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A review by jwmcoaching
Cataract City by Craig Davidson
3.0
I almost didn't finish this. The only reason I kept at is the fact that Davidson uses so many similes (the pages are almost purple with so much showy prose) and it annoyed me so much, that I made up a game where if a page had a simile, I would keep going. Sometimes there were even two or three a page. This kept me going through the slower parts.
The most frustrating thing about Cataract City is that when it works well, it really cooks, but when it doesn't, it's like second rate Richard Russo. No insults intended there because I love Russo; it's just that this becomes pretty reminiscent of his small town renderings of poignancy.
CC is like a roller coaster in terms of its quality. Or it's like an ocean wave. Or... Mr Davidson, can you supply a simile for me here? The point is is that the first fourth is taken up by a tedious flashback, then we have some interesting plot that gets tedious, then more interesting plot that actually stays that way. It's uneven, to say the least.
In addition to his similes, Davidson also has the annoying habit of describing everything in nature down to the last detail, ad nauseam. His prose is so flowery at times that I felt like I needed to start skimming just to keep my interest in the plot going.
I did like how the descriptions of childhood were reminiscent of Stephen King's when he talks about adolescence in his novels. I also admired the fact that such a touching love story between two male friends exists within the pages of what is one of the most gruesomely macho novels I've ever read.
A pretty decent novel that I feel could have been even better.
The most frustrating thing about Cataract City is that when it works well, it really cooks, but when it doesn't, it's like second rate Richard Russo. No insults intended there because I love Russo; it's just that this becomes pretty reminiscent of his small town renderings of poignancy.
CC is like a roller coaster in terms of its quality. Or it's like an ocean wave. Or... Mr Davidson, can you supply a simile for me here? The point is is that the first fourth is taken up by a tedious flashback, then we have some interesting plot that gets tedious, then more interesting plot that actually stays that way. It's uneven, to say the least.
In addition to his similes, Davidson also has the annoying habit of describing everything in nature down to the last detail, ad nauseam. His prose is so flowery at times that I felt like I needed to start skimming just to keep my interest in the plot going.
I did like how the descriptions of childhood were reminiscent of Stephen King's when he talks about adolescence in his novels. I also admired the fact that such a touching love story between two male friends exists within the pages of what is one of the most gruesomely macho novels I've ever read.
A pretty decent novel that I feel could have been even better.