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Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully crafted moments that add up to a man's life
Review: I've known Thaddeus Rutkowski since he was bringing in early chapters of this novel to a writing workshop. They were powerful then, and put together as a novel, they make a short, sharp shock of a book. The voice is especially strong, at first seeming like an expressionless monotone,the pressure builds through the arc of the book, until the tragedy and hilarity of the narrator's family takes on huge dimensions. Also...if you ever get a chance to hear him read his own work, DEFINITELY go. He's a marvelous reader/speaker.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully crafted moments that add up to a man's life
Review: I've known Thaddeus Rutkowski since he was bringing in early chapters of this novel to a writing workshop. They were powerful then, and put together as a novel, they make a short, sharp shock of a book. The voice is especially strong, at first seeming like an expressionless monotone,the pressure builds through the arc of the book, until the tragedy and hilarity of the narrator's family takes on huge dimensions. Also...if you ever get a chance to hear him read his own work, DEFINITELY go. He's a marvelous reader/speaker.
Rating:
Summary: read this book
Review: Rutkowski fondly recollects his boyhood days as a moving target for his father's tortured artist angst. In his past he uncovers horrors but also discovers a curious kind of redemption. This may well turn out to be a classic study of the birth of a conceptual artist.
Rating:
Summary: read this book
Review: rutkowski is hard edged and deeply moving, simultaneously. it's imposssible not to identify with the troubled young man he creates. He's also riotously funny.
Rating:
Summary: I FAINT IN ADMIRATION!
Review: Thad writes in sharp, painful little bites that will gnaw at your heart and make you laugh simultaneously. Reading Roughhouse is like stepping into a dysfunctional family's internal poetry/prose slam-with the narrator taking first place. Great reading!
Rating:
Summary: A Study in Black and Blue
Review: There are many bruises here, pain and little healing. At first I was curious about why this book obsessed with the darker side of family relationships, but I realized that this dark side was what the protagonist was forced to see in the light--grief is apparent, not concealed. These sound bytes of reality are like snippets of information, or severed knowledge. How true to life. Overall a challenging and difficult read, because of its subject matter. But rewarding.
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