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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From a literary point of view, January 18, 2001
A student of mine gave this book and after reading it, I was curious to see what other people's take on it was. It was interesting to read some of the Amazon reviews, particularly the reviews concerning the author's writing abilities.I'm not going to comment too much on the actual content of the novel, because I believe that that is an area that really depends upon personal tastes. All I will say is that Mr. Caldwell is uncompromising in following through with the theme of his novel, and from there, it really becomes a question of whether or not people are interested in exploring the darker side of mankind, a humanity without belief in the presence of a Higher Spirit. What I would like to briefly touch on is the literary aspects of Mr. Caldwell's novel, because I think that some people might be missing some of the more complex literary feats that he has accomplished in this stunning work. Mr. Caldwell is one of the few authors I've seen who has managed to move past the Post-modern novel without simply regressing to a previous style. In effect, he has writen a Trans-modern novel. That is, rather than simply embracing the conventional rules of literature, or conversley, creating a work which is mainly concerned with refuting them, Mr. Caldwell has integrated both modern and post-modern to create a unified whole. The dialouge is straight out of an Elmore Leonard crime novel- tough, funny, and terse, the descriptive prose is lyrical in the tradition of the romantics, the characters are defined by their actions, which are never explained in a traditional, linear way, following the existentialist school of writing, such as Camus. States of pain and ecstacy are reminicent of the writings of Aldous Huxley, Buroughs, and Henry Miller, in their lyrical, almost drugged up quality. The plot itself is subversive, in that it exists, not to complement the theme of the novel, but to stand in oposition. We think Jimmy Lordan is doing one thing, following the conventional role of protaganist in trying to save an old girlfriend, but little by little, we understand that Mr. Caldwell is subverting the role of 'hero' to say something very diffirent about humanity. The plot is non-linear, recognizing that action reaction, be it in actual event or psychological state of mind, does not necessarily flow in a foward motion. Mr. Caldwell integrates all of these aproaches in a seemless fashion, creating a work of multiple layers which holds up to several diffirent interpritations and readings. These are not errors in syntax or structure, but calculated choices. For example, the final two paragraphs of the novel abruptly switch tense, not because the author is unaware of that switch, but because it personalizes the entire work, and creates an indentification between the reader and Jimmy Lordan that the reader would probably rather avoid. When the main character ends one chapter in open quotations telling a story, and the next chapter begins with those same words, no longer in quotation, the effect is to underscore the subjectivity of a story told in first person tense. It hammers home the point that every single character is not seen in this novel objectively, but through Jimmy Lordan's highly subjective eyes- and further, through the author's eyes and more importantly, the reader's. In short, this is not a conventional novel, but I think people who are shaken by the writing are allowing their own expectations to cloud the actual quality. I would think that this would be intensified as this is supposed to be a 'Christian' novel, and as such, certain expectation accompany that. Expectations which Mr. Caldwell subverts. The theme of the novel is that we effectively use an assortment of lies and delusions to hide the truth about ourselves, both from the world and ourselves. God sees through all of those lies, and if we are to become close to God, we must also. Our comfortable, conventional ideas about ourselves are actually lies we have told to ourselves. In constantly setting up expectations by use of multiple genre, tone, and structure, and then reversing those expectations, Mr. Caldwell's novel not only speaks to that truth, but creates the SENSATION of having those lies exposed. We All Fall Down is an uncomfortable novel to read because it communicates, not just an intellectual idea, but a true sense of experience. I don't doubt that many people will be put off by that. But in attacking the literary merits of the novel, they are I think, misrepresenting the enourmous accomplishment Mr. Caldwell has managed. Like all cutting edge work, from Miller to Camus to Buroughs to Bukowski, Mr. Caldwell's skill will initially be rejected and villified by some. Don't be fooled, though, if you read this book, you are reading the beginings of one of the next greats.
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