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Liked It “I absolutely love these short stories and find myself picking the collection up at least once every few days. Perlman's writing is definitely haunting and that makes the stories more effective. Each story still manages to break my heart a little more as I re-read them.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “After loving "Seven Types of Ambiguity" so much I decided to try another Perlman novel. I was sadly disappointed - this bored me beyond belief.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“After loving "Seven Types of Ambiguity" so much I decided to try another Perlman novel. I was sadly disappointed - this bored me beyond belief. ”
Natalie Y wrote this review Monday, November 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Synopsis: Series of nine short-stories published before Perlman really hit the big time with “Three Dollars” and then “Seven Types of Ambiguity”. Not badly written, but just not to my taste.
Tim W wrote this review Thursday, September 17 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
My Take: The way I remember it (and it could have course been completely different for everyone else), the mid-90s were a strangely depressing time. The Cold War was over, but instead of celebrating the lifting of this looming an existential threat, the Western world seemed to fall into a crisis of meaning. At a time when academics were proclaiming ‘The End of History’, people seemed to start asking “What’s the point?”. The great political and ideological struggles seemed to have been fought and people were left to contemplate a boring life spent climbing the corporate ladder. Personal angst flowed into the void created be the removal of political tension. This vibe seemed to change with the arrival of a new existential/ideological challenge in the form of the Global War on Terror, but there was a brief window when cynicism and resignation seemed to pervade the public mind.
To me, “The Reasons I Won’t Be Coming” felt like it was written in the middle of this mid-90s funk. The themes of the book – soulless corporatism and hollow relationships – combined with its method of delivery – a brooding internal monologue – gave the book a bleak feel that just didn’t speak to me. The writing’s not bad (if a little monotonous at times) but it just seemed unnecessarily bleak to me. Maybe this book would have connected with me more when it was written, but the crisis of meaning that seemed to underpin the stories just didn’t seem relevant to me today.”
“While Elliot Perlman is one of my favorite authors, this was not one of my favorite books by him. It bored me, but he still writes well.”
Meggly wrote this review Thursday, July 17 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I absolutely love these short stories and find myself picking the collection up at least once every few days. Perlman's writing is definitely haunting and that makes the stories more effective. Each story still manages to break my heart a little more as I re-read them.”
Miranda H. wrote this review Wednesday, December 26 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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