Jewelry Talks : A Novel Thesis

Rating:
Summary: The meaning of jewelry
Review: The narrator of this odd and compelling story is by turns wise, funny, catty, obnoxious, and downright fascinated by celebrity gossip. He's savvy regarding semiotics and the arcana (and meanings) of unconventional sexuality. Fashion, money, and French and German literature and philosophy are important, too. There are discussions of death and customs around it, and suicide, too. You will learn more about gems and jewelry than you might have imagined possible (including just why size really does matter, and in the world of gems, what it says about the giver and the wearer). There are hundreds of topics in this story that Klein somehow exhilaratingly ties together, including tattooing and piercing.

The narrator has chosen an heir in "Zeem," a young woman who will inherit his amazing trove of jewels. He doesn't know her, but he has plenty to tell her, in a variety of registers. He's by turns a fast-talking New Yorker, sometimes professorial, and sometimes almost naïve. He can be efficient and technical, and sometimes he writes with a luminous clarity and beauty. He talks about his personal sexual history, crossdressing, and the worlds of the transgendered - and jewelry and more jewelry.

There's a good variety of methods used (fiction, the essay, and a lot of direct quotation from other sources) to discuss famous women, famous jewelry, theories of gender, sexuality, love, language, style, and money - along with gossip, innuendo, and a lot of information (factual and/or prejudiced) about gems and adornment, and erotics - to make an assortment of points. There's an attention to detail that is sometimes a pleasure, and sometimes (as when discussing each of Elizabeth Taylor's husbands) tedious.

This story is much more than a catalogue of great jewelry and is never less than strangely interesting.

Rating:
Summary: The meaning of jewelry
Review: The narrator of this odd and compelling story is by turns wise, funny, catty, obnoxious, and downright fascinated by celebrity gossip. He's savvy regarding semiotics and the arcana (and meanings) of unconventional sexuality. Fashion, money, and French and German literature and philosophy are important, too. There are discussions of death and customs around it, and suicide, too. You will learn more about gems and jewelry than you might have imagined possible (including just why size really does matter, and in the world of gems, what it says about the giver and the wearer). There are hundreds of topics in this story that Klein somehow exhilaratingly ties together, including tattooing and piercing.

The narrator has chosen an heir in "Zeem," a young woman who will inherit his amazing trove of jewels. He doesn't know her, but he has plenty to tell her, in a variety of registers. He's by turns a fast-talking New Yorker, sometimes professorial, and sometimes almost naïve. He can be efficient and technical, and sometimes he writes with a luminous clarity and beauty. He talks about his personal sexual history, crossdressing, and the worlds of the transgendered - and jewelry and more jewelry.

There's a good variety of methods used (fiction, the essay, and a lot of direct quotation from other sources) to discuss famous women, famous jewelry, theories of gender, sexuality, love, language, style, and money - along with gossip, innuendo, and a lot of information (factual and/or prejudiced) about gems and adornment, and erotics - to make an assortment of points. There's an attention to detail that is sometimes a pleasure, and sometimes (as when discussing each of Elizabeth Taylor's husbands) tedious.

This story is much more than a catalogue of great jewelry and is never less than strangely interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Very Quirky
Review: This novel is in the form of an extended letter to the writer's supposed niece. Abby Zinzo plans to leave his exquisite jewelry collection to her and sets about telling her what it is and what it means to him. No doubt this sounds prosaic and a bit academic. Think again!

Abby has had an exciting, erotic life, and he is anxious to share the highlights. Right away, I was nervous---"is he really writing all this to a 13-year old girl?" Apparently, yes. Gender is a very slippery thing to Abby; so much so, I was confused most of the time.

His erotic tales of derring-do are intermixed with some solid history on gems and their owners. The dual emphasis made the story line jerky and fragmented. He speaks with two different voices, and they never seem to mesh. I wish there had been some color plates of the jewelry he was describing. There were some grayed out, fuzzy pictures that were worse than nothing.

While Mr. Klein shows considerable jauntiness in his writing, I felt I had boarded the wrong train. I had the feeling throughout, that I just didn't quite "get it." Other readers might find this more enjoyable than I did. There is no denying Mr. Klein's cleverness.

Rating:
Summary: Very Quirky
Review: This novel is in the form of an extended letter to the writer's supposed niece. Abby Zinzo plans to leave his exquisite jewelry collection to her and sets about telling her what it is and what it means to him. No doubt this sounds prosaic and a bit academic. Think again!

Abby has had an exciting, erotic life, and he is anxious to share the highlights. Right away, I was nervous---"is he really writing all this to a 13-year old girl?" Apparently, yes. Gender is a very slippery thing to Abby; so much so, I was confused most of the time.

His erotic tales of derring-do are intermixed with some solid history on gems and their owners. The dual emphasis made the story line jerky and fragmented. He speaks with two different voices, and they never seem to mesh. I wish there had been some color plates of the jewelry he was describing. There were some grayed out, fuzzy pictures that were worse than nothing.

While Mr. Klein shows considerable jauntiness in his writing, I felt I had boarded the wrong train. I had the feeling throughout, that I just didn't quite "get it." Other readers might find this more enjoyable than I did. There is no denying Mr. Klein's cleverness.