Rating: 
Summary: Just Like Home
Review: 'Strip Cuts' is a very interesting book. I'm from the area that the author grew up in so alot of the stories he tells really hit home and I can relate. Smiled through the book. It's an excellent, small town treasure.
Rating:
Summary: I could totally relate!
Review: 'Strip Cuts' is a very interesting book. I'm from the area that the author grew up in so alot of the stories he tells really hit home and I can relate. Smiled through the book. It's an excellent, small town treasure.
Rating:
Summary: A telling book
Review: Although I grew up in very different surroundings than the characters in this book, I cold not help but relate to their issues. This novel left me wanting more. The pages flowed with a gentle poeticness that I did not anticipate upon picking up a book about rural Pennsylvania.Hooray for David Drayers first novel! I am waiting anxiously for his next work.
Rating:
Summary: a terrific first novel
Review: David Drayer has impressed me! For a first novel, this one is a winner. It's a cross between a more innocent, rural Holden Caulfield (the main character, Seth, reminds me of him a bit) in Catcher and Anderson's Winesberg, OH, one of my all time favorites. It's refreshing to see a new writer who does so many things right! The first 5 chapters or so that revolve around Seth are terrific. If anything, I wanted to see more about Seth, although some of the side characters are memorably drawn as well (the shaving chapter was very well done!). The teenage cruelty is done very realistically and touchingly. As usual, the most sensitive one is the one called "jack off" for his whole life but we can tell he's the best catch of them all. The final few chapters take a bit of momentum out of the book -- Seth's early life was much more interesting. But that's only a minor criticism of a terrific first effort.
Rating: 
Summary: A very promising new writer
Review: David Drayer's "Strip Cuts" is a very readable and introspective book that goes to the heart of our adolescent insecurities. Drayer uses some very reader friendly literary techniques that allow him great latitude in telling his strories with a profound purpose in mind. He rather seemlessly binds us into a small town with its hopes and its faults, its kindness and its evil. The insular singularity of an individual and the hopes of relationships, both good and bad. I look forward to hearing more from Mr. Drayer and would encourage all to read this work.
Rating:
Summary: Honest writing!
Review: I was very fortuate to have had Mr. Drayer as a teacher for an English class I took in college one semester. Apart from the book for a moment, he is a very down-to-earth and funny person! I'd never heard of him as a writer before I had him in class, and I have to say that's the only reason I picked up the book in the first place, and I'm glad that I did- I loved it! This book reminds me of the small town I live in, and the people who circle around in it. The honesty of the writing, and the characters (their emotions,their reactions, their thoughts especially) really hit me. Some authors do a poor job of developing their characters and their emotions, but I really felt like I knew the characters- probably because a lot of the storylines in the book have happened to me, and many people close to me. Who hasn't had a huge crush on a REALLY good-looking teacher??? I know I have!! If you live in a small town, you know how it feels when you are itching to get out of it. I laughed while reading this book not because I thought it was funny, but because I thought it was honest, and truthful! Most people think like these characters, but never express these thoughts out loud. Because in reality, what do we really want? (what do the characters want, maybe?) We want to have lots and lots of sex, passion, love, change, happiness....etc. All in all, great book, I can't wait to read what he writes next!
Rating:
Summary: Hey, New York Times - get this one....
Review: I'm not from a small town in Pennsylvania originally (downstate NY actually), but this book brought back more memories, bitter and sweet, of growing up "out of the mainstream" - the yearning to belong and to find a place in life; all those "firsts" - kiss, love, loss. It was a fluke I bought the book at all. I passed the author at Walden Books in the mall in Stroudsburg, PA, during his recent book tour - he was sitting at a table, all alone and, being that I love books anyway, I figured I would give the book a chance so I asked him for an autographed copy. And I was not disappointed. For some reason, it sort of reminds me of "Catcher in the Rye" but not as caustic. I will definitely read his next book. And now I can say I met the author when.....
Rating:
Summary: impressive debut
Review: Odd, isn't it, that the miserable and wasted coal fields should enjoy such a grip on at least our literary imaginations? From D. H. Lawrence to
Richard Llewellyn to The Deer Hunter to Homer Hickam, writers have celebrated escaping from mining country, but they've mostly (Lawrence being
the exception who proves the rule) looked back with some fondness. David Drayer's first novel is told in much the fashion of Sherwood Anderson's
Winesburg, Ohio, as a set of interconnected but not necessarily continuous stories. Here they are unified in that they trace the progress of Seth
Hardy, thirteen when we meet him, a man when he leaves town at the end of the book. The town is Cherry Run, Pennsylvania. The strip cuts of the
title are the remnants of the region's mining history. Seth is a likable enough protagonist, undergoing the familiar torments of an awkward boy, with an unfortunate nickname, amongst high school
bullies. His particular nemesis is the loathsome Claude Coarsen. In a scene that provides a visceral thrill to anyone who's ever been bullied and that
offers a kind of insight into how kids might end up shooting up their schools, Seth draws a bead on Coarsen when they are both out hunting deer.
But in this case, Seth doesn't shoot. Equally compelling is a scene between Seth and the pretty young teacher who is one of his biggest supporters.
She ponders what would be so wrong about reaching out to this unhappy young man, yet has the good sense to control herself. And in many ways it
is Seth's father, Earl, who resides at the core of the book, a decent though reserved man who is capable of being just as strict with his son's high
school principal as he is with the boy and who proves a soft touch for a couple who are down on their luck. This is an impressive debut, perhaps most impressive for Mr. Drayer's allegiance to his own material. He apparently resisted editors' attempts to strip
out secondary characters and he wisely avoided what must be a powerful temptation for any writer today, eschewing the annoyingly popular memoir
form and sticking with a novel. Mr. Drayer has said that he wants to return to these characters because he's interested to see what will happen to
them. You'll be curious too. GRADE : B+
Rating:
Summary: So real I started dreaming about home
Review: The author's cousin, Bob, was my childhood best friend. I guess I was reading to find a hint of him when I found myself overwhelmed by the perfect character development of the people of our town. I was so moved that I actually had to put the book down for a few weeks because I was dreaming so much about home. Absolutely can't wait for David's next book.
Rating:
Summary: So real I started dreaming about home
Review: The author's cousin, Bob, was my childhood best friend. I guess I was reading to find a hint of him when I found myself overwhelmed by the perfect character development of the people of our town. I was so moved that I actually had to put the book down for a few weeks because I was dreaming so much about home. Absolutely can't wait for David's next book.
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