Customer Reviews

The Angel of Forgetfulness

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Memphis and Arkansas in the 60s. The Lower East Side in the 1900s. Heaven. The depths, heights, sidespins and blind alleys of magical realism. The stage. An attic in Prague. The Catskills. Where up is down. (Somewhere else you want to go maybe? Ingrate!)

I hestitate to call this the culmination of Stern's work only because that would leave him nowhere to go. His individual sentences are more poetic than most author's books. His realism is real, his magic is Magic, and his weaving of the two is seamless.

I did not fall in love with the plot of this book as much as I fell in love with Stern's characters. You will enjoy spending your time with them during the read and will remember them all as if you really got to know them.

This book is layered with multiple levels of complexity. Each adds wonder and completeness to the whole.

I read the other reviews and felt compelled to take the reviews down a notch. The novel works when it disquiets the reader and challenges your notions of appropriate and productive behavior. It works less well when delving into the world of fantasy. Still, one of the best reads of 2005, but be prepared to stick with it past page 200 when the more personal story tapers off and the fanciful story dominates.

Steve Stern is a literary alchemist of the first water, equal parts Dickens and Cynthia Ozick, Bruno Schulz and Borges. And this is his crowning achievement, a novel as copious as a parson's barn, and as deep as the glimmering soul of a star. You can be forgiven if once you begin this magical funhouse ride you abandon all earthly duties and live between its covers for a while. And if this is your introduction to the enchantments of the Stern universe you should then start through his backlist one delicious book at a time.

...and putters a bit. For the record, I'm usually a tough reviewer of books and only review books that I either really love or abhored. This book and I, ah, our first night was magic. There was laughter, some tears, time and space became distorted, the line between reality and fiction frayed, and then a kiss... by an old decrepit relative whose relation has never quite been pinned down. Which is how this book opens.

Our love affair hit a good stride towards the middle; we were looking to the future and I felt we had really bonded. But I began becoming a bit bored with our relationship, began sneaking in other books behind the Angel's back. We carried on our romance as before but we both knew something had died. After a while, I just was waiting for the end.

When the end came, I felt good about our relationship; it was fun and definitely had its moments. I'd probably take it up again if I hit a cold spell.

I've been reading as many books as I can find that has the Lower East Side of NY as its backdrop. Unfortunately, I'm the type of reader who doesn't put down a book until I've read it entirely. While reading this book I found myself despising the writer for wasting my time. It happens to be the worst book I ever read. Pretty much anyone with motivation can sit down and write a book but not everyone has something worthwhile to say. This book apparently was written by a professional writer that was more interested in filling up a page and selling it than saying something worthwhile, something meaningful, something from the heart. And when it doesn't come from the heart, it isn't literature.

Wonderful novel that will keep you spellbound. Excellent read and a book you'll want to share with others.