The Goodlife

Rating:
Summary: The Good Life
Review: "The Goodlife" is a work of fiction. It is very loosely based on the Reso kidnapping of 1992. The histories, characters, settings and motivations,although amusing at times, bear little relationship with the real life of the people involved. Keith Scribner gleaned a few facts from newspaper headlines and created a fast moving imaginary tale which tries, sometimes unsuccessfully, to rise above the meanspiritedness of his descriptions and characterizations. I was disappointed with the author's insensitivity and lack of true research. Read as a novel "The Goodlife," is interesting. It should not be used as an insight into the mind of a criminal or as a social commentary.

Rating:
Summary: Deeply Moving
Review: A sophisticated thriller from multiple points of view about failed life plans for victims and perpetrators alike. You'll be haunted by Scribner's ability to grab your sympathy for all those involved.

Rating:
Summary: A one-sitting read
Review: I also enjoyed this book on one long rainy Sunday and thought that the character of Theo was especially well-developed - you could almost see him pouting at times! I will say that, like other readers here, I found the improbable names a distraction - I kept wondering what kind of names were "Stona" and "Nunny" and why would they have a daughter named "Jane"? Other than that, this was a fast read and very interesting. I am looking forward to his next book.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific First Novel
Review: Keith Scribner has written both a psychological drama and a suspense thriller in his first novel. The Goodlife, based on an actual event, begins with the kidnapping of a chemical company executive and follows the crime over a three day period. The plot unfolds through the points of view of the five main characters, moving the story forward, from different directions, to it's completion. This is a very complex, yet readable, compelling story. The writing is gritty, riveting and true to life and Mr. Scribner has a real talent for dialogue. The characters are painstakingly drawn and developed and the scenes so vivid they almost jump off the page. A tight, suspenseful, fast-paced page turner. Keith Scribner doesn't disappoint.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific First Novel
Review: Keith Scribner has written both a psychological drama and a suspense thriller in his first novel. The Goodlife, based on an actual event, begins with the kidnapping of a chemical company executive and follows the crime over a three day period. The plot unfolds through the points of view of the five main characters, moving the story forward, from different directions, to it's completion. This is a very complex, yet readable, compelling story. The writing is gritty, riveting and true to life and Mr. Scribner has a real talent for dialogue. The characters are painstakingly drawn and developed and the scenes so vivid they almost jump off the page. A tight, suspenseful, fast-paced page turner. Keith Scribner doesn't disappoint.

Rating:
Summary: Dreiser Redux
Review: Keith Scribner, in his debut novel "The Good Life", does an admirable job with his entry into the American anthology of fictionalized true crime. It's a risky undertaking, attempting to lift sordid truth into inspiring fiction, but Scribner has firm control over his subjects, and injects his ready made plot with keen insight and incisive social commentary.

"The Good Life" is based on a New Jersey kidnapping case from the 1990s, in which a middle aged couple, in a stunning and tremendously incompetent caper, kidapped a highly placed executive at a Fortune 500 firm. It was a cautionary tale of the times, pitting the disappointment and rage of those in American society whose dreams far outstripped their talents, against the smugness and arrogance of those the system rewards.

In Scribner's novel, Theo and Coleen Wolkoviak's lives have evolved into a catalogue of failures. They're unemployed, overdrawn, and living with his father, realizing all the time that they are aging into irrelevance at forty five. The one thing neither of them ever seems short on is fantasy. They've applied their talent for hyperbole and outright fabrication to a great variety of entreprenurial efforts, all to the end of achieving the things that are owed to them. What they "deserve."

Stona Brown is everything they aspire to be. He has arrived in his career, in his marriage, in his own self image. His arrogance knows no bounds, and the sureness of his life, wealth and principles is inviolate. Until one day when his wife spies a strange woman in a pink jogging suit skulking around the foot of the driveway at an odd hour. The ordeal that follows becomes a battle for Stona Brown's life and soul.

The book is a real page turner. Some of the characterizations and language seem stilted and unreal, but as the book unfolds it seems that this is a canny calculation on the author's part--his characters are as bankrupt and empty as the language they think in. Scribner does a great job of buttressing his social exmamination by adopting a writing style which blends right into the lives and the environments he's describing.

