In The Fall

Rating:
Summary: In The Fall by Jeffrey Lent
Review: I found this book to be a really enjoyable read.This is exactly the type of novel that I can barely put down till finished and then cannot stop thinking about,the type of novel I loan to all of my friends and later re-read. Not many novels inspire this kind of fascination. I hope that Mr. Lent continues to write and will not keep me waiting too long for his next creation..

Rating:
Summary: A literary page-turner
Review: There are times when I crave a well written piece of literature I can enjoy for the magic of the language and its ability to transport me to another place and time. Then there are times when I need a juicy page-turner I can't wait to pick up. This book achieves both requirements, which is a gift from the author and a treasure for anyone lucky enough to dive into the Fall.

Rating:
Summary: ..not about being wrong as about getting it right!!!
Review: In the Fall is a remarkable novel. It tells a story of a family, through three generations. It is an unwrapping of a family history and the secrets there in. The beginning is during the civil war, when a wounded soldier from New Hampshire is helped by a young girl, an escaped slave from North Carolina. They travel to New Hampshire and on the way fall in love and marry. The people of this novel are so well crafted that you feel you almost know them and yet there always parts that are hidden away. In one scene in the novel, someone says "A man is the sum of his parts." Foster answers,"Maybe,.. I don't know. Seems to me though, the last one who could do that sum would be the one involved." He is told,"...everyman is at least two men. One of them known only to himself." That is how the characters evolve, there seem to be real dimensions that you catch only a glimmer of and other facets that are laid wide open. The story is strong and provocative, and thoroughly captures the reader. The generations are woven gently and not so gently through out each other, creating a wondrous and stunningly intelligent work. The fabulous part is that you really think that you know what is coming next and then it doesn't. A casual yet brilliant conversation in this novel says everything about the author. Someone says,"...You know exactly what [the words] are. You just don't want to say them for fear you'd be wrong." Foster answers,"I'm not sure it's worry about being wrong so much as wanting to get things right." Well Mr. Lent, you got it right, very right!!

Rating:
Summary: Amazed, But Slightly Disappointed
Review: Mr. Lent has captured a literary style that surpasses most novelists in his ability to portray emotionality and non-verbal communication with his extraordinary articulation. The first 191 pages of the book were perhaps one of the most emotionally intense texts I have ever read. Through metaphoric language which is not overly stylized, Mr. Lent has conveyed the underlying and heartfelt feelings of his characters in a most illustrative manner.

However, after finishing the first 191 pages, I found, what was essentially, 200 pages of "filler." While the filler was high quality filler, it was filler nonetheless. In fact, the style of the middle 200 pages of the book was so different, that I had the distinct impression, it was written by another author. I then found that the author's style returned at page 395. I believe that the 200 pages in the middle were mostly superfluous, and could have been boiled down to 20 pages. Maybe that is how Lent wrote it to begin with, but his editors decided that a 325 page book was just not long enough, so they added another 200 pages.

However, Mr. Lent has tackled the Post-Bellum Civil War era in a Northern setting. While the majority of the Post-Bellum historical novels of the "Reconstruction" period, deal with Southerners re-integrating into a devastated and destroyed homeland, very few authors have written about the Northern soldiers returning home and re-integrating into society, which has been ravaged as well by the war, and by the struggle between ideologies and reality. ...

Overall, the book was very good and rated a 4 star rating due to its intensity, subject matter and writing style. However, because of the 200 pages of 'filler', it does not warrant a full 5 star rating. However, the last 140 pages of the book return to the author's previous style and teach us, once again, the lesson we all know, that in one way or another, history is destined to repeat itself.

Rating:
Summary: The Problem of the Past
Review: Perhaps I'm overly critical, but I read a lot and the zest of some books is lost on me, "In the Fall" one of them. Though I found "In the Fall" one of the better "new" reads of this past year, I found it lacking.

I'm afraid this lack draws from the familiarity I felt "In the Fall" had with other novels; the comparison with "Cold Mountain" is always made but more I felt it too much like "Song of Solomon"--the northerner going South in search of the past. Though the two novels set up differing quests, the mood, point of view, and the striking similiarity of phrases between Morrison and Lent pervaded my read, especially in Lent's final section where Foster winds up in a similiar North Carolina small town as Morrison's Milkman. So, for Lent the problem of the past that he explores in his novel becomes in a manner his own problem.

