Book Description
The New York Times Book Review called The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B, J. P. Donleavy's hilarious, bittersweet tale of a lost young man's existential odyssey, "a triumphant piece of writing, achieved with that total authority, total mastery which shows that a fine writer is fully extended...." In the years before and after World War II, Balthazar B is the world's last shy, elegant young man. Born to riches in Paris and raised by his governess, Balthazar is shipped off to a British boarding school, where he meets the noble but naughty Beefy. The duo matriculate to Trinity College, Dublin, where Balthazar reads zoology and Beefy prepares for holy orders, all the while sharing amorous adventures high and low, until their university careers come to an abrupt and decidedly unholy end. Written with trademark bravado and a healthy dose of sincerity, The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B is vintage Donleavy.
Customer Reviews:
Dialogue in any scenes with women VERY stilted.......2007-05-10
I bought this book on sale at the Newport Beach library while visiting my parents and, along with my other book treasures, brought it back to the land where English language books are a precious commodity, Mexico, where I live full-time.
I agree with other reader reviews that Donleavy is an excellent writer when he is describing the world around him, both the inanimate and natural world and the small details of culture. This kept me reading and enjoying.
Also enjoyed the school boy scenes and dialogue.
Then we got to the Nanny episode where Balthzar is 12 and he has this luscious nanny that he has a brief affair with. I'm not a prude and this could have been a very good portion of the book. But the dialogue? It became unbelievably stilted and the descriptive prose of the sex scenes was unexplicit, boring soft-core blather in my opinion.
And yet, I soldiered on. Perhaps the Nanny episode was a momentary lapse. On we roll for awhile with more excellent story progress as Balthazar continues to grow up and descriptions of the people and world around him.
Then he meets woman number 2. The dialogue again turns into total stiltsville. People do NOT talk like this. It was boring and annoying at the same time. Number 2 woman is also a cardboard cutout character given dialogue to match.
I'm female, by the way. Wasn't in the least grossed out by the 'risque' scenes. More irritated and bored. The premises were good in the two I read. But the writer ruined the scenes with his stilted man/woman dialogue. Ludicrously bad.
I deduce from these first two examples that every other love or sex scene in this fat book is going to rivert to this style and from the synopsis, it appears that there are a great many such scenes. I have a choice of skipping the scenes where a woman looms on the horizon and reading the other parts but with all the good books in the world to read, I'm thinking I'm tired of wasting my time on this one.
I hate to do it since I carted it all the way down here using up poundage in my luggage on the airlines to do so, but I'm throwing this baby DOWN. Adios.
Not Donleavy's Best.......2005-12-21
After reading the Ginger Man and the entire Darcy Dancer trilogy, this novel is a sad disappointment of wearisome and sophomoric writing. Particularly unnerving is the slipshod shuttlecocking from third person to first person narration which begins on the first page.-Where was the bleeding editor!?!-There is also the pretentious Joycean reference to the last lines of Ulysses on p. 220:
"No. I'm glad you said yes."
"Yes I said yes."
One wonders whom Donleavy was trying to impress here-those who had read the last page, or last line of Ulysses? Or was he just being careless and lazy? I very much fear the latter.
I'm a great Donleavy fan. But this is not the book of the great writer that you want to read. The Ginger Man or any of the Darcy Dancer trilogy books display so much more lyricism and craft than this book that it almost seems as if it were by another writer entirely.
Unique lyrical narrative voice.......2001-09-28
Balthazar B. is an aristocrat bewildered at every turn by life. His picaresque journey from Paris to Trinity College Dublin and visitations to country estates and among women of high and dubious social standing is hilarious to behold. The randy foil figure of Beefy may stand as one of the greatest comic figures since Shakespeare's Fat Jack Falstaff. The literary style of Donleavy is itself richly laden with lyricism and poetry and comedy. It is a uniquely pointillistic style in which brush strokes are applied to the canvas with precision and clarity in truncated and non-traditonal but accessible syntax. Like most truly great writers Donleany evokes all of the reader's senses in his work. He also succeeds in arousing sympathy, hilarity, tenderness, grief -- a full range of sensibilities that engage the reader. Each character is roundly drawn and speaks with a unique voice and range of experience. Donleavy's Ginger Man is named among the Random House Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century. He is a supremely talented story teller with an enchanting narrative style that will leave you wanting to read more. Don't miss this novel, The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman and the Singular Man -- they are all pleasant and richly satisfying literary treasures.
