The Cruelty of Silence

Rating:
Summary: Oh, the pain, the pain!
Review: A year ago, Lol's lover Alex disappeared a la THE VANISHING. Lol spends all his time searching for Alex (which seems mostly to entail running classifieds and tacking up flyers). Meanwhile the cops suspect Lol himself of murdering Alex, and Alex's family is trying to evict Lol from the home he shared with Alex for years. Lol has lost his job, and spent every dime (farthing?) he had on trying to find Alex. He has alienated most of his friends and acquaintances with his unending agonizing, however as our story begins he is finally coming to terms with the knowledge that Alex is dead. Or is he? The discovery of a secret computer file left by Alex, sets Lol off again (Oh, God!). A plot is certainly buried here, buried in 285 pages of introspection and artificial dialog, but we never get to touch it, feel it, taste it. A curious emotional detachment colors THE CRUELTY OF SILENCE, a detachment acerbated by the really annoying device of randomly interrupting the narrative with screenplay format. Not only does this jarring switch disturb the story flow, it's so...so pretentious. Although the painful theme of loss, fear and abandonment manages to propel the reader along--very nearly touching the heart--ultimately this is the epic saga of one man's internal (and interminable) whining.

Rating:
Summary: Oh, the pain, the pain!
Review: A year ago, Lol's lover Alex disappeared a la THE VANISHING. Lol spends all his time searching for Alex (which seems mostly to entail running classifieds and tacking up flyers). Meanwhile the cops suspect Lol himself of murdering Alex, and Alex's family is trying to evict Lol from the home he shared with Alex for years. Lol has lost his job, and spent every dime (farthing?) he had on trying to find Alex. He has alienated most of his friends and acquaintances with his unending agonizing, however as our story begins he is finally coming to terms with the knowledge that Alex is dead. Or is he? The discovery of a secret computer file left by Alex, sets Lol off again (Oh, God!). A plot is certainly buried here, buried in 285 pages of introspection and artificial dialog, but we never get to touch it, feel it, taste it. A curious emotional detachment colors THE CRUELTY OF SILENCE, a detachment acerbated by the really annoying device of randomly interrupting the narrative with screenplay format. Not only does this jarring switch disturb the story flow, it's so...so pretentious. Although the painful theme of loss, fear and abandonment manages to propel the reader along--very nearly touching the heart--ultimately this is the epic saga of one man's internal (and interminable) whining.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book - StoryLine a Little Rambling
Review: I love the story and the characters. They aren't pretty but they aren't that cruel either. Just sorta normal with a little good and bad in all of them. I do think, however, that I would have liked the reader's digest version of this book better.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book - StoryLine a Little Rambling
Review: I love the story and the characters. They aren't pretty but they aren't that cruel either. Just sorta normal with a little good and bad in all of them. I do think, however, that I would have liked the reader's digest version of this book better.