Customer Reviews

The Big Picture

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The central character, Ben Bradford, seems to have it all. A beautiful wife, a big suburban home, two kids and a partnership in a prestigious New York Wall Street Law Firm. But neither he nor his wife seem to understand that. Instead of enjoying and being grateful for what they have, they still pine for what could have been. He as a photographer and her as a novelist. His wife blames him for everything that has happened in their life. And he accepts that blame and lets it tear him up internally. This leads to a very tense household which seems to drive Ben into an early midlife crisis and his wife into the arms of a neighbor.

Ben finally confronts his wifes lover which unexpectantly turns ugly. We see how one impulsive act can change your life in an instance. And you are left with a decision. Do you stand up and face the consequences of your actions? Or do you run and hide, forever looking over your shoulder?

Once you start to read this book, you will want to keep reading until you finish it. I read it in one day.

It doesn't take much to turn one's life from an idyllic existence to a nightmare. One wrong decision, a stupid action, something spoken out loud on impulse, can bring the wrath of fate tumbling upon you. But the question must be asked, when fate decides to throw a curve ball in your direction, do you face and suffer the consequences, or run and hide, begin a new life and hope against hope that you'll not be found out? This is the basic theme in Kennedy's renowned novel, The Big Picture.

Ben Bradford apparently has it all - a partnership in a distinguished Manhattan law firm, a beautiful house in Connecticut, a pretty wife and two small children. He has enough money to spend without any thought about budgeting. As a wannabe photographer, he has a state of the art dark room in his house, over forty thousand dollars worth of camera equipment and the time to pursue this hobby. Despite seemingly having it all, Mr. Bradford is dreadfully unhappy. The relationship with his beautiful wife is on tenterhooks at best, as they haven't slept together for over a year. He suspects she is having an affair, and his suspicions turn out to be true. The actions he takes in response to this infidelity have dire consequences. Ben's life changes forever, but where does it lead, and can he live with himself and achieve some modicum of happiness?

The Bid Picture is one of the most original thrillers to come out in years. The reading experience will have your palms in a sweat and your heart racing from the beginning. In spite of the protagonist's actions, Kennedy ensures we have great empathy for the character. We want him to get away with it, but will he get away with it and for what price?

For me this book was a pleasurable surprise, as I would have never picked it up unless it was recommended to me. If you want a completely enthralling read that is guaranteed to keep you reading into the dead of night, read The Big Picture - a class act in every way.

We've been coughing pretty heavily around the book review department from the smoke and mirrors surrounding "The Big Picture" by Douglas Kennedy. Although we weren't favored with anything more than the book, the bigger media outlets have been flooded with goodies from Kennedy's publisher, Hyperion, including unbound manuscripts, "evidence bags" containing an "Advance Reader's Edition" and a panegyric signed by Hyperion chief Bob Miller, and brochures featuring the starred review from Publishers Weekly (their unsigned reviewer panted that "There is a lot of excitement in the air about Kennedy's novel and it is thoroughly justified"). Even 250 disposable cameras with "THE BIG PICTURE" printed on it were sent to magazine and newspaper editors and bookstore buyers.

All this is in service to a book with a lot of cash backing it. The manuscript by Kennedy, an American writer living in London these past two decades, fetched more than $1.1 million. The Disney-owned publisher announced a first printing of 300,000, and a $750,000 promotional campaign featuring newspaper ads, nationwide television spots, even a 30-second movie trailer.

You would have thought it was Jesus' memoirs Hyperion was selling, or at least "Gone With the Wind III." But "The Big Picture" weaves the thriller genre with the currently fashionable angst of those who can afford to drop $23.95 on a book everyone should be talking about: "Men Who Have Too Much And It's Still Not Enough."

Kennedy opens his opus by unveiling the inner life of one Ben Bradford, who lives with his wife and two children in their $450,000 colonial outside New York City. He's a Wall Street lawyer pulling down $315,000 a year dealing with wills and estates, but his real love is photography, a profession he wanted to enter but for his Type A father, who bullied him into entering law school instead. So instead of taking Pulitzer-prize winning photos in Bosnia, Ben indulges his hobby with the most expensive equipment his gold-plated lifestyle can afford.