A gem.......2001-06-03
A splendid book about one Balthazar B, gentleman at large. Donleavy's writing sparkles with wit, humor and charm, and yet he never shies from the experiences that make Balthazar (and all of us) human: the pursuit of sex and the loss of true love. Balthazar is no cardboard hero for whom everything goes right.
Touching, sad and funny.......2000-06-02
This book was my introduction to J. P. Donleavey and I didn't know quite what to expect. Early on the book had me laughing out loud, yet throughout there is a strong undercurrent of sadness.
The portion devoted to Balthazar's time at Trinity reminded me of both "Lucky Jim" by Kingsley Amis, and "The Water Method Man" by John Irving. Donleavy uses the academic setting to create situations with a tremendous amount of humor and a profound sense of loneliness and alienation simultaneously.
This introduction led me to pick up four more by Donleavy. The emotion of the book stayed with me for a long time afterward.
Average customer rating:
- Balthazar - Donleavy at the height of his powers
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The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0440304717 |
Customer Reviews:
Balthazar - Donleavy at the height of his powers.......2007-09-11
This is a gem of a book -- a bildungsroman, a sentimental baedekker for lovers of Dublin and London and Paris, a perfect tearjerker of a love story, layers of plot and subplot and hilarious vignette woven with the febrile third-person/first person staccato narrative style that Donleavy once told the Paris Review was his greatest original contribution to literature. I disagreed, then and now. Balthazar was his greatest contribution. Nearly 40 years after first reading this book I still find him inhabiting certain corners of my imagination.
Donleavy came on the scene with "The Ginger Man" followed by a few practice exercises like "Saddest Summer of Samuel S". Then after Balthazar B he wrote "Fairy Tale of New York" and then started repeating himself until it became apparent that he'd run out of gas. Donleavy isn't the great novelist that I thought he was when I was 17, but he wrote a couple of great novels. This was one of them. I wish I could read it again for the first time.
Average customer rating:
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The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B
J P Donleavy
Manufacturer: Eyre & Spottiswoode
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Donleavy, J.P.
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ASIN: B000NQ99G2 |
Product Description
This novel, "as sad as it is hilarious, is Dublin in its heyday and London in its prime, and between, a Paris with all its pleasures."
Customer Reviews:
Spirited Heroine makes this a wonderful novel.......2007-06-08
This is the first Karen King novel I have read and after reading Wedding Runaway, it will not be my last. The heroine of this delicious novel is Lydia. She is running away from an impending marriage. She dons boy's clothes and blends into London's gaming establishments with the other rakehells to support herself and her maid. She is saved from a certain beating by the hero, Victor, the earl of Wedmont. He does not see through her disguise at all. Instead he sees a scrawny too young American boy desperately needing his assistance in London. The more time Victor spends with this callow youth, the more attracted he is to him. So much so that he is astounded that he is having "feelings" for the boy.
Lydia is very attracted to Victor but must remain in her boy's clothing. When challenged to a duel by Victor, she still does not give away her secret.
These two characters are delightful from their first appearance. Lydia is pragmatic and also very vulnerable. Her innate goodness shines through. Victor battles his past and needs Lydia to show him that he can succeed in love. There is a great romance that blossoms between Lydia's brother and a proper aristocrat too. All in all a wonderful read with some interesting plot twists and fun characters.
The Wedding Runaway.......2006-03-28
I enjoyed reading The Wedding Runaway, although I don't often break away from romantic suspense. However, this book drew me in and it was a pleasant escape to another time. Ms. King is and excellent storyteller.
The Determined Lady
this book kept me up way too late!.......2005-08-27
The Wedding Runaway jumps right into action, with our heroine, Lydia, dressing herself up as a young man. When Victor meets her, he is immediately disturbed by feelings of attraction toward "him." I think this is handled extremely well--he's as freaked out as any hetero Regency gentleman would be, but the story doesn't lapse into homophobia. Of course, he finds out before long, and I love the way that happens.
