The Beautiful Dead End

Rating:
Summary: An engaging read...
Review: A beautiful tapestry of words; woven with artistry into a mosaic engaging & seamlessly touching. A reward to read!

Rating:
Summary: Something Missing
Review: Hutzulak's style is wonderful and his work is full of interesting pieces like "They sat across the table... but more than the table separated them..." Unfortunately, the work is missing information about the characters and their actions that could make it a more satisfying and interesting work. It is difficult to know the motivation behind much of what happens in the book. In the end, I felt like I had read the story of a loser whom I didn't know enough about. The afterlife description was interesting but there wasn't enough done with it. The visit to the ex-wife had alot of potential but didn't get you inside the relationship enough to know more than the fact that the main character was a loser who had wasted a relationship. The sex was gratuitous and keeps me from passing this interesting attempt to friends.

Rating:
Summary: For intelligent readers everywhere
Review: This is one of the best books I've read, period. From the first compelling lines, the reader is not only into but truly inside the story.

Hutzulak's prose is spare but somehow more than three dimensional. We not only see but hear and feel and smell and taste what happens. We find ourselves caring for and rooting for a protagonist who, by most objective measures, would be quite unlikable. And the story's central, surreal mystery keeps us guessing and (like our protagonist) slightly off balance till it finds its resolution.

The novel is not for those who like their stories framed by "Once upon and time" and "happily ever after." It's a trip - in every sense of the word. Beautiful. Disturbing. Thought provoking. Unpredictable. Human. Haunting.

Highly recommended for intelligent readers everywhere. It's more than just a read. It's an experience that (trust me!) you'll be thinking about and reliving for years to come.