Customer Reviews

Blue River

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

 

 

I picked up "Blue River" after breezing through two delightful reads, "Emperor of the Air" and "The Palace Thief" both by Canin. I recommend reading every one of the short stories in each of these two volumes.

"Tedious." This word kept popping into my head while I labored into "Blue River." I thought it was me. Surely this story would improve and flower into a marvelous and richly colorful Ethan Canin story. 75 pages, 100 pages, 150 pages. Would this ever develop into something readable? Should I give up?

I didn't. And I had to laugh at all the other reviews here on Amazon.com "Tedious" "The shortest book I never finished." Naturally. They are all correct. Believe the negative reviews.

"Blue River" is a hugely disappointing, cliche-filled, seemingly unedited, overly stylistic diatribe that is boring. Not very far along in the book, the protagonist yuppie eye surgeon is "chasing his demons" and daring to drive through Pacific Coast Highway switchback turns with his eyes shut late at night. Uh-huh. Most assuredly, you too will root for a good car crash. No such luck, however, and the reader is taken back through an awful Cain and Abel coming-of-age saga set in Blue River, Wisconsin high above the banks of the Mississippi. The worst part is that it is written in this horrific style of a letter from the younger, angst-laden yuppie brother to the older miscreant brother. "Lawrence, you didn't know I knew that you knew" sort of technique. Ugggh. Spare us.

It's a shame this book turned out so badly because Ethan Canin is a very talented writer. I have confidence this was an early set back in a very promising career, and I look forward to finding the next Canin novel in my public library.

This is a story of the relationship between two brothers.

In his younger days, Edward admires his adventurous, dare-devil brother, Lawrence, who is six years older than Edward.

Years pass. Lawrence leaves home and hasn't been seen by Edward for fifteen years. Then, like an unrepentent Prodigal brother, Lawrence shows up at Edward's home, unannounced and in need of food and clothing.

Edward has become a wealthy eye surgeon in California while Lawrence is an out of work card dealer from Nevada.

What is the reason Lawrence has for coming? It seems as if he wants to re-establish his relationship with Edward, or maybe he's in some kind of trouble.

Lawrence does win the affection of Edward's five-year-old son, Jonathan. Lawrence acts insanely for Jonathan, flopping on the kitchen floor or making monkey noises while on an outing at the local zoo. Jonathan may enjoy this but Edward is skeptical.

Then, in a revealing moment, Lawrence asks his brother if he can stay a while longer. Callously, Edward refuses. He gives Lawrence some money and drives him to the bus station.

The story continues and Edward narrates his early days with Lawrence.

Nothing happens in this novel. Edward is a passive, sermonizing character with little to like. Lawrence is a Machiavellian, out for whatever thrill he can get.

I did feel a similarity with the brothers in "East of Eden." In Steinbeck's novel, Adam is goodhearted while Charles is violent and cynical.

"Blue River" has had mixed reviews and I continued to read, expecting the story to improve. It didn't. Cardboard characters, uninteresting plot and a novel without a message. Need I say more?

Ethan Canin is one of my favorite modern novelists. That being said, I feel his books, while still good, have gotten progressively less interesting as he has gotten older. The first two stories in the Palace Thief are my favorite - along with Blue River.

Just the way Canin emotes the feelings created by the bonds of his characters in this book truly reveal how it feels to be a young man, what traits are revered by young men, what is found in oneself, and what is lost.

I don't know...not sure what there is here NOT to like.

First, let me state that I have been impressed by all the Canin I have read prior to starting "Blue River." The problem with this novel isn't that it follows pattern similar to Canin's other works, most notably "For Kings and Planets," a far more mature novel, but that the protagonist is very hard to empathize with. A successful California optimologist, the protagonist spends the too much of the narrative defending his materialism. When he's not bothering with that, he's repeatly over-describing his less successful brother (After the first few times, I understood that the brother was violent and troubled during high school). There's a good story here, but it's trapped under a poor, plodding narrative.

This is the shortest book I failed to finish. I'm sorry, but for a short novel, it was just got too wordy and touchy-feely for me. I loved Emperor of the Air, a collection of short stories in which feelings and places were described succintly. And the events happened at a quicker pace. But in Blue River, Canin stretches out all his descriptions of places, of main character's resentments, disappointments, fears, and memories. It really feels tedious to read and halfway through it, I just had to give up.

Ethan Canin is a great short story writer, but when it comes to novels, he misses the target. His short stories are great because they are brief, and are told through actions and conversations, not sentimentality and excessive introspection. Blue River, like For Kings and Planets, are undisciplined works, perhaps too ambitious, with overwrought language and too much filler material. A much better story with the same theme appear in the Palace Thief, called Batorsag and Szerelem.

I felt compelled to add my review to this long list of largely negative ones in hopes that I could convince someone else to ignore them and pick up this book. This is a stunning, beautifully written book about two brothers who have become estranged. The story takes us back to where the brothers grew up and describes events leading up to their eventual separation. No, Canin doesn't give us a neat package of which brother was evil through and through, or who is the most guilty. But, that is exactly why this book is so good and will stay with you long after you read it. As Lawrence writes to Edward, "One day you're going to have to decide about me. You're going to have to decide how much of what you thought about me was in your imagination." If you like Ethan Canin, do yourself a favor and give this book a try.

This is a gentle novel that relates the history resulting in the estrangement of
two brothers. It is told from the perspective of the younger brother, now a suc-
cessful physician. The reader revisits the angst of childhood familial dynamics - -
the mysterious and worshiped 'black sheep' older brother and the absent father.
We see the depths of unspoken emotions and silent pain; the losses, mistakes,
and the love.