But despite all this, he's not happy. He's in a job he hates, he's married to a woman who hates him, and he's stressed because his infant son has kept him from a night's sleep for the last 20 weeks.

This is the land settled by John Cheever and John Updike, but their protagonists never dealt with their defeats and disappointments the way Ben Bradford does. When he discovers that his wife is having an affair with the ne'er-do-well photographer down the street, Ben flips out and smashes the cur's head in with an especially fine New Zealand sauvignon blanc. Then, imaging a future featuring a divorce, no job and a long stretch in the pen, he cuts and runs. Lost in suburbia one moment, he plans his escape with a cunning and intelligence as if he's Tom Cruise of the Impossible Mission Force. He freezes his rival's body, takes a Black & Decker circular saw to him, smuggles the pieces on board a borrowed yacht, and blows it up at sea using a recipe from The Anarchist's Cookbook culled off the Internet. Pausing just long enough to borrow the man's identity, he lights out for the frontier, in this case, a small town in Montana that's been infected with what the locals call "Californication," where the new arrivals from the West Coast bring their money, their coffeehouses and art galleries, and their propensity for buying up all the land in sight. There, while living off the murdered man's trust fund, he builds on his borrowed identity and attempts to live his dream of being a photographer.

The opening chapters are especially tough sledding, since Kennedy piles on Ben every possible source of angst -- the bitching wife, the screaming kid at 2 a.m. with diarrhea leaking out his diapers, the memories of the youthful lover who achieved her dream of becoming a foreign correspondent, while he became just another lawyer who takes pictures for fun -- in an attempt to win our sympathy. But Ben is so wealthy, has so many possessions and is such a wimp that it's impossible to feel sympathy for him.

It also doesn't help that Ben is a self-obsessive jerk who abandons his children (but he feels sorry for them), twice murders (all right, the second time was really an accident, but it's so coincidental that he should get charged with it anyway), lies and steals. And we're supposed to admire him for it? I don't think so.

Kennedy wants us to think about how we live the life we have, rather than the life we want. The trouble is that this contradicts the story. Examining issues of escape and life are themes best suited for literary novels, not for books where the proper application of explosives helps a man follow his bliss. This contradiction turns "The Big Picture" into an intellectual masquerade, a jumped-up penny-dreadful wrapped in "profound issues" intended to make the reader feel like he's gaining a measure of insight, and not just being (heaven forbid!) entertained. If you can get past Ben Bradford's toxic whining, you'll find underneath a fast-moving, sometimes tense story, that does for wish-fulfilling males what "The Bridges of Madison County" did for romance-starved females. Give Virginia Woolf a room of her own; I want a circular saw.

I have read this book several times, every time I am faced with a major choice in my life. I love the way that making choices so often have unintended consequences, and I love how the plot unfurls. I have bought copies for many friends, and they have all loved it too.

Ben Bradford is one unhappy Manhattan lawyer. His half million-dollar house and 300K salary are not enough to keep his wife satisfied and their once happy marriage is heading downhill fast. When Ben discovers his wife is having an affair with a neighborhood looser, a confrontation occurs that changes Ben's life forever.

Have you ever dreamed of leaving it all behind, turning your back on a career you hate, a sour marriage and starting entirely over? How about faking your own death, changing your name, and moving to a small city in the middle of no where? If you've ever considered it, then this book is for you.

Douglas Kennedy has written a compelling, easy to read novel, with superb diction. The author masterfully added suspense where I least expected it, and left me hanging at the end of several chapters. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end and would recommend it highly. For me, there were a couple of minor flaws, specifically some inconsistencies with Rudy Warren's character, which prevented me from giving a 5 star rating. However, this was a great read and I would certainly read more of Kennedy's work.

