The Ax

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining and disturbing psychological thriller
Review: This book is a psychological thriller in the Patricia Highsmith tradition: it is certainly entertaining (and very slim, so maybe you can read it in a single sitting), but chilling, amoral and disturbing as well. The author leads us into the mind of a man who is a victim of the consumption society that promises a certain standard of living as being his due and his right, and who is driven insane when the possibilities to attain this consumer's paradise are snatched away from him. What we see is not pretty. Burke Devore knows very well that what he is doing is horrible, but from his point of view, there is no other way out. He takes the dog-eat-dog ethics of the present-day corporate world very, very seriously. I agree that the story is contrived and very improbable, but the suspension of disbelief is nearly seamless, since we see everything from Devore's twisted point of view. We even feel the same sympathy Devore feels for his victims, because, in spite of his obvious efforts to depersonalize them, like using their initials instead of their names, he does feel sympathy for them. He knows they are not the enemy, but they are standing in his way. The word "comedy" has been used in connection with this book; well, maybe, but it is somber, bleak comedy.

Rating:
Summary: Leading the blind.
Review: Not having the experience of being "down sized" or even having to support a family makes my response a bit ignorant. What I took form this book is that Burk Devore, the main character, did what he had to at first. He went to interviews, sent in résumés, even went "as low" as receiving unemployment checks. He devoted his life to his job and his family. The only thing I've devoted my life to is getting good grades and producing praise worthy art work. The actions taken by this man were perhaps unreasonable. He displayed the cold-hearted values installed into him by his surroundings. Before he was laid off he didn't realize how hard life would be if he suddenly couldn't support his family. He was a white collar worker suddenly living in a blue collar world. He established that he was too old to acquire a new trade, he needed to find a job that suited his own ( a paper manufacturing manager). While looking through help wanted adds he notices an article which featured a ground-floor worker being promoted to a managerial position. Realizing that this was his job and he was obviously more qualified for it. He decided to get rid of the man. However, doing so he would have also opened up the position to other job seekers and therefore the job will no longer be his. So he then decided to get rid of his competition by ... read the book. (Weslake is a much better writer then me.) The book raises some questions that require serious pondering: Is our job more important than our morals? Do we drop our morals once we enter the business world? By looking at the world I live in now, the actions that this man lowered him self to aren't so uncommon. We have students killing their teachers because of bad grades. Which brings me back to the eye opening experience. I am afraid as well as more aware of the kind of things that can happen to you if you're not sure what's really important. Here's some really good advise .. sign off right now and check this book out. Maybe the bandages over your eyes will fall off too.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning black comedy
Review: Donald E. Westlake's 1997 novel The Ax, shelved in the "Mystery" section of my local library, is a sterling example of black humor. (I am reminded of the movie Heathers of a few years ago.) Westlake's premise is simple: Burke Devore, a middle-aged paper company middle manager, has gotten "the ax" from his employer after years of devoted service. He can't find a job, largely because there are so many other newly unemployed middle managers looking for work. Westlake decides the only way he can find work is to kill -- literally -- his competition. I won't spoil the plot or ending by telling you how he does this, or whether he finds work. I will say that Westlake writes a funny, shocking, sad, and believable story -- all in the first person as Burke exorcises his demons and blows away his competition -- which kept me up late on a work-night to finish. Burke -- and Westlake -- ask the larger question of why our society is so keen on discarding its most productive members (Burke was clearly very good at what he did for a living) in pursuit of shareholder profit.

Rating:
Summary: Fast moving & highly entertaining!
Review: Burke Devore, a victim of corporate downsizing, has been out of work for two years. He had put in 25 years of loyal service in a specialized field, as a paper mill manager. After two years of job seeking, he has become desperate enough to commit murder. He conceives a plan to weed out the competition for the job he wants. He ends up stalking and killing a number of people who have better qualifications than he for his dream position. The premise could be believable, but I felt the author could have done more to develop the gradual loss of morality in his character. The reader never knows what kind of man Devore was before the downsizing. The story begins when Devore has already apparently suffered through two long years of agonizing disappointments. He has become a murderer in his mind at the time the book opens. Later into the book, the author does go back and fill in some of the missing development. He also shows how the numbing of Devore's values has affected his marriage and the way he handles the situation when his teenaged son gets in trouble for burglary. The book definitely had a message. I'm just not sure I liked the message. I didn't find Devore to be very likeable, which to me, was the weakness of the story. Nevertheless, I think it's a very well-done book, and I recommend it to those people who will look for a deeper meaning as well as those who will just read it as an adventure. I'd enjoy hearing from other readers, to discuss what you thought of Devore's character...

Rating:
Summary: A perfect thriller in a neat one-sitting package
Review: An ingenious story with a highly satisfactory ending! As trite as it sounds, I could not put this book down and stayed up 'til 2:30 a.m. to finish it - something I haven't done in years. This definitely ranks as one of the top three books I've read all year! IGNORE THE BAD REVIEWS AND READ THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: A perfect extrapolation of the results of downsizing.
Review: Donald Westlake has crafted a perfect antidote to all the complaints about the ruthlessness of top corporate management. You want to become as efficient as the Asian countries? Be careful what you wish for. Should be required reading at the Harvard Business School.

Rating:
Summary: A hoot
Review: Well, perhaps I'm made of titanium, but this book didn't affect me in any way other than to have a good read and a couple of laughs. After you have been downsized (which I have) it's a hoot to imagine what lengths a person would go to to get a job. What I found so clever about Westlake's plot is that the guy doesn't want to kill the people who fired him, the kneejerk reaction, but, rather, his competition for ensuing jobs! In fact, I bought a copy of this book for my former boss who, like me and the rest of our department, was escorted to the door by the HR dept. of our former company. We both liked it but, no, neither of us planned to use it as a primer.

Rating:
Summary: A black comedy thats isn't as good as the reviews
Review: This book garnered many accolades from newspapers and magazines. After reading it, I am still left wondering why. Yes, it is a good black comedy...a reflection of what lengths a man might think of going to in the middle class, blue collar working environment that many of us live in today, in order to survive. But the story got very repetetive. The pace and ideas Westlake gives us are excellent but after reading this book, it leaves you wondering what was the big deal.

Rating:
Summary: Don't get mad, get even
Review: Donald E. Westlake's "The Ax" is one of those rare books which is packaged as "beach reading" but is actually a whole lot more. Although most of the reviews in the book (and here at Amazon.com) refer to this tome as "horric", I see it as "comic". There are certainly some stomach turning moments to be found here but the whole premise is so bitingly cynical that the "ends justify the means". It is about time that someone place the whole routine of "corporate downsizing" into its proper social context. Burke Devore represents all of the people who have given their lives to their companies only to be kicked out the dooe when profit margins aren't large enough for the stockholders. Westlake has created a hero/anti-hero for the nineties. I just hope he doesn't want my job.

Rating:
Summary: First Time Reading Westlake
Review: I have mixed feeling about this book. It drew my attention in the same way as watching an "autopsy" special on television. I was discusted yet I continued reading. I give it a low score for several reasons. First, murder after murder in the same fashion becomes too repetitive. Second, the murders were way to easy to pull off. And third, the ending of the book was pathetic.