<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Most Engaging and Exciting Novel I've Read in Years!
Review: I happened to have happened upon this book because of the title. You see, I...am...a...Mailman! Seriously! Thats what I do to make money to feed and shelter my family. I read the other reviews here and decided to get the book - and oh boy! am I not disappointed! This guy Lennon (John Lennon at that!) can write, boy can he! As I've been reading I keep realizing that this novel is what it feels like to be me, a human being with constant inner dialogue and reminincing going on. Plot? I don't know nor do I care whether there's a plot to this story. The main character ("Mailman"!) is my hero, a fully-alive all-American (yes!) in the year 2000. He is wonderfully real, and I wonder how Lennon, who is only 32 or 33, does it. I am deeply impressed with his wisdom and writing ability. Incredible attention to detail, yet the story never bogs down in it. It moves right along, and I hope it never ends. Reading a novel like this is like being in love - rare and wonderful.
Rating: 
Summary: Juvenile and clueless
Review: I used up three hours of my after-work free time to finish this novel tonight, and I'm thinking about sending Mr. Lennon an invoice for my efforts. Not only is the second half of this book ridiculous and completly unformed, it is unimaginative and lazy. An excerpt from one of the last pages:"Every particle, every force, every emotion; every thought, every object, every impulse, has its destination. Every datum is addressed with the name of its beloved: the pheromone finds its receptor, the dog roots out its bone.... Is that enough for you? Is this a college sophomore at work (or a precocious 8th grader)? If you have hours of free time on your hands, be my guest and wallow in the cliche-laden world of Mailman. Be amazed by the shallow depth of everyday metaphors! Reel at the implied incest! Step back in horror at ghastly parent-child confrontations (hope you don't mind a stock masturbation sequence)! And I thought Franzen's "The Corrections" was the last word in strident familial dysfunction. Lennon's "The Funnies" was a sweet, comic portrait of a dysfunctional family that at least contained a measure of entertainment value. Because of that book, I couldn't have had higher hopes for Mailman. I hate to say it about the output of any serious writer, but this is just garbage. Good for a laugh, but only if you have the time.
Rating: 
Summary: Better Than Grading Papers
Review: My definition of a good movie is one during which I never wonder what time it is.
My definition of a good read is pretty similar. This one had me howling late at night when I started it. I kept expecting it to hook me, to addict me, to make me sacrifice the rest of my life to get back to it. But it never did. I didn't enjoy the flashback sequences. I wanted him to get on with the present. I was interested enough to read it halfway through, but in the end, and of course I'm allowed to be selfish here, I didn't like Mr. Lippincott. It wasn't exactly that he was weird. He was unlikeable and uninteresting because of it. I should like or understand the hero, I think. And I didn't. Lennon is a good writer for sure. But I'd be mad if I paid money to read this one. And that's the truth (Edith Ann raspberry).
<< 1 >>
| 
