David Samuel Levinson's Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence
Sooooo, this is a book set in a small upstate NY college town in the 1980s, about WRITERS and SECRETS and AFFAIRS and PAST AFFAIRS and a MYSTERIOUS DEATH. But mostly about writers and critics and vengeance and sorrow, centering on the young(ish) widow of a not very successful writer, the critic who kind of destroyed him--and the hot young writer (the titular Antonia) the critic is sleeping with, who has some unusual motives and drama of her own. Things start off really promisingly, but the characters soon become pretty tiresome, and this wasn't as engaging as I had expected. The widow, in particular, is some combination of naive and overwrought that really doesn't work for me. The very end is really pretty great, but wasn't enough to make me like the rest. B/B-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on June 4th.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on June 4th.
3 comments:
I proofread this one for Algonquin a while back, and I agree with your assessment for the most part. But only two Goodreads stars for a B/B-?
I don't really like the star system and can never figure out how to make it correspond to letter grades. This could easily have been 3 stars, I guess? I usually put the solid B books at 3 stars ("liked it") and felt like this fit more with their definition for 2 stars ("it was ok"). I wavered on that one for a while, to be honest, so now feel all weird that you called me out. :)
Oh dear ... I'm not a critic but somehow this book was sold to me last week at a local bookstore. It was not a good purchase.
I wrote a review for Good Reads - and wasn't very kind ... I find it to be vapid, empty of meaning or redemption and with an incredibly poor cast of characters (who were not well developed).
I also found it irritating that none of the cast was unable to speak in more than one or two word sentences i.e.
"Where's Henry?"
"Am I my father's keeper?"
"That was a nasty thing you did. I have been nothing but kind to you."
He blinked at her, dumbfounded. "What ... I don't ... what are you talking about?"
"Don't play stupid with me," she said sharply.
"Where's my father?" he asked, rising.
"I just asked you that. Besides Henry has nothing to do with this."
Ezra was laughing, "He has everything to do with everything."
Okay ... so seriously, that was taken from pg 141.
So we have no development of character and no development of thought either ... well, except when the only way the "plot" is presented is through the "thoughts" and "thinking" of the players in the story. They think of their pasts, their regrets, their wishes, their loved ones (living & dead) and drop information that is supposed to lead us to the point of the story.
Then mysterious characters clumsily appear without introduction or meaning - from behind bushes or on darkened porches. What? Who are these people? Where do they belong? Well, to find out we must wait for a daughter, lover or book critic to get alone so he/she can "think" this person in to the story by reminiscing.
So ... do you get it? Me either. I didn't even finish the book ... I spend too much time laughing and calling my daughter to read out loud some of the insipid lines from almost every page. It was just taking too much time.
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