Palladio

Rating:
Summary: What a hype!
Review: I had high hopes for this one. While I really didn't like The Lover of History, I loved The Liberty Campaign (also about advertising) and liked St. Famous. But Palladio is just not successful, for a number of reasons. For one, the female characters seem rather interchangable, which is a big pet peeve of mind. Another more basic issue, at least for me, is that the story just didn't seem plausible. It's difficult for me to believe that these "revolutionary" PR campaigns would've worked. Another reason that the novel failed for me was that Mal, the character who was supposed to be this fascinating enigma, was just a big yawn. Finally, I found the change in tense halfway through the novel distracting and fairly pointless. So a big Thumbs Down for this one. Read The Liberty Campaign instead

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING!! Read this Book.
Review: I loved the premise of the book, the idea of creating serious art without using irony, but it really didn't feel like this book was ultimately about that. It was really more of this love story between a character I really liked (John) and a character I initially liked (Molly) but who became more thoughtless, unreasonable and selfish as the book wore on.

I was very dissatisfied by the end. Nothing changed with most characters, which was infuriating after all the havoc they wreaked on other people's lives, and the one character I did like seemed to have lost virtually everything. I never could understand what in the world was wrong with the Howe family, particularly what would drive both kids to never speak with their family members again. I don't feel like I understood who anyone in that family really was. And I didn't understand what on earth that message gibberish interspersed at the end was. Worse, I didn't even care anymore.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but disappointing and unsatisfying
Review: I loved the premise of the book, the idea of creating serious art without using irony, but it really didn't feel like this book was ultimately about that. It was really more of this love story between a character I really liked (John) and a character I initially liked (Molly) but who became more thoughtless, unreasonable and selfish as the book wore on.

I was very dissatisfied by the end. Nothing changed with most characters, which was infuriating after all the havoc they wreaked on other people's lives, and the one character I did like seemed to have lost virtually everything. I never could understand what in the world was wrong with the Howe family, particularly what would drive both kids to never speak with their family members again. I don't feel like I understood who anyone in that family really was. And I didn't understand what on earth that message gibberish interspersed at the end was. Worse, I didn't even care anymore.

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING!! Read this Book.
Review: I loved this book. It is beautifully written - I was hooked from the first page. Dee is a masterful storyteller. It is so refreshing to read a novel that takes the reader in unexpected directions. Dee creates compelling characters while examining the relationship between art and advertising. I enjoyed every page of this fantastic novel. Dee weaves his story together so seemlessly that he makes writing look easy.

Rating:
Summary: I'm a little obsessive - compulsive about writing.
Review: I read the first eight or nine pages of this book standing up at the bookstore before I bought it. I found Dee's imagery and language to be very fluid and graceful. Truly a poetic masterpiece.

When I read a paragraph on page 52, I was saddened to learn that Dee doesn't seem to care about his craft the way I think he should. Though admittedly NOT a major plot hole, I find it disconcerting that the author did not research his elements fully. Am I the only person who knows that the popular board game "Sorry" does NOT have a popomatic bubble?

I'm not suggesting that Dee does not know how to write. But I do think that Dee should stick with what he knows. And if he's not prolific in the world of board games, then he should either play the game and learn the rules, or change the situation such that it involves elements he DOES know.

Unfortunately, I am unaware how the book turns out. I couldn't get past that paragraph. A paragraph that was, otherwise, lyrical.

