Remote Feed : Stories

Rating:
Summary: A very good read!
Review: I didn't write this book, although my name is David Gilbert. A friend bought me this book as a gag, and I put it prominently on my shelf as a conversation piece. ("Hey check out this book I wrote - yuk yuk.") Finally, after a year of the book letting the book gather dust, I took it down one rainy weekend and started reading.

I couldn't put it down! I can't believe that I let this book go for so long unread. These short stories aren't your typical stories with a generic beginning, middle and end - at least, not the kind we're used to. They are more like snapshots of people's lives. The characters in these stories aren't good people, nor are they completely bad people - they are just people, going through life like all of us are. And each of them have a distinctly different voice and way of looking at the world. You can find a bit of yourself in all of these characters, and that's what makes "Remote Feed" so compelling. I really wish I could claim credit for this book, instead of just the author's name.

Rating:
Summary: So what's next?
Review: I liked all of the stories in David Gilbert's collection REMOTE FEED. I had bought this book on whim (it was on sale) not knowing what to expect, and I quickly devoured the book like I would a delicious chocolate chip cookie. The stories are smartly crafted and introspective, but not so introspective as to diminish the irony and often subtle humor of the stories. Particular highlights of the collection: "Cool Moss," "Remote Feed," "Graffiti," and "Still in Motion." I liked "Girl with Large Foot Jumping Rope" the best (the little boy reminded me of myself at that age). I think what makes this a great collection is that readers will have an easy time empathizing with Gilbert's characters--he writes in the different voices effortlessly. I anxiously await his next installment.

Rating:
Summary: So-so
Review: Picked this up because of the raves. Can't say I'm not a touch disappointed. I think the only reason this book is of note is that Gilbert seems to have eerily predicted the tragic death of David Bloom. There's a reporter in the titular story, he's in a war-torn country, reporting back to the people at home, and he dies of an aneurysm while there. There's even the detail that the reporter made his name during a natural disaster, which is what Bloom did.

Some of the writing is sharp, but a lot of it is almost cripplingly pretentious. Gilbert has the ability to light you afire with a spot-on observation or brilliant detail, but for the most part I think the bad outweighs the good. Which isn't to say we should completely count Gilbert out. My biggest problem was that the stories have slight, pat endings; it's almost like he's able to create these interesting characters but doesn't know what to do with them.

If you do decide to buy this book, I'd recommend skipping the third story, entitled "Anaconda Wrap." It is dreadfully bad and since it comes so soon, you might feel the need to throw the book away entirely. But don't. Things get better.

"Remote Feed" is not what it was sold as, but I still think it's worth a read. It's one of those in-between books--in between good and bad, and I'd call it middle-of-the-road proficient.