Giovanni's Gift

Rating:
Summary: Blather, blather, blather
Review: I appreciate good writing, particularly since it's becoming harder and harder to find. Turning a lyrical phrase effectively in a piece of prose is a skill not every writer can muster. Such is the case here. Aside from the lack of a compelling plot (how long did it take you to figure out our boy was dating a relative? - certainly a lot sooner than he did)Morrow doesn't know when to turn off the stylist in himself. I once heard a critic call Robert James Waller's writing style "gaseous". That critic obviously hasn't opened this book. I'll go one step further and call Morrow's style gastric (as in distress).

Rating:
Summary: A Remarkably Successful Book
Review: I hate to give a book a bad review, but after noting the high praise other reviewers have given this book, I have to reply. I bought the book solely because I read the cover story article in New York magazine on the making of this book and Mr. Morrow's six figure advance for it ("How to Make a Bestseller" 2/10/97.) Needless to say, I was very disappointed. I think I read a little over the first one hundred pages before I had to put the book down. The story was almost melodramatic, and at times the writing so veered towards the sentimental, that I couldn't believe this was coming from the same man who edits Conjunctions, which is primarily known for its experimental use of language. Trust the NY Times Review of Books on this one. Maybe some of Mr. Morrow's other books are better, but I would think twice before picking up a copy of this book. And the fact that this book earned a six-figure advance, while I certainly think 99% of writers of literary fiction are underpaid and am all for sizeable advancements, the amount spent on this book and marketing it can only take away money that could otherwise be spent on more deserving books.

Rating:
Summary: Don't read this book!
Review: I hate to give a book a bad review, but after noting the high praise other reviewers have given this book, I have to reply. I bought the book solely because I read the cover story article in New York magazine on the making of this book and Mr. Morrow's six figure advance for it ("How to Make a Bestseller" 2/10/97.) Needless to say, I was very disappointed. I think I read a little over the first one hundred pages before I had to put the book down. The story was almost melodramatic, and at times the writing so veered towards the sentimental, that I couldn't believe this was coming from the same man who edits Conjunctions, which is primarily known for its experimental use of language. Trust the NY Times Review of Books on this one. Maybe some of Mr. Morrow's other books are better, but I would think twice before picking up a copy of this book. And the fact that this book earned a six-figure advance, while I certainly think 99% of writers of literary fiction are underpaid and am all for sizeable advancements, the amount spent on this book and marketing it can only take away money that could otherwise be spent on more deserving books.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant! Inspired! (At least to my tiny 13 year old mind.)
Review: I loved Mr. Morrow's writing style and prose. Some people say it was boring, but I thought it was just enough to pull you into the book. I found it very suspenseful towards the end, and was somewhat surprised by the ending. I enjoyed the book immensely.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant! Inspired! (At least to my tiny 13 year old mind.)
Review: I loved Mr. Morrow's writing style and prose. Some people say it was boring, but I thought it was just enough to pull you into the book. I found it very suspenseful towards the end, and was somewhat surprised by the ending. I enjoyed the book immensely.

Rating:
Summary: a great book
Review: I read about this book and thought it couldn't be as good as they said it was. It is! I grew up in the West, and the author's way with painting images of the Western landscape just kept sending these little shocks through me, it was so true. Plus there's really good, deep writing about families and a love-story that breaks your heart. It's been a long time since a novel has kept me up at night and caused me to wake in the morning with a sore neck, but Giovanni's Gift did. It's the kind of book you want to give to friends

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, well written, good read
Review: I would have rated this book a ten except for the fact that at times it is overdescriptive and slows the tension of the story. That said I must admit as a writer that I was a little green with envy at Morrow's gift of prose. This is a facinating mystery as well as just a well written narrative. This is the first in its genre that I did not feel compelled to try to figure it out until the end, I just let the reading come and enjoyed it a lot

Rating:
Summary: a riveting whirlpool of a novel
Review: I've never read a book before that so handily blends literary conventions and ends up trumping all of them--part mystery, part travelogue, part gothic, part pedigreed post-modern novel, the book gently draws you in and then snaps shut around you like a bear trap. The author, Brad Morrow, writes like a dream with a beguiling delicacy and precision that belie how deep and dark is the path he's leading you along. I don't want to get any more explicit about the book and give away the plot. I just want to say that I've never read anything like it, and you'll feel the same way, I'm sure. Giovanni's Gift is that rare thing, a book with literary horsepower and a rocking plot. READ THIS BOOK

Rating:
Summary: Giovanni gives the gift of Top Management Secrets!!
Review: One might wonder how it is that so elegantly contrived a novel might yield management secrets of the highest grade. And yet like an oilfield with its dark and bubbly secret lurking just beneath the earth's loamy crust this book fairly percolates with what most readers--myself included!!--tend to seek even in the most literary of beach reads: MANAGEMENT SECRETS. Now, I'm a girl who can't get enough of the info that helps make our world-beating corporations tick. And in this book Brent Morrow really goes all out. I know, I know: the guy has a highly literary reputation, he edits Conjunctivitis, pals around with Roger Daltrey, once wore his glasses on his forehead in New York magazine. And yet he is deeply, intimately in touch with the Manager Within. His characters act out a Platonic drama of sorts in which each character embodies a trait that managers find either infuriating or enchanting. As everyone knows, it's human nature that drives business, and these traits can mean the critical difference between success and failure. Morrow, too, is well aware of these pertinent facts and when he puts them into play with the willful mastery of the finest caliber prose stylist that he is, you know that the flakes are going to fly with all the whiz-bang excitement of a top-notch Hollywood thriller! I highly recommend Giovanni's Box!!

Rating:
Summary: Giovanni gives the gift of Top Management Secrets!!
Review: One might wonder how it is that so elegantly contrived a novel might yield management secrets of the highest grade. And yet like an oilfield with its dark and bubbly secret lurking just beneath the earth's loamy crust this book fairly percolates with what most readers--myself included!!--tend to seek even in the most literary of beach reads: MANAGEMENT SECRETS. Now, I'm a girl who can't get enough of the info that helps make our world-beating corporations tick. And in this book Brent Morrow really goes all out. I know, I know: the guy has a highly literary reputation, he edits Conjunctivitis, pals around with Roger Daltrey, once wore his glasses on his forehead in New York magazine. And yet he is deeply, intimately in touch with the Manager Within. His characters act out a Platonic drama of sorts in which each character embodies a trait that managers find either infuriating or enchanting. As everyone knows, it's human nature that drives business, and these traits can mean the critical difference between success and failure. Morrow, too, is well aware of these pertinent facts and when he puts them into play with the willful mastery of the finest caliber prose stylist that he is, you know that the flakes are going to fly with all the whiz-bang excitement of a top-notch Hollywood thriller! I highly recommend Giovanni's Box!!