Headlock: A Novel

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Summary: Fresh voice that reminds me of some classics
Review: Adam Berlin's debut novel has impressed me. His main character, Odessa Rose, cannot be stereotyped. He is a complex character with a violent temper and a middle class background. He is a rebel, but he doesn't really understand himself or what he is rebelling against. This book made me think both of Richard Wright's Native Son and John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany because of Dess's primal violence and it's apparent fulfillment and redemptive purpose. Adam Berlin is in good company.

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Summary: Great Fiction from the New Young Lion of Literature
Review: Adam Berlin's first novel, Headlock, is a riveting family drama of epic scope and proportion. It is an engrossing story of cousins traveling west to Las Vegas, the famed city of modern literary mythology. On the road trip through the heartland of America, family secrets are revealed, stories are recounted, and impending destinies contemplated. Headlock, above all, is the fascinating portrayal of its protagonist, Odessa (Dess) Rose, who weaves a first person narrative of both current adventure and three generations of Rose family history. Berlin has found a powerful voice in the mercurial Dess, a former college wrestler who describes a life filled with violence, intelligence, physical strength, and family demons. The character of Dess deserves a special place in the pantheon of modern literary figures, as Berlin has created in the personality of Dess a masterful and memorable blend of violence, brooding temperament, and rare intellectual and psychological insight. Gary Rose, the other main character is almost as compelling in contrast, a well-liked inveterate gambler with a winning smile, but who has lost control of his physical body. Headlock is a gripping adventure that explodes across the pages and can not be put down. The second half of the book has the most dramatic tension and palpable suspense as any I've encountered. From the cousins arrival in Las Vegas the reader is kept breathless and on the edge of his or her seat until the startling and unforgettable double denouement. Berlin's writing style is forceful, terse, and uniquely masculine. He captures the essence of a seemly underworld that is alien, fascinating, and at times horrifying to the rest of us "suits". Blackjack and gambling becomes a metaphor for the larger winning and losing in life, and in Berlin's hands, the stakes have never been higher. Berlin's writing style is a special blend of literature and action -- of the literary prowess of a Hemingway or Mailer and the feverish pitch and action of a Ludlum or Clancey. Yet, despite the latter comparisons to recent good story-tellers, make no mistake about this book -- it is not pulp fiction. It is a modern literary masterpiece of the highest intellectual order. This is one of the must read books of the New Millennium. Congratulations to Adam Berlin.

Rating:
Summary: Half Nelson
Review: I found this book linked on a wrestling site, and was interested in it for that reason. As a former college wrestler, it's an area of interest. What I found was a Kerouacian-derived work with some very good writing, but lacking in the poetic descriptions of wrestling I've found in other works like "The wrestler's Cruel Study" - a wonderful piece on a sad hero of pro wrestling, and "PINS" perhaps the only poetic and wonderful novel about high school wrestling that isn't kid stuff.

I wonder how much experience the author has with amateur wrestling. The level of violence in that sport is so small by comparison to other sports, it seems that he was really writing about a boxer. Having experienced the rage he describes, it's believable, and I sympathized with his character's having the superiority of never having to worry about losing a fight, due to his wrestling skills. But intentionally banging up guys, and describing it with savor, got to be too much. The descriptions and macho writing kept making me think Denis Leary should do the audio version.

The "road trip" is a very worn format, but Mr. Berlin gives it some life, with perhaps unintentional Vegas nods to Hunter Thompson's "Fear and Loathing." I just wonder how someone can write so much and so well, and still not fathom the soul of his characters. A lot of similar fiction seems to take on an almost sociopathic tone; no motivation, but well-described action. Comparisons to "Fight Club" with no subtext, irony or wit are apt. With a degree in criminology, no doubt Mr. Berlin will find more oddballs to write about.

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Summary: Chuck Palahniuk Wanna-Be.
Review: I guess I'm in the minority when I say I really didn't care for this book at all. I took me almost a month to get through it. I just didn't care what happened to Gary and Odessa. I managed to guess the the ending about ten minutes into it. When that happens, it's tough to remain too interested. It seems like every chapter is a re-hash of the last: Gary eats, Odessa beats someone up, Gary eats more, they both go gambling. These characters are paper thin: We never know why Gary is the way he is. We never know why Odessa is the way he is. Also, the author uses the classic, "instant true love" device as well in an attempt to vary the pattern here. It doesn't work. The whole time I sat there dumbfounded, actually laughing out loud when he meets the waitress, then all of a day later they're all set to spend the rest of their lives together. It's insulting. Mr. Berlin seems to have read "Fight Club" one too many times, because this book totally copies it. It tries to be the same type of biting social commentary (man acts out frustrations with society through violence), only it doesn't sell. Do I really care that some 22 year old kid has a beef with society? No. Unlike Tyler Durden, who's violence is more directed towards himself and actually has a purpose, Odessa Rose just pounds away on people, with no motivation. Not once did I know, or even care for that matter, why Odessa went into his berserker rages and beat people. He just did. This is pretentious writing at it's worst.

Save the money and the time, folks.

Rating:
Summary: What a great book!
Review: I loved it. At first I thought it was a "guy book" only and that a girl just wouldn't bond to the gambling and wrestling talk. I was wrong. Depending on how you read Headlock, it's either a gambling thriller or a family connection. When you're lost in it, it's both. And more. Adam Berlin's prose makes you feel like you're there, travelling and gambling with Dess and Gary (both wonderfully explained characters), feeling for them all the way through. It's a true page-turner; you need to know what happens next. Not only because of the story, but because you care about the characters and their lives. The dialogue was flawless, it flowed beautifully. Flashbacks of when they were kids really make you understand Dess and Gary better and worry about them more. Headlock was a fabulous read. I'm looking forward to reading another Adam Berlin novel if this is any indication of what I can expect. I think that this is his first novel -- what an impressive one!

Rating:
Summary: Irresistible
Review: I loved it. At first I thought it was a "guy book" only and that a girl just wouldn't bond to the gambling and wrestling talk. I was wrong. Depending on how you read Headlock, it's either a gambling thriller or a family connection. When you're lost in it, it's both. And more. Adam Berlin's prose makes you feel like you're there, travelling and gambling with Dess and Gary (both wonderfully explained characters), feeling for them all the way through. It's a true page-turner; you need to know what happens next. Not only because of the story, but because you care about the characters and their lives. The dialogue was flawless, it flowed beautifully. Flashbacks of when they were kids really make you understand Dess and Gary better and worry about them more. Headlock was a fabulous read. I'm looking forward to reading another Adam Berlin novel if this is any indication of what I can expect. I think that this is his first novel -- what an impressive one!

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding read. Do yourself a favor and buy Headlock.
Review: One of the best debut works I've encountered since Thomas Harris' Black Sunday. In Headlock, Berlin confronts the human condition head-on through the realistic depiction of the hungers, needs and various foibles of his two protagonists, Dess and Gary. He skillfully exposes our deep collective need for 'connection', whether through family, relationships (however flawed), money or gluttony. Berlin's first novel is a fun and fulfilling romp across the internal and external terrain of our Nation. I highly recommend this great work of fiction.