<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: The author of "bright Lights, Big City grows up...
Review: "The capacity for friendship is God's way of apologizing for our families. At least that's one way pf explaining my unlikely fellowship with Will Savage."Patrick Keane, a social have-not, meets his prep school roommate Will Savage, a budding revolutionary from a prominent Southern family, in the fall of 1965. They share a common goal -- to distance themselves as far as possible from their families -- but for opposite reasons. Patrick is ashamed of his working-class roots and hand-me-down luggage, while Will shuns his patriarchal father's status and everything he represents. The two become friends, with Will taking on the role of teacher in the subjects of music, issues and civil unrest. Patrick is an eager pupil, but always with an eye out for social climbing opportunities. Patrick is a holdover of the world in which money, power and status are the acknowledged goals; Will rides the wave of the new world which is reshaping itself. As the simpatico but different character are fleshed out in "The Last of the Savages," there's almost the feeling that Jay McInerney is showing us two side of the same coin at once. As he traces their unlikely friendship through four decades, neither man seems a whole person. Together, they almost merge into the balanced, grounded enlightenment that should have come to them individually. As Patrick states it, "I too want to hear the gypsies play and the mermaids sing; I want to drink the magic tea and walk barefoot on the beach in Bali, watch the bronzed dancers dance for me. But I am not strong enough to invent a role for myself outside of convention." When McInerney hit the scene with his first novel in 1984, he was heralded as the Golden Boy of the hip-lit crowd. But if you're looking for another 'Bright Lights, Big City,' look somewhere else. 'Savages' has little of the I'm-so-clever word-play and fast-paced glamour of his earlier novels. What it offers instead is a more complex sense of story structure, characterization and insight. And while he may not be enjoying the exuberance of his early fame, McInerney has grown into a genuine writer.
Rating: 
Summary: Abused Indulgences
Review: BLBC entitles JM to indulgence. Short, telling, sharp, it was.LOS is, unfortunately, a really, really bad book. I would not have finished it except for JI being who he is. The characters are really awful. He periodically hints (obtusely) to "secrets" that will be revealed later in the novel, "secrets" that are neither surprising nor interesting. I would have paid not to have read this book.
Rating:
Summary: The Last of the Savages
Review: I found the book dull. Neither the story nor the characters were on any interest. In fact, I found no redeaming qualities in any of the characters. Had I been a Preppie or a Yalie, I would be pounding on the author's door complaining about how we were portrayed. The author insisted on using two long words when one short word would do. I guess that shows his great intellect. I would not read any of his other books.
Rating: 
Summary: To be read and reread
Review: I have read this book 4 times and understand it on a different level each time. Maybe its because I grew up in Memphis or it is about my time, but I really love this book.
Rating:
Summary: A great summer read
Review: I was given this book last Christmas and finally got around to reading it. I enjoyed it tremendously. The two characters Will Savage and Patrick came from opposite ends of the American experience and were united by that great equalizer of our society, an educational institution. Like many relationships, Will's and Patricks was not an "equal" one. Patrick seems to have learned much more from Will than vice versa, at least for most of the book. There is a lot of rebellion in Will that clashes nicely with Patrick's acceptance of the mainstream world. I can't really compare this to Bright Lights, Big City as it's been a number of years since I've read it. This book stands on its own as a terrific on.
Rating:
Summary: Be Careful What You Wish For
Review: Jay McInerney has written another captivating novel; this time it is about two boys who meet in the all boy world of New England prep schools in 1965. Will, the wealthy Southern boy and Patrick, the son of a working class family in Massachusetts become roommates and best friends for life, despite their enormous differences. As Will rebelled against his Southern heritage and dominating father, Patrick worked dilgently to elevate himself socially by going to Yale and Harvard Law. Although they took widely divergent pathes; Will became a producer of blues music and heavy user of drugs while Patrick gained the social prestige he so longed for through his ivy league education, their boyhood bond of "best friends" remained a ballast for each of them. McInerney has given us another great story with characters so real that by the end of the book I felt as if I had known both Will and Patrick. Will was the type of boy I would have brought home and Patrick was the kind of boy my father would have chosen for me.
Rating:
Summary: Please, Jay, stop.
Review: The First line hooked me, but the rest left me a bit cold: (from memory) "The capacity for friendship is God's way of apologizing for our families." It's very difficult to write about childhood without the narrative BECOMING childish. Unfortunately, McInerny falls into this trap. "Catcher In the Rye" make its look so easy, but it isn't. I suggest turning to Salinger or reading "Ransom," an excellent novel by McInerny about Japan.
Rating: 
Summary: Not What you would expect from Jay McInerney
Review: This book does not have the feel of all of the other novels by Jay McInerney. This work deviates from all of his other efforts. It is not as comical as past works. Not too pretensious. What I like the most about this novel though, is the contrevorsy it stirs over, the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination as well as other historical events which took place during the 30 year span of this novel. It seems there is a little hint at hidden "facts" in this work of "fiction". A must read for sociologists and contrevorsy theorists, and oh yeah the disciples of McInerney. Be forewarned disciples, this is not the usual Jay.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging novel explores a nation divided
Review: Tragic but always amusing tale of two friends, both divided and united by complex issues. Moves quickly, full of style and moments of brilliance. Probably one of the better novels about what it means to be hip, late sixties fashion. McInerney has always liked creating parallel plots and metaphors in his writing; he does it best in this novel: Civil War, North and South, hip and square, gay and straight, black and white are explored in this very enjoyable if not exactly flawless novel. McInerney is uneven in his conveyance of the language and taste of the hip, circa 60's and 70's: sometimes brilliant (descriptions of haute hippie home decor) sometimes bad (makes one character say "cut to the chase", a late 80's phrase, in the early 70's). But even when a character or some dialogue doesn't ring true, his writing certainly leads the reader into realms that do.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging novel explores a nation divided
Review: Tragic but always amusing tale of two friends, both divided and united by complex issues. Moves quickly, full of style and moments of brilliance. Probably one of the better novels about what it means to be hip, late sixties fashion. McInerney has always liked creating parallel plots and metaphors in his writing; he does it best in this novel: Civil War, North and South, hip and square, gay and straight, black and white are explored in this very enjoyable if not exactly flawless novel. McInerney is uneven in his conveyance of the language and taste of the hip, circa 60's and 70's: sometimes brilliant (descriptions of haute hippie home decor) sometimes bad (makes one character say "cut to the chase", a late 80's phrase, in the early 70's). But even when a character or some dialogue doesn't ring true, his writing certainly leads the reader into realms that do.
<< 1 >>
|
