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ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
5.0
The reviews printed in this book compare Richard Lange to Raymond Carver and Denis Lehane, and I think they're right. The stories in this collection call Carver immediately to mind, set as they are in a dark, hardscrabble Southern California. The stories are longer and probe deeper and are what Lehane might write if he wrote about Los Angeles.
The stories are all beautifully written, sad and hopeful all at once. "Bank of America" is the one I thought of long after finishing, but all the stories deal with failure--failed actors, failed providers, dying relationships. Just about nearly perfect.
The stories are all beautifully written, sad and hopeful all at once. "Bank of America" is the one I thought of long after finishing, but all the stories deal with failure--failed actors, failed providers, dying relationships. Just about nearly perfect.
rocketiza's review against another edition
5.0
Lange doesn't waste a word with short and direct sentences. He's also got a way of conveying complex feelings and emotions in a single sentence that doesn't sound corny that is a very rare gift.
The one thing that holds this back a little is all the stories are about very similar men who are having a hard time coping. More than makes up for the lack of range though by making you care about all of them.
The one thing that holds this back a little is all the stories are about very similar men who are having a hard time coping. More than makes up for the lack of range though by making you care about all of them.
hulings's review against another edition
4.0
Super depressing. An updated Bukowski, almost. There isn't that familiarity, that feeling that you know he's almost laughing as he pens this tale.
shanviolinlove's review against another edition
5.0
I encountered Richard Lange's work in a fiction workshop, when one of my classmates brought in his short story "Blind-Made Products" to study for our student-led seminar. He said the thing he liked best about Lange was that he never ends on a boring note; the transitions are as thought-provoking and image-driven as they are seamless. There is no lazy movement in his work.
All of the stories bank on that fresh energy, propelled with innovative imagery and thought. Each story centers on a white male in the Los Angeles area, navigating through problems with work, love, law, or family. The stories follow multiple plots, banking on a richly developed cast of secondary characters, keeping it interesting. The immediate stories are told in the present tense, with past tense flashback stories paralleling--in "Blind-Made Products," for instance, the speaker is helping a friend of a friend move apartments, while reminiscing of one of a score of women he dated, a beautiful blind woman, who may have been the one that he let slip. In "Fuzzyland," the narrator and his wife visit his sister, recently a rape victim, in the aftermath; he recounts his relationship with her, with his wife, with his now deceased parents, as the three of them take a day trip to Mexico. Fantastic collection of short stories from which reader and writer can glean much from Lange's techniques. I highly recommend!
All of the stories bank on that fresh energy, propelled with innovative imagery and thought. Each story centers on a white male in the Los Angeles area, navigating through problems with work, love, law, or family. The stories follow multiple plots, banking on a richly developed cast of secondary characters, keeping it interesting. The immediate stories are told in the present tense, with past tense flashback stories paralleling--in "Blind-Made Products," for instance, the speaker is helping a friend of a friend move apartments, while reminiscing of one of a score of women he dated, a beautiful blind woman, who may have been the one that he let slip. In "Fuzzyland," the narrator and his wife visit his sister, recently a rape victim, in the aftermath; he recounts his relationship with her, with his wife, with his now deceased parents, as the three of them take a day trip to Mexico. Fantastic collection of short stories from which reader and writer can glean much from Lange's techniques. I highly recommend!
theexistentialbiker's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.0
The stories were great, but repetitive. The characters are all similar in their bad choices and traumatic and painful life stories. Superbly written, but too much to read back to back.
torinoelle's review against another edition
3.0
this book was almost good. very well written but almost like a song that gets cut off at the hook. every story ended right as the chorus was about to start. the lack of continuity in general made this a hard and slow read
kweekwegg's review against another edition
3.0
While I really enjoyed certain stories, by the end of the book it felt to me like it was too based around a concept. Each story was done in the same fashion and eventually it was like yes, okay, I get that you can do this style well. But I wanted to see other things.
edboies's review against another edition
5.0
What a great book of stories, the best I've read in a long time. All these men are trying to be good, trying to be happy or stable and fail along the way in big and small ways. Not a bad story in the bunch. It's best to read these stories a couple of days apart as they are pretty similar and run together in one's memory. But when you are reading them you are entranced. I look forward to more from him, a novel would be great.
drewjameson's review
2.0
I enjoyed this a lot at first, but it never once took flight. Lange does a nice job capturing the voice of a hard-living, hard-boiled, down-and-out LA dead-beat (insert Chandler-ish cliche here), but he never brings out any surprising nuance or innovative technique or even approach. I felt like I was being lead aimlessly through his world, rather than being guided purposefully and expertly from one fascinating sight to another, towards a satisfying or revelatory conclusion. Like trying to make a mix tape by putting somebody else's iPod on shuffle.
dbellerive's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this collection - Lange's characters are so rich - real and mostly f'ed up. love it!