Negative Positive
Title: More like a collection of Short Stories
Review: O'Brien has replaced Don Delillo as the most relevant living writer in the US. Okay, but this book is not his knock-out punch. It is more like a collection of pretty good stories very loosely tied together by another, weaker story. Sometimes, it feels like this was the book that O'Brien wrote to get himself exerpted in all the "important" magazines - not a bad ambition, but doesn't do much for those of us who fished out the cash to buy the thing after reading 40% of it in the New Yorker. Also, I frankly don't buy the myth of baby boomers as the great generation, and since I couldn't participate in the myth, I couldn't participate in the book. Some great stories and great moments, but on the whole the book is forced, stagey. I recommend that O'Brien go back to doing what he does best - write real novels, like Tomcat or Lake of the Woods, and not worry so much about getting himself into fancy mags.
Is the review positive or negative? 