The Black Veil [Paperback]

Rick Moody (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2003

In this searing, brilliantly acclaimed memoir, one of the most admired writers of his generation reveals how a decade of alcohol, drugs, and other indulgences led him not to the palace of wisdom but to a psychiatric hospital in one of New York's less exalted boroughs.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rick Moody's celebrated books include three novels and two collections of short fiction. He is a past recipient of the Addison Metcalf Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His fiction and essays have appeared in many major publications. He lives in New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 323 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (May 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316739014
• ISBN-13: 978-0316739016
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #688,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in NYC and raised in the CT suburbs. One of my grandfathers was a newspaper publisher and the other a small-town GM dealer. I figure this is a good lineage for a writer. I went to school in Rhode Island, where I worked with some really interesting people, like Angela Carter and John Hawkes. And then I got my MFA from Columbia University in NYC. After school I worked in book publishing in New York, during some lean times. My first novel came out in 1992. Since then, I've been writing mostly. I teach now and then. I got married in 2003, to my girlfriend of many years, Amy. She's working on her MA in decorative arts history. We split our time between Brooklyn and a little island off the coast of CT.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What a disappointment., August 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Black Veil (Paperback)

In the last pages of this memoir, Rick Moody expresses his worry about "leaving something out." Yeah, Rick, you left YOURSELF out of your own memoir. Though Rick's experiences of alcoholism are interesting and self-reflective, the weaved in literary criticism of Hawthorne's parable attenuate any emotional potential of the memoir. We can feel bad for Rick, but we better shut up quickly and think deeply about his examination of what the black veil means. Also, as one reviewer pointed out, Rick just seems wordy here. He actually writes sentences like, "i don't know how to describe this..." Well then don't!

Ahh.... . the days of The Ice Storm

However, after reading the first chapter of this book (even the first page), you will think you are in for a treat. So it is worth just reading the first chapter in a book store.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very worthwhile and important, July 25, 2006

By 

Linda Adni (Hudson, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Black Veil (Paperback)

Having read this book several times cover to cover since it came out in 2001, I have grown to appreciate it more with each read. I think the main mistake previous reviewers have made in assessing the Black Veil is blaming this book (which I find is mistakenly categorized as a memoir to appease our label-loving publishing industry) for its inability to live up to their expectations of an average, straight-forward autobiography. It seems to me that Moody, as an esteemed experimental writer, had no such designs for this kind of total recall and those who foist their preconceptions of the memoir upon this book will indeed be disappointed.

For the open-minded reader however, Moody has a much more interesting offering. Using himself as a means of reflecting upon the vast scales of life experience, Moody connects discussions of family and friends, alcoholism and drug use, literature and music, to grand themes such shame, criminality, and tragedy in both personal and national identities. Using Hawthorne's story, The Minister's Black Veil as a touchstone, (think Proust's madeleine but more integral) Moody achieves the rare feat of making his particular life story feel universally important.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neglected Literary Classic Destined To Be Remembered Alongside "Angela's Ashes", January 11, 2006

By 

John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Black Veil (Paperback)

With "The Black Veil", Rick Moody has written a brilliantly realized memoir which I suspect will one day be remembered as well as Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes". Indeed there are many passages throughout "The Black Veil" which rank alongside "Angela's Ashes" for their elegant literary quality. If some readers - and I might add, book reviewers such as the infamous Dale Peck - have been frustrated with "The Black Veil", then I suspect it may be that Rick hasn't written nearly as engrossing a tale of survival as the one depicted by Frank in "Angela's Ashes". It also probably has hurt Rick that he has told his tale in a nonlinear fashion, jumping to and fro between various points from his childhood to early adulthood, while trying to mingle successfully with his memoir, writing a thoughtful literary exploration of the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story "The Minister's Black Veil" (The entire story is reprinted in its entirety at the end of "The Black Veil".) and of his own biographical odyssey in search of Joseph "Handkerchief" Moody, the ancestor who inspired Hawthorne's short story.

Among the more memorable passages are those relating to Rick's mental collapse and rehabilitation in a psychiatric clinic in Hollis, Queens (a New York City neighborhood in the borough of Queens) back in 1987. Indeed, I might add that I found most refreshing his acknowledgement of personal flaws such as drinking which led to his hospitalization (This is in stark contrast to what I read in Frank McCourt's "Tis", in which I perceived - whether correctly or not - that Frank was more willing to blame others for his own problems rather than acknowledging his own responsibility.). I also found rather interesting his relationships with his brother, sister, parents and grandfather, though I shall note that none of these are nearly as memorable as the anecodotes which Frank recounts of himself and his brothers in the dirty lanes of Limerick in "Angela's Ashes".

Rick Moody has demonstrated in "The Black Veil", his novels and short stories that he is among the most interesting literary stylists of our time, and perhaps among the finest in our generation (Editorial Note: Rick and I were classmates in a fiction writing seminar in college taught by British feminist science fiction novelist and short story writer Angela Carter.). I suppose that's why I regard him as among my favorite authors, ranking behind the likes of William Gibson and Jonathan Lethem, in my personal list of twenty five favorite writers (And yes, of course Frank McCourt is on my list, though I will plead the fifth regarding his placement on it.).