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Summary: a hero looking for a war
Review: This novel tells the tale of Billy Mann, the youngest in a long line of small town heroes. He lives with his grandfather in an idyllic state of benign neglect, learning about life through observation, imagination, and the wise words left behind by his diary-keeping, soldiering male ancestors. Not surprisingly, in the midst of all this maleness, Billy's thoughts turn to contemplation of his mysterious mother and his young neighbor, Annie. This is a coming-of-age story layered with humor, history, and heartbreak. The writing is impeccable. Kowalski's craftsmanship is an absolute joy to read.
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Summary: Refreshing, loveable and sincere
Review: Because of lack of time on my part, this review won't do this novel justice. In short, if you love an intellectual hartwarming novel, buy this book! You won't regret it!
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Summary: Billy Mann, worthy successor to Robertson Davies' heroes
Review: "Eddie's Bastard" is honest and full of love. I think someone likened it to John Irving, which is fine, but I was more reminded of Robertson Davies, particularly of "Fifth Business" and Dunstan Ramsay. Kowalski's sense of Billy, and of course the rest of the characters, is pinpoint. I hope this turns into a trilogy at the least.Billy's romantic sensibilities, heroism, and ideals, are so much like mine I could cry, not least of all because his accomplishments are boyhood dreams of mine, and his coming of age is right on track. Enzo Fujimora rules!
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Summary: A seductive and engrossing novel from start to finish!
Review: Eddie's Bastard seduces the reader with such warmth and realism that you almost forget you're reading a novel and find yourself engrossed in the life of the main character Billy Mann. As the story unfolds, Billy's narrative reflects strength, innocence and a deep wisdom that serves him well in coping with the challenges of coming of age and the darker side of human nature. Upon finishing this novel, I experienced a sensation comparible to saying good bye to a dear friend; sadness that our time together was over but looking forward to more good times ahead. I am hopeful we will all have the pleasure of enjoying Kowalski's writing for many years to come!
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Summary: Good, but where's the beef?
Review: I am somewhat confused about how I feel for this book. I really loved the premise and it had so much promise but it really failed to deliver what I wanted to hear. He hints at past lives at odd points which you kind of figure you'd soon be reading about later in the story...but you don't. You are led along, tantalized by the thought of whether or not Eddie finds his mother or at least finds out what kind of person she is...but you don't really. You find out that Eddie's mother was probably somebody who loved him, may have been a good person, loved his father but leaves a note on him simply as Eddie's Bastard. So, I'm hoping there is a part two on the way to finish off some unexplained events or mentionings in the book. I do love Eddie's character and the style of writing was enjoyable.
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Summary: Absorbing from start to finish
Review: The writing in Eddie's Bastard is like a reflection of its narrator-- simple, straightforward and with the promise of much more to come. The story is one that, despite multiple layers, is clear, real and effective. And the characters, while sometimes eccentric, ring so true that when I finished the book, I grew sad, knowing I would miss being around them.
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Summary: The Hows and Whens and Whys of Eddie's Bastard
Review: Dear Readers, Eddie's Bastard is the product of three years of hard labor. I began writing it while living in California's Mojave Desert, near Death Valley, where temperatures often reach well over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit and where the population per square mile is only slightly larger than that of the South Pole. I lived in a town which was not actually a town, but really only a bedroom community for neighboring Edwards Air Force Base. It was half an hour by car to the nearest grocery store. This stark removal was not without reward: I was privileged to see the space shuttle land twice, was bombarded daily by sonic booms, and scared senseless times without number by the utterly silent apparition of Stealth bombers overhead. That was the fun part of it. On the down side, as a result of the heat and the isolation, I was forced to stay home a lot. I do not think it's an exaggeration to say that there is, quite literally, nothing to do in Death Valley except drink beer and write novels. That there has not exactly been a tremendous literary outpouring from the Mojave Desert doesn't deter me from this belief in the slightest-it's only a matter of time, I say, before Death Valley becomes the next Breadloaf. Remember, you read it here first. I had planned all my life to be a writer, but due to circumstances which I still don't fully understand I found myself employed instead as a teacher of high-school Physics and General Science. I was twenty-four years old. That was the year it suddenly occurred to me that if I didn't begin working on my lifelong goal of writing a novel, I was going to be spending quite a long time there in the desert, trying to interest jaded teen-agers in the wonders of momentum and arguing with drunken borax miners about Creationism versus Darwinian Evolution. Once that fact sank in, I began writing with a will. Eddie's Bastard was not the first novel I began, but it was the first one I finished. When I was seventeen and still living at home in Erie, Pennsylvania, I started a novel about a tribe of people with very large noses who were at war with a tribe of people with very large feet. Mercifully, that's about all I can recall of that particular foray into the literary world. I attempted my next large-scale effort the next year, while I was a student at Emerson College in Boston. This one went a bit better; I got about sixty pages into a promising manuscript, but grew discouraged when I realized that it wasn't actually about anything, which I need hardly tell you is a major drawback. I would not try to write a novel again for six years. Eddie's Bastard began as a longish, hand-written short story about a man who finds a great deal of money by accident and who subsequently sees his family torn apart by greed. I liked the story well enough when it was done, but I continued to embellish it, as writers are wont to do, simply because I was having fun with it and because it seemed to be going somewhere. After some months of this, I realized I might have enough ideas to turn it into a full-length novel. I decided to make this my goal. Eventually, I succeeded, and to my immense astonishment I am now a published novelist who is working on his second (really his fourth) book. You are cordially invited to shut out the real world for a while and open your mind to the world I began creating in the Mojave Desert six years ago. If you enjoy it, please tell your friends. Happy reading! William Kowalski
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Summary: A RICH AND IMPRESSIVE READING
Review: Although his name is Billy Mann, he was originally known as "Eddie's Bastard" for that was the sign on the baby basket in which he was dropped by his grandfather's door. The elder Mann is delighted to find Billy as the perpetuation of their family name is all important to him, and Eddie died in Vietnam. This thoughtful distillation of the meaning of familial relationships is rich in pathos and humor, most impressively conveyed through the able reading by Campbell Scott.
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Summary: soooooooo good!!!
Review: One of the best books I've ever read. This is so good on so many levels. I love it!! Great prose, very powerful, very stylish. I love it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Has all the makings of a best seller.
Review: It's hard not to like this book. In fact it's so enjoyable I cannot think of a single negative comment to say about it. The author has got the art of storytelling honed down to a fine art in this novel. Some books are full of great language, great imagery, or great characters. This one reads like a long bedtime story being read to you by a parent; you don't want the teller to stop and you sure don't want to go to sleep till it's finished. Highly recommended, a real treasure.
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