And lastly, though I enjoyed the lilt of Lent's language, the poetic license he shed on the scenes, I felt this increased distance between reader and character by not allowing the true nature of character to sift out of the language but forcing the language over character. I felt I understood the writer more than the characters. A string of disjointed noun phrases like Joyce and Pynchon are proficient at felt overdone and awkward with Lent.

Despite this, "In the Fall" is a book I would recommend. Certainly it doesn't lack for tension and for a unique and soft handed portrayal of race, marriage, and the futures that pasts breed. There are simply and understandably other novels that come before it.

Rating:
Summary: Ugly Honest and Beautiful Generational Family Saga
Review: I was completely drawn in by the truthful and realistic telling of this family saga. Although we Americans Black and White, know that we are tied together by blood, by history, by love and hate, it is seldom if ever, acknowledged. Jeffrey Lent does make explicit and loving acknowlegement of these ties. His frank and sometimes brutal telling of the facts of human engagement in love and war (on the battlefield, in the house and on the farm) were at times astonishing. His prose and rendering of the successive generations (all destinctive voices and times) made me feel as if I were floating on a sepia toned river of memory and emotion. I was also pleasantly surprised at the sensuality (not to be confused with sexuality) of his writing. Glorious! I particularly enjoyed his descriptions of food and meals shared. In Black American culture meals, particularly Sunday dinner, are seen as a way to express love and caring. Eating together is more than just a way to fill your belly it also fills your soul. I was well fed by this book! I'm looking forward to forgetting it so I can read it again!

Rating:
Summary: Unhurried literature from a remarkable new author.
Review: Not unlike Cold Mountain (to which In The Fall has been loosely compared) this novel unfolds at an unhurried pace. Aside from that and the post Civil War setting, I fail to see any real similarities. In fact, I found the overall story of In The Fall to be more interesting in regard to varied characters, settings and actions. If I had to compare to any well known work I would pick Faulkner's Light In August. Those that appreciate literary fiction and aren't in a hurry to get through their "to be read" pile will probably enjoy this novel very much.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful, But Flawed Novel
Review: Jeffrey Lent is a writer of tremendous talent and In The Fall is awonderful, if flawed novel. It is the story of three men,grandfather, father, son, and it is the story of their family. Wemeet Norman Pelham as a young man, leaving his home in Vermont tofight in the Civil War. He returns to Vermont with a former slave,Leah, whom he marries. They raise a family, but Leah must return hometo North Carolina to face the ghosts that haunt her there. She comesback to Vermont soon after, so torn apart by the evil she has seen (atthis point, we don't know what it is). [I]t is only [her grandson],Foster, who is finally able to face down the demons hauning his familyand to discover what happened to his family.

Foster's journey toNorth Carolina to discover the truth, the last 150 or so pages of thenovel are among the most powerful, most thought provoking writing Ihave ever read. I am blown away by Lent's exploration of the evil inhuman nature, the evil embedded in American history and how he makesit personal--intertwining it with the lives of the Pelhams.

Thatbeing said ... the novel could have used some editing. Sometimes,Lent's prose is too self-conscious and stiff. Also, as to storyline,the fact that Norman, Jamie and Foster all wind up with essentiallythe first woman they become involved with was a little hokey,especially for a novel of this power. These flaws, though, areoverwhelmed by the strengths of this novel. I look forward to Lent'sfuture work and highly recommend this novel. It will stay with thereader long after it is finished.

Rating:
Summary: You owe me nothing...
Review: I seldom read fiction;I always find myself asking, "Who cares about these people. They're not real.." But from the onset I was spellbound by the poetry of characters Mr. Lent has created with "In The Fall". I don't believe I have ever read anything as courageous as the meeting of Jamie and Pompelli. Jamie was such a combination of his father and mother; that explains him. And Foster-the exposure of Foster lies within the ONE page where he asks the lawyer FIVE times "And I don't owe you anything?" No, Foster, you owe me nothing. And "In The Fall" will owe you nothing. But you will be anxious for the next book from Jeffrey Lent.

Rating:
Summary: I'm trying very hard........
Review: I'm trying very hard to like this book. Really, I am. I want to like Norman. Leah, and the children. I just don't. The only character I found that had some semblance of life was Marthe Ballou, and she's dead already. I'm only halfway through the book and I just want to throw it against the wall because I'm so disappointed. After reading all the glowing reviews, I decided to shell out the extra cash and buy the hardcover. I wish I hadn't. Lent wants to be a spectacular writer, and I suspect that he has it in him, but he's trying too hard. This book is in serious need of a good editor. Too much useless verbage and characters with no life. I'm going to plod my way to the end, though, and I hope that I'll change my mind by the last page.