Scan barcode
markeefe's review against another edition
3.5
I loved the first 2/3 of this novel, with Robison's voice-y portrayal of dumb smart people falling in and out of each other's beds and lives throughout a sticky season in Houston. But I didn't love the latter 1/3, and I really wasn't crazy about the ending. But, man, Robison's voice! She's such a lyrical writer, but her sentences also feel off-the-cuff in a perfect way, as if she just jots down these perfect lines and then hurries on to the next.
ashrafulla's review against another edition
1.0
I tried. But the early debauchery was too much. It became tedious to read about everyone's sexual energy. I suspect the plot grows out of the phase of "who I want to sleep with is guiding me." But that didn't happen early enough for me.
I may revisit this book later, but having the entire narrative driven by a single shallow emotion (sex, money, jealousy) usually doesn't work for me.
edit: to be clear, I didn't finish, I stopped 1/3 of the way through.
I may revisit this book later, but having the entire narrative driven by a single shallow emotion (sex, money, jealousy) usually doesn't work for me.
edit: to be clear, I didn't finish, I stopped 1/3 of the way through.
luisterpaul's review
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
featherbooks's review
4.0
Good to find another gem on my shelf worth reading. Robison is a poet and her writing is genius, excellent characters, too, plus good dialogue; also good depiction of Houston and the heat which took me back to Larry McMurtry novels.
If I'd had the wherewithal to write like Justin Taylor's in Swanee Review Fall 2018, I'd have described this book as follows:
"The novel feels antic, random, and tossed-off because Robison has achieved that superlative unity of voice, style, and character known as total effect. Every sentence is clean as a sun-bleached bone, and scenes rarely start or end where you think they would, but there is always meaning being made, withholding and then revealing itself like a well-bluffed hand of cards. "
https://thesewaneereview.com/articles/close-to-the-bone-mary-robison-reconsidered
If I'd had the wherewithal to write like Justin Taylor's in Swanee Review Fall 2018, I'd have described this book as follows:
"The novel feels antic, random, and tossed-off because Robison has achieved that superlative unity of voice, style, and character known as total effect. Every sentence is clean as a sun-bleached bone, and scenes rarely start or end where you think they would, but there is always meaning being made, withholding and then revealing itself like a well-bluffed hand of cards. "
https://thesewaneereview.com/articles/close-to-the-bone-mary-robison-reconsidered
More...