ultimately unsatisfying.
Ouch?
invertible_hulk's review
2.0
This one started off strong -- nicely ominous and foreboding.
And then the main character turned into a complete prick for no descernible reason. And I just lost interest in it.
And then the main character turned into a complete prick for no descernible reason. And I just lost interest in it.
jessicaesquire's review
4.0
I have to say, I normally hate the label "psychological thriller" because there's so rarely anything "psychological" about them. But it's the perfect genre for this book.
The structure is unusual, but effective. The protagonist, Eric Loesch, is mysterious and lonely. We follow him through a series of unexplained decisions that don't seem to make much sense. But in the second half of the book, gradually things trickle out until everything is understood.
Perhaps the reveals come a bit too quick, but I can't really fault it.
Lennon's writing is compelling. The book has a very man vs. nature feel to it, which is normally not my thing, but I always wanted to know where the book was going and never questioned putting it down. (Which I definitely do. Thus most of my ratings are 3 star or higher.)
I'll be looking for other books because I'm definitely intrigued. An unusual and enjoyable novel, for sure.
The structure is unusual, but effective. The protagonist, Eric Loesch, is mysterious and lonely. We follow him through a series of unexplained decisions that don't seem to make much sense. But in the second half of the book, gradually things trickle out until everything is understood.
Perhaps the reveals come a bit too quick, but I can't really fault it.
Lennon's writing is compelling. The book has a very man vs. nature feel to it, which is normally not my thing, but I always wanted to know where the book was going and never questioned putting it down. (Which I definitely do. Thus most of my ratings are 3 star or higher.)
I'll be looking for other books because I'm definitely intrigued. An unusual and enjoyable novel, for sure.
More...