It's hard to believe all the superlatives being heaped on this book. The Big Picture offers a picture of a yuppie-in-crisis that's been done better elsewhere, and also the hoary old plot about a man who adopts a new identity, goes into hiding, and then is threatened with exposure. Many of the featured players are a bit on the "stock" side, and the ending is absurdly pat.

If you were to evaluate this novel on its literary merits you would certainly have to turn thumbs-down. But really, that's the wrong way to see it. It's a page-turner, nothing more, and it is much more ambitious and successful than most of the books on the supermarket paperback rack.

Since this book is more than three years old as I write this, I suspect most of the people turning to this review section have already read the novel and are looking for confirmation of their own opinions, and aren't simply looking for guidance in their reading selections. So let me make an observation about one of the things that bothers me the most: The newspaper background in the final portion of the book just doesn't ring true.

The newspaper columnist is completely unrealistic, because no newspaper would tolerate his wild, drunken behavior. A small-town newspaper such as "The Montanan," evidently modeled after the "The Missoulan," wouldn't have the resources to be able to carry an out-of-control columnist on its staff. Let's face it: Small rural towns are more conservative than big cities, not more tolerant. Equally absurd is the character's assertion that he received a job offer from a button-down corporate outfit like the Seattle Times. This statement is presented without any balancing skepticism.

Without revealing too much about the plot, let's just say that the columnist's final threat doesn't make much sense in terms of his character, either. He sees himself as a crusader for truth and justice -- and he would be unlikely to take the action that the author inserts into his mouth. I'm not saying the columnist would blow the whistle on our hero, but there are more realistic ways the situation could have been resolved, and which might have changed the "pat" feel of the ending.

Also, a paper the size of the Missoulan would NEVER pay a couple grand for a newspaper photo. A couple hundred bucks, maybe. Let's face it: The rural northwest is not New York City.

Frankly, there are other elements that bother me, too -- like the late re-entry of the hero's wife into the novel. (I'm trying to be vague here.) It doesn't jibe with her previous actions, and the only apparent purpose that it serves is to launch the book into its concluding segment.

Let's hope that when this book hits the big screen, the screenwriters will find new, and more believable, ways to deal with these issues. You know, I find myself thinking that what Douglas Kennedy really needed for this book was a good editor.

I could not put this book down. Ben Bradford is masterfully drawn, and I found myself rooting for him even as he goes about covering up his crime. The plot unfurls seamlessly and the suspense builds up in every page. I can't understand why I was able to buy this for $2.50, let alone why it has not yet been made into a major film - or have I missed something? An absolutely fabulous read.

I purchased this book in hardback when it first came out,and stayed up all night to finish it in one day! I could not put it down. Others complain that the ending was weak, but I found it fairly typical of books such as this one(filled with lots of action, suspense, and plot twists). People say the same thing about John Grisham's novels ( weak ending). However, as a reader of all of Grisham's books, I must say, THE BIG PICTURE really stands out, in a sea of books that all seem to run together lately.(sorry John) I just cannot say enough good things about this book. I can't believe it has not been made into a movie yet. It would be great. My husband, who hates to read, recently listened to it on tape while traveling. He loved it too. He talked about it non-stop when he returned. I am still hoping for a movie, but until then, I may just read it again. It really is THAT good.

It may seem as though the ending is cut short, but if you think about it, it's as though it was meant to be. As if it is suppose to give of a sence that he shouldn't dwell on the past anymore.

And that bit near the end when he drives off to vegas, well it wasn't annoying. It was kind of exciting that he might run off again and start yet another life. And it continued with the great imagery throughout the book.

It didn't blab on about the things that didn't need blabbing on about. Some descriptions were kept tamed and at other times it was well written. I definitely did not expect some turns this story took. But it was exciting and I always wanted to read on.

Great book.

A good read but wants desperately to be the definitive novel of the 1990's; having to give up what you want to do for the good of family and others. Also the novel is very predictable (especially the events in Montana) and some of the characters are very stereotypical (Rudy Warren, I hated the way he was written). Still I would recommend it based on the fact that many of us wish our lives could be changed and this book makes for a fast and enjoyable read.