Lydia is a great character, very tough and very vulnerable at the same time, and Victor is *absolutely to die for.* This book just goes from one great scene to another...didn't drag anywhere. Even though I was very sleepy at work the next day :-)
This book is a keeper.......2005-04-18
Even if I wasn't lucky enough to meet the author and get my book signed, this book would remain on my shelf for other times in which I wanted to visit with the characters again. Thanks for giving us a world we could get lost in Karen and keep up the good work, because we will be there to always buy your books.
A Great Read!.......2005-03-10
From the minute you open Karen L. King's latest historical Regency romance and read the first page, you'll be hooked. This story is filled with deception and desire and pulls you in and won't let you go. An engaging herione pretending to be a boy, a tortured hero and a set of cursed dueling pistols come together in a compelling story that will have you reading late into the night. Enjoy!
Book Description
With just one month to go before her fairy tale wedding to the third richest man in the second largest city in Ohio, Lily Blair is suddenly beset by doubts.Even though she appears to have it all - a budding career and a five-carat engagement ring from the man of her dreams - she can't decide whether to plunge headfirst into the security of married suburban life, or follow her career dreams solo to New York. And while the zany and loving cast of friends, family, and co-workers keep pushing her towards the aisle, Lily knows that, despite the passion she feels for her fianc, she alone must come to terms with the biggest decision of her life.As she locks horns with her mother on nearly every detail, issues like veal medallions vs. chicken wings become battles in an event being staged with all the grandeur and precision of a full-scale military operation. The situation grows funnier and more desperate at every turn as Lily must confront an absurd bridal fair, an unsympathetic psychiatrist, and the local gossip column. Before she loses her sanity, she looks to her heroine, Jane Austen, for inspiration.The result is hilarious, sweet, and smart. For Lily Blair is a real heroine for the 90s and beyond, and The Accidental Bride who will keep surprising you until the end.AUTHORBIO: Janice Harayda is an award-winning journalist who spent eleven years as the book editor of a major metropolitan daily newspaper.She has been a staff writer and editor for Glamour, editorial director of Boston magazine, and a contributor to many national magazines and newspapers.A vice-president of the National Book Critics Circle, she lives in New Jersey.The Accidental Bride is her first novel.
Customer Reviews:
Self-important, snobbish, condescending, and silly.......2007-03-27
I just finished this book yesterday and I was happy to be done with it. I have never disliked a book enough to actually come onto amazon.com and write a scathing review of it, but this one inspired me. The only reason I finished it was to see if the main character was suddenly going to do something worthy of my attention, like grow up and appreciate her groom.
All the characters are flat and fit neatly into two categories: the "good guys" and the "bad guys". The "bad guys" are all "rednecks"; sports-obsessed, war-loving, anti-gay rights, corn-dog eating Republicans who all have horribly snotty children. The "good guys" are portrayed as enlightened, socially aware, psychology-hating, liberal-thinkers who raise unrealistically well-behaved children and think that Manhattan is the only cultured place on earth. What the "good guys" really come across as are self-absorbed, overly politically correct snobs who see phallic symbols at every turn. (I think the phallic symbol references are supposed to be funny.)
With all the Jane Austen quotes and references, I gather that the writer was trying to make a satirical commentary on our times as Austen did on hers. But Harayda misses the two things that make Austen so likable and powerful a writer: the "good guys" have human flaws that make us like them, relate to them, and feel empathetic towards them and the "bad guys" are either comical or pathetic, making us either laugh or feel sympathy. This book did none of these things. It insulted, belittled, and condescended at every turn. By the end, I was cringing when I saw Austen's quotes at the top of each chapter. It was a complete insult to her.