Whether or not a reader is familiar with the case on which "A Good Life" is based, it will leave one with a new sense of what is valuable.

Rating:
Summary: Dreiser Redux
Review: Keith Scribner, in his debut novel "The Good Life", does an admirable job with his entry into the American anthology of fictionalized true crime. It's a risky undertaking, attempting to lift sordid truth into inspiring fiction, but Scribner has firm control over his subjects, and injects his ready made plot with keen insight and incisive social commentary.

"The Good Life" is based on a New Jersey kidnapping case from the 1990s, in which a middle aged couple, in a stunning and tremendously incompetent caper, kidapped a highly placed executive at a Fortune 500 firm. It was a cautionary tale of the times, pitting the disappointment and rage of those in American society whose dreams far outstripped their talents, against the smugness and arrogance of those the system rewards.

In Scribner's novel, Theo and Coleen Wolkoviak's lives have evolved into a catalogue of failures. They're unemployed, overdrawn, and living with his father, realizing all the time that they are aging into irrelevance at forty five. The one thing neither of them ever seems short on is fantasy. They've applied their talent for hyperbole and outright fabrication to a great variety of entreprenurial efforts, all to the end of achieving the things that are owed to them. What they "deserve."

Stona Brown is everything they aspire to be. He has arrived in his career, in his marriage, in his own self image. His arrogance knows no bounds, and the sureness of his life, wealth and principles is inviolate. Until one day when his wife spies a strange woman in a pink jogging suit skulking around the foot of the driveway at an odd hour. The ordeal that follows becomes a battle for Stona Brown's life and soul.

The book is a real page turner. Some of the characterizations and language seem stilted and unreal, but as the book unfolds it seems that this is a canny calculation on the author's part--his characters are as bankrupt and empty as the language they think in. Scribner does a great job of buttressing his social exmamination by adopting a writing style which blends right into the lives and the environments he's describing.

Whether or not a reader is familiar with the case on which "A Good Life" is based, it will leave one with a new sense of what is valuable.

Rating:
Summary: A riveting first novel
Review: Theo Wolkoviak is a man who wants nothing more than to provide for his family. Now, heavily in debt and never really being able to provide his family with financial security, he devises a kidnapping plot with his wife as his accomplice, that is doomed from the beginning. Based on a true story, THE GOODLIFE is a gripping thriller that examines the fine lines between law-abiding citizens and criminals, the relationship between a father and son, and the devastating effect the need for material wealth has on a family. Chilling and engrossing, THE GOODLIFE is a gem of a first novel.

Rating:
Summary: THE GOODLIFE GONE BAD
Review: This novel is based on the true story of the kidnapping of an Exxon executive in New Jersey. Scribner delves into the minds of Theo and Colleen, the fictional kidnappers, who feel they are owed more in life than they have been dealt. They plan this kidnapping so that the end result will be a huge ransom for them and consequently give them the life they feel they deserve. The victim is Stona Brown, an oil executive and cut-throat businessman. The author tells the story from 5 different points of view so that we are given 5 different moral analogies as to why that particular character feels justified in what they are doing. It is hard for me to give this book a great rating because I disliked every character so very much. Even the names became an annoyance to me. Everytime I said the name Stona, it grated on my nerves; and his wife's name is Nunny -- what is that all about. As we follow this story for 3 days, the thinking of the kidnappers becomes so irrational that it is hard to get a handle on how anyone with those thoughts could ever think they are right. While kidnapping is a horrendous crime, I couldn't really even root for the victim in this book. That is a really sad commentary on America when the reader feels an aversion to the victim as well as the transgressor.

Rating:
Summary: The Good Life
Review: With homage to "In Cold Blood" and "A Simple Plan" this first effort by Keith Scribner shows maturity and humor beyond its expected scope. Mr. Scribner merges dark humor with sharp social observation and spins a hilarious and chilling look at social dysfunction and ambition, while incorporating a backdrop story of family relationship gone awry. Extremely readable and intelligent, The Goodlife will leave you laughing and thinking. Read it, because you ARE better than other people...