Rating:
Summary: SO sloppy it doesn't matter how well he writes
Review: Krapenc has pointed out one of many, many errors in reference that cannot be chalked up to artistic license, but merely bad homework on Mr. Dee's part, incompetent editing on the part of Doubleday, or both. Watching Dynasty in the 70s? Tuning into an Albany college station when Ulster picks up SUNY New Paltz? The wrong Morrisey lyrics for a song not yet released (Morrisey's "Every Day Is Like Sunday" before the Smiths even broke up) The NY office of DDB as "Needham"? (No one who ever worked there ever acknowledged the merger.) The subway going from Chambers to Wall Street as consecutive stops? Then there's the Darrin Stevens-meets-Amanda-Woodward-like depictions of advertising: Art Directors as "Artists" and Creative Director as "AD"? No account people, but a planner? A completely implausible new business pitch process? (I know you have issues with the advertising industry, but do your damn homework on the business.) A group of teenage girls into Elvis Costello AND Duran Duran in the mid-80s? Camus and Marquez for the AP English test, which tests British and American Literature? The Creative Revolution in "full flower" in 1969? (Nearly over by then). No old buildings in downtown Omaha? (One of the two major hotels is Art Deco, and I've never seen a cowboy hat in the city limits.) "Nine hours in the air" from SFO to Albany via LaGuardia, which doesn't take transcontinental flights? (West-east is 5 hours with a 40 minute connection). Interstate 80 through Charlottesville? I could keep going, but the point is this: from an author who writes an essay decrying the appropriation of historical characters out of context (sorry, Shakespeare) and another lamenting advertising's appropriation of culture (you too, Jay Chiat), Dee's misappropriations betray a distracting hypocrisy that make his otherwise well-written novel unreadable. The slippery line between self-referential irony and self-referential honesty implies an understanding of irony on a par with Alanis Morrisette. At least Franzen and Foster Wallace get their references right, even when they fictionalize the rest. Reminds me of the advertising creatives he refers to who refuse to change a word of their 'art' even if it's factually incorrect. Cultural denizens call this "stylized"; those who have to ply their wares for commercial gain call it an FTC investigation.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Believe the Backlash
Review: Maybe I'm just a counter-contrarian, but Palladio isn't half as bad as many of the reviews posted would suggest. (Neither is it as good as much of the hype to which people are reacting suggested.) Rather, it's a perfectly decent, fast-moving, entertaining story about reasonably rounded characters working in the fairly interesting world of modern-day advertising. Does Palladio achieve the author's transparent ambitions for it? Not by a long shot. Will it change your life? No. On the other hand, it's a decent book and might -- might -- get you to think about some pretty obvious media-related issues that are at least worth considering.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Believe the Backlash
Review: Maybe I'm just a counter-contrarian, but Palladio isn't half as bad as many of the reviews posted would suggest. (Neither is it as good as much of the hype to which people are reacting suggested.) Rather, it's a perfectly decent, fast-moving, entertaining story about reasonably rounded characters working in the fairly interesting world of modern-day advertising. Does Palladio achieve the author's transparent ambitions for it? Not by a long shot. Will it change your life? No. On the other hand, it's a decent book and might -- might -- get you to think about some pretty obvious media-related issues that are at least worth considering.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing....loved it UNTIL I got to the ending!
Review: This book hooked me from the start. The premise was unique, the topics current and of interest to me, the characters well developed. I spent my entire weekend with them, genuinely concerned about where this story would take them next....UNTIL (argh!)...the ending. I found the conclusion odd, "gimmicky" and unsatisfying. It was a big let down after such a satisfying story.

Rating:
Summary: A total waste of time!
Review: Who is this Jonathan Dees and how did he become the next big thing? I don't know much about the politics in the literary scene, but this book is an okay read at best... NOT MUCH MORE!

Initially, I was sucked in by the characters and the world they inhabitted. I've worked for years on the fringes of the big-agency advertising world, and still fantasize about breaking into that high-flying, glamorous world -- who cares that it really isn't all that. So did it bother me that Dees makes up a "Hollywood-Reality-Agency" world that's totally glamorous and attaractive? Not in the least! I never felt the book represented reality, and who care anyway...

I loved the idea of building a utopian society populated with talented artists. And elevating advertising to high art (or was that visa versa?) -- okay, I'm onboard with that too. But the whole existential/doomed love story was a waste. And although the book is a "page-turner," by the end I realized that I just didn't care about 99% of the characters. There were too many of them on the fringe that were not well defined or likeable, and most of them just weren't believable.

Unlike some of the better books I've read, when I turned that last page, I felt a sense of relief. I closed the book and have not thought about it since.