Lily, the main character, is a spoiled, snobbish, self-absorbed brat who pouts instead of opening her mouth and sharing her feelings with her fiancé. She is spineless and allows her parents and Mark (the fiancé) to dictate her life. She is also strangely obsessed with corn dogs. She doesn't want to get married and hasn't told Mark that she loves him, yet she accepts his proposal. She hates her mother, the house Mark's father bought them, his sisters, the town they live in, her boss, and her job and yet she does nothing pro-active about changing or coming to terms with any of this - she just whines and pouts and compares everyone to obscure literary characters. She views herself as a powerless victim and everyone else as merciless oppressors. I felt like I was reading about a spoiled 16-year-old.
Mark is a flat, boring, too-good-to-be-true character but even with that, he is way too good for self-absorbed Lily. He proposes to her before she has even said "I love you" and wants to marry her instead of living with her first. I kept wanting him to leave Lily and maybe teach her something.
Alas, there is no major transformation of the main character. She doesn't learn any lessons or come to terms with her own character flaws - Oh, wait. I forgot; she doesn't have any. Instead, everyone suddenly realizes that she was right all along and she gets her way in everything. And everyone admires her for it.
No wonder I found this book at the Borders outlet instead of the proper store.
As it happens, Cleveland does suck.......2007-03-11
Please ignore the poor reviews. They obviously come from the "troglodytes" of Cleveland. Look it up, Clevelanders.
Tom Heehler
Not terrible, but not terrific.......2005-04-04
I got seriously sick of the Jane Austen, as well as the author's self-congratulatory literary comments throughout the book -- I felt like the author was trying to show off a degree in Literature to the Unwashed. The ending was incredibly stupid -- not at all what I expected, and utterly disappointing. The reason for 3 stars and not 1 star was because it wasn't completely awful -- I did like to see how Jerry Springer-esque her views of her in-laws and family could get.
An Accident if you decide to read............2004-09-28
Most likely this is the first and Last book Janice Harayda will write. The Accidental Bride, Harayda's first is nothing but an accident.
Lily is a 20 something is about to get married, to one of Ohio's richest, but pulls out only to find herself making matters worse for herself. Sounds good. Yet it is not.
Harayda never gives us a description of the main character, let alone any other character in the book. Its hard to read a book where the mental image you have in your head is a paper doll. Every character is so flawed that you can not get past that fact alone. No character is likeable. Hands down. How can you like a lead character that forces herself to get married to a man who loves her, only to fake loving him to get a divorce after the wedding. Talk about low.
Then there are the facts and the non-stop Jane Austen bits. Lily our main character lives in Ohio, only to make it sound like hell. Hello!!! I live in the Ohio Valley, and we do not have crime rates that are bigger than NYC's, a climate where it snows in September (without a nor easter), we are not rich and live in look alike communities (our economy is not the best right now), and no we are not soooo out of style that we make Trailor Park Trash look like Naomi Campbell.
Jane Austen!?? You will never pick up one of her novels if you read this book, for the author dwells on Jane the whole book that she forgets what matters...the plot of her own book.
I would like to say that you could give the book a chance, but heck dont waste your time. I would have given it one star had I not had enough will to finish the thing.
Skip this read and pick up a Jane Green novel...or even one of Austens' great novels.
A humorous book that made me think.......2004-04-07
I really enjoyed this book and in fact was on this Amazon page hoping to see if there are more books by this author. The book is not Jane Austen and is not meant to be. However it is an witty look at contemporary mores involving courtship, love, romance, and marriage. It made me think about my own choices and my expectations of others. And it made me laugh! And also vow never to visit Ohio....
Product Description
Madeline Beaumont had always dreamed of falling in love, marrying, and having a family. But those dreams would never come true-the last straw for her marriage had been the discovery she could never bear children. Heartsick, Madeline returned home, determined to rebuild her life and never marry again. But instead of solitude, Madeline found herself confronted with compelling, insistent Jake Hunter-a man who was determined to fill her life and make her heart sing. Soon she found her resolve wakenening...Could Jake convince Madeline that the ultimate gift of love was a lifetime spent together? RUNAWAY BRIDES: These brides are on the loose-but will love bring them back to the altar?
Average customer rating:
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Runaway Wedding
Ruth Jean Dale
Manufacturer: Thorndike Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Dale, Ruth Jean | ( D ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0263149293 |
Customer Reviews:
Runaway Wedding.......1998-04-14
lark always wanted to please her father but not if it means marring the wrong man. With so much stress on lark, she ends up leaving up to the mountians where she finds the man of her dreams.
