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subvino's review against another edition
2.0
Didn't love this. I started it in December but since I finally finished it this year, I'm counting it as a January read. It's a book of short stories, some of which were good, and some of which I didn't even finish. The stories I liked or found notable were "The Mansion on the Hill", "Boys", and "Demonology". Demonology was probably the best of all of them. I've not read Moody previously and honestly, I'm not tempted to read more after reading this, though someday I might give him a shot. I mostly just finished this up as an exercise on speed-reading.
carrieliza's review against another edition
1.0
I admit I didn't finish reading it, but I just had no interest in any of the stories. Boo.
enelvee's review against another edition
5.0
People who know me are aware that short stories are my favorite genre, and I've read a few. Boys, contained in this collection, is quite possibly one of the best I've ever read.
charbck's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
there is no denying moody’s talent, as the back of the book suggests. title track was definitely the best story. but i have personal gripes
first, his style. moody loves to italicize things that have no reason to be italicized. often times its the joke of the whole story which is innumerably repeated. or a funny detail and all of it would be much funnier if it was unitalicized. calling moody verbose is an understatement. his sentences were so long and winding that you’d think to yourself, surely this next comma will be a period, but it isn’t, and you get bored of his thesaurus words that you begin to count each comma before the period, but get lost in the integers the same way you lose the integers in the sleepy sheep leaping across your soon to be dreamscape, and then you’re reminded of the lamb you ate at last week’s family dinner, and of your cousin’s college courses she shared over spaghetti, that you dont even realize when he does finally stop. and the sentence bleeds into the next. this happened to me often.
second, men. i am biased against all cis male authors. often times i dont care what they have to say overall. but i am especially critical of their woman characters. moody’s women unfortunately do not have depth outside of their relationships to the men around them, or outside of their motherhood. i was especially excited to read M.J.’s point of view in “A Carnival Tradition,” a bulimic ballerina studying at NYU organizing a gallery. but of course we get little of that in what is probably 40 pages of M.J., outside of her relationship with her flop boyfriend gerry. and then we get 50 pages of teenage gerry’s innermost thoughts and nuances, though he is just a teenage boy on a quest to kiss girls. i hate it here.
that being said this book is probably an objective 5⭐️, but im not objective! i do appreciate moody’s exploration of narrative form, and though i was considering swapping this book out for another in a little library, i’ve decided to keep it for inspiration. the last few pgs won me over. whatever
first, his style. moody loves to italicize things that have no reason to be italicized. often times its the joke of the whole story which is innumerably repeated. or a funny detail and all of it would be much funnier if it was unitalicized. calling moody verbose is an understatement. his sentences were so long and winding that you’d think to yourself, surely this next comma will be a period, but it isn’t, and you get bored of his thesaurus words that you begin to count each comma before the period, but get lost in the integers the same way you lose the integers in the sleepy sheep leaping across your soon to be dreamscape, and then you’re reminded of the lamb you ate at last week’s family dinner, and of your cousin’s college courses she shared over spaghetti, that you dont even realize when he does finally stop. and the sentence bleeds into the next. this happened to me often.
second, men. i am biased against all cis male authors. often times i dont care what they have to say overall. but i am especially critical of their woman characters. moody’s women unfortunately do not have depth outside of their relationships to the men around them, or outside of their motherhood. i was especially excited to read M.J.’s point of view in “A Carnival Tradition,” a bulimic ballerina studying at NYU organizing a gallery. but of course we get little of that in what is probably 40 pages of M.J., outside of her relationship with her flop boyfriend gerry. and then we get 50 pages of teenage gerry’s innermost thoughts and nuances, though he is just a teenage boy on a quest to kiss girls. i hate it here.
that being said this book is probably an objective 5⭐️, but im not objective! i do appreciate moody’s exploration of narrative form, and though i was considering swapping this book out for another in a little library, i’ve decided to keep it for inspiration. the last few pgs won me over. whatever
drbird's review against another edition
5.0
after having read The Ice Storm and Garden State many moons ago (the late 90s), I had lost track of Rick Moody. Not that he went anywhere. I even have a copy of Purple America that I have never read. But I just never found myself drawn back to him. Recently I had to read Demonology for a class and also had the chance to meet Moody at a reading. I have fallen into his post-Ice Storm work with much enthusiasm. It doesn't always work ("Hawaiian Night" is conceptually interesting but almost too dense to figure out; "Wilkie Fahnstock" seems like one of those ideas that probably shouldn't have made it to the page), but when it does, I am enthralled ("Mansion on the Hill," "Forecast from the Retail Desk," "The Carnival Tradition," "Boys," and of course "Demonology."
He's definitely not for everyone -- and I don't mean that in a "I'm smart enough to get it" way. If you can get through the misfires, the ones that hit, hit hard.
He's definitely not for everyone -- and I don't mean that in a "I'm smart enough to get it" way. If you can get through the misfires, the ones that hit, hit hard.
lauren_endnotes's review against another edition
3.0
Moody makes classically beautiful short stories. His tools are those of any master storyteller: detail, catharsis, the right word at the right moment...
migrex's review against another edition
2.0
No doubt Rick Moody can write and he did have me running to the dictionary with his vocabulary. But his has this "annoying" use of "italics" (imagine the italics there) which got old pretty fast. None of these stories really spoke to me although I did think they were original. In particular, I liked the life story of the man written in the form of an album review or album liner notes, very original. All in all, though, it just wasn't my cup of tea.
kfan's review against another edition
5.0
5 stars for the title story, which is one of my all-time favorites, which when I read it was one of those life-changing things. I don't remember any of the other stories in this collection, but who cares.
missnicelady's review against another edition
2.0
I liked the first story a whole lot. I think I just wasn't in the mood for the others. Perhaps I'll try again some day.