Product Description
11 massmarket paperback Titles By Cartland - An Innocent in Mayfair - Runaway Heart - Lioness and the Lily - Little Tonges of Fire - King in Love - Runaway Star - Wings of Love - Magic or Mirage - Theft of a Heart - Ghost Who Fell in Love - Unwanted Wedding (Camfield)
![4 Book Set of Romance "Here Come The Grooms Sagas"; This Day Forward [Marriage Inc.], First Comes Marriage [Solution Wedding], Strangers No More [Runaway Brides], To Choose A Wife [Solution Wedding]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31gwV2EvebL.jpg)
Average customer rating:
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4 Book Set of Romance "Here Come The Grooms Sagas"; This Day Forward [Marriage Inc.], First Comes Marriage [Solution Wedding], Strangers No More [Runaway Brides], To Choose A Wife [Solution Wedding]
Elizabeth Morris ,
Debbie Macomber ,
Naomi Horton , and
Phyllis Halldorson
Manufacturer: Harlequin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
MacOmber, Debbie | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
Macomber, Debbie | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000P003XO |
Average customer rating:
- If you liked the CITY WHO FOUGHT - 3 stars if you only know the rest
- The Jack of All Trades grows up
- Fairly weak
- The Ship Avenged (although not really a brainship)
- Not a bad read, but...
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The Ship Avenged (Hardcover) (Brainship)
Anne McCaffrey , and
S.M. Stirling
Manufacturer: Baen
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Binding: Hardcover
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The City Who Fought (Brainship)
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The Ship Who Won
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The Ship Errant
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The City and The Ship (Mccaffrey, Anne)
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The Ship Who Sang
ASIN: 0671877666 |
Customer Reviews:
If you liked the CITY WHO FOUGHT - 3 stars if you only know the rest .......2007-06-10
of the Brainship series but definitely don't start here.
The action picks up about ten years after THE CITY WHO FOUGHT and features Joat Simeon-Happ and a few other characters from that book. Joat now has her own ship and crew and is approached by Central Worlds Security to locate the Kolnari space raiders - also involved in THE CITY WHO FOUGHT. Joat and crew soon find themselves in far over their heads as they attempt to rescue a kidnapped planetary leader and prophet (who also happens to have ties to Joat and her crew). As always in this series the good guys triumph but only after many horrific adventures.
This, like the rest of the Brainship series, is listed as a 'Young Adult' book but in my opinion it is for the more mature end of that audience due to the implied sexual situations, strong scenes of violence and gruesome situations. This is definitely the weakest book in the series that I have read so far. Unless you are a fan of THE CITY WHO FOUGHT skip this one.
The Jack of All Trades grows up.......2005-01-11
In this authorized sequel to McCaffrey & Stirling's "The City Who Fought," it's 10 years since the barbarian spacegoing raiders the Kolnari captured Space Station SSS-900-C and were sent scurrying with tails between legs by Simeon, the Brain that runs it, and Joat, the 11-year-old technodemon who lurked in its conduits. In gratitude, Simeon and his Brawn, Stationmaster Channa Hap, adopted Joat and saw that she received an education. Now Joat is out on her own, a dropout from Brawn school with a small ship called "WYAL" (for While You Ain't Lookin') and her very own AI, Rand, who, while not a Brain, functions almost as well as one.
Unfortunately the Kolnari have neither forgotten nor forgiven their defeat, and their warlord, Belazir t'Marid, has succeeded in acquiring a virus that attacks the cognitive centers of the brain and, in effect, brings on a kind of artificial Alzheimer's Disease. To spread it, he must create a human carrier, then return that carrier to his own planet and wait for the virus to do its work. The carrier he selects is Amos bin Sierra Nueva, Prophet and leader of the religiously-oriented colony world of Bethel, which played a major role in the Kolnari defeat a decade before. So that Amos can't warn his people of his state, Belazir injects him with a paralyzing agent and advertises, through his underground contacts, for a free ship to carry his "package" home. The "WYAL"--which, unknown to Belazir, has been hired by Central Worlds master spy Bros Sperin to look into the man Belazir uses as a contact and fence--responds, and in short order the fate of Bethel, Station Simeon, and much of the civilized Galaxy hangs on Joat, Rand, Sperin, a Sondee scientist named Seg !T'sel, Joat's one crewmember Alvec, and Amos's close friend and head of security, Joseph.
Anyone who liked Han Solo should be pleased to make the acquaintance of the adult Joat, who is just as shifty and morally ambiguous as the world's most famous Corellian and even better with techie toys. And the Kolnari, like the Imperials who were Solo's bugaboo, are a race of villains you love to hate--utterly evil, yet in a way comprehensible. Seg the Sondee--a romantic with James-Bondworthy dreams of the glamor of espionage, "working on an opera in his spare time" (as practically every Sondee is), and a highly skilled medic and computerman--is another great original character. Though the romantic attraction between Bros and Joat seems rather forced, the story itself is convoluted and fast-moving, with lots of military throwaway such as might be expected from Stirling. A good entry into the Brain & Brawn series.
Fairly weak.......2004-11-21
This book just isn't up to the standard of the other episodes in the BrainShip series. The plot and the characters show promise, but the polish and fun of the other books is missing. The main villian is absolutely flat and serves mainly as a blatent plot device. The various logic inconsistancies pile up until the plot collapses totally about 75% of the way into the story. I also noticed a large number of editing errors. "ass" instead of "ask", "hum" instead of "him", and so forth. Not recommended for anybody but a die-hard fan.
The Ship Avenged (although not really a brainship).......2004-05-24
This is NOT a brain ship story.
If you like McCaffrey, you'll read and like it well enough. However, when I first read it, I thought it was a CHEAT.
All the previous brainships were human minds and the stories related to the ship as protagonist. This ship is simply an artificial intelligence used to fake a brain brawn story with Joat, a character introduced in an earlier book.
Joat is the main character and the story is ok, but I'd have liked it better if this had been about some way of getting Joat into a real brain/brawn relationship in spite of impossible odds.
Not a bad read, but..........2003-04-04
I really enjoyed "The City Who Fought", especially the character of Joat, so I was thrilled when I finally found out there was a sequel. Well...it was all right. Not bad, not great, certainly not what it could have been. All the right moves were made in the beginning to set up a truly fascinating read, but it just never came together. The end of the book is riddled with plotholes and dangling plot lines that the author tried to tie up neatly at the end, but just...didn't. It wasn't just that the romance felt horribly contrived, but ALL the character relationships towards the end started feeling like actors reading lines that didn't quite add up. And unfortunately, some of the most important action of all was glossed over by an "overview" last chapter that left me screaming. The book would've benefitted from an extra fifty pages or so to tie up all the complications that were brought in at the last minute.
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His Legacy Avenged (Hunter's League)
Mel Odom
Manufacturer: Simon Pulse
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The Secret Explodes (Hunter's League)
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ASIN: 0689866356 |
Book Description
Into the Deep
"I will see my father avenged," Matt replied, "or die in the attempt."
Ever since his parents' untimely deaths at the hands of a vicious enemy, Matt Hunter has risked his own life -- and that of his friends -- over and over again. But his team's motivation has changed. As they have grown closer to Creighdor's evil empire, a greater purpose has been revealed: The fate of humankind lies in their hands.
Hunter's League is gearing up for its final confrontation. First, though, they must learn their foe's true nature. It's a discovery with extraordinary implications. And it means one last outrageous journey to the most unlikely of places -- a trip to the bottom of the ocean.
Average customer rating:
- great, funny read!
- Impressive as satire and as thriller
- Very Violent.
- Dinner conversation
- Devastating Black Humour
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The Ship Avenged (Brainship)
S. M. Stirling
Manufacturer: Baen Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Dead Famous
ASIN: 0671856553 |
Amazon.com
Controversial and past caring, equal parts cool and cruel, Bruce Delametri is Hollywood's hottest director. Tonight, he's at the apex of his career, with an Oscar cradled in one hand and Miss February in the other. But then he gets a visit from two special fans, and all hell (quite literally) breaks loose.
Popcorn, a novel from British sitcom writer Ben Elton (Blackadder, The Young Ones), is the satirical novel done 1990s style. It is a book about the movies that indicts the movies, and that has every chance of being made into a movie. It rings all the familiar changes on the theme of Hollywood vapidity, crassness, and decadence; however, Popcorn accomplishes this so deftly that you may not realize that you've heard it all before until you're finished with the book. Popcorn has little new to say about America and the culture for which it stands: talk-show hosts that are vacuous, movies that are violent, and audiences that are moronic. (The one benefit to shooting this particular fish in this particular barrel is that most readers will find it hard to disagree.) That said, the book generates an undeniable tension. Popcorn is a pleasing (if not always pleasant) page-turner, and the last 20 pages will definitely give you pause.
Book Description
Bruce Delamitri makes cool films about killers. Films in which people die to rock and roll sound-tracks. Meanwhile, psychotic, unbalanced Wayne and Scout are actual killers. On Oscar night, as Bruce becomes King of Hollywood, Wayne and Scout go on a murderous rampage and fact is about to confront fiction.
Customer Reviews:
great, funny read!.......2004-07-16
i read this book in a single night mostly because, as the novel explores people's attachment to entertainment, this books was WAY better than anything on TV!
a little violent at times, there are many plot twists which are funny and sometimes scarry in their accuracy of how the media is attracted to, and portray's violence, for the public.
the ending was a wee bit predictable but enjoyable all the same with a healthy mix of critical satire and humor.
definately worth catching!
Impressive as satire and as thriller.......2003-07-30
Elton comprehensively condemns the Tarantino phenomenon: it's not art, it's nasty and exploitative, pornographic and promotes violence. But he's not just too old these days to get it: he writes chapters perfectly ripping off the style. It could have merely been a thinly veiled essay (and is at times), but in satirising, Elton has written a very decent thriller - ironically at times by introducing the very archetypical characters he's condemning.
Add to this his usual sharp comic stand-up perspectives, and you've got a powerful read. It should date given its very specific pop-culture context, but it may even be good enough not to. This book is well put together, underpinned by a dry and incisive wit, has some very impressive satire, and makes some penetrating criticisms in an enormously enjoyable and compelling form.
Very Violent........2002-12-19
This was a very violent very funny moving book. No point in breaking the book down piece by piece,but lets say fans of Pulp Fiction type movies will absolutely love this book. Ben Elton is a great writer. It seems his writing ridicules the exact world he makes a living from,which makes it even better.
Dinner conversation.......2002-07-23
I imagine Elton coming up with the idea for this book after an evening of "stimulating" dinner conversation with friends on the topic of ultraviolence in film. To be frank, while somewhat entertaining, I found the treatment of the subject matter pretty trite, predictable, and oriented on the sound bite. Really nothing that you haven't heard before if you're at all paying attention, so I wouldn't recommend reading it for its more philosophical aspects.
Devastating Black Humour.......2001-12-03
This book has no mercy.This book is the epitome of political uncorrectedness.I loved the ramblings of the most anti-heroic Oscar winner of fiction. He says in the face of outraged listeners what's wrong in the culture of complaint represented by the Politcally Correctedness fad. And it shows that THERE ARE some things we would really consider unacceptable. And that individual responsibility has its sense.He does so extracting black,irresistible laughs from its readers.
Average customer rating:
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Brother Lew
Lou Acosta
Manufacturer: Xulon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1591600413 |
Customer Reviews:
This book was great.......2002-06-01
The book was an easy read with an ongoing suspense that finished with one chapter and started again in another. It was hard to put down eventhough the book only has 116 pages. I thought that I was reviewing a few episodes of Law and Order. The author has gone through a lot in his life and he clearly shows the changes in his lifestyle. I believe that the only way that the book could have been better was to make it longer.It is definately a made-for-movie type book. In each chapter you can sense that the author is giving you an appetizer and the reader can almost fill in the blanks that are left out of the story.I would recommend it to anyone who has loved ones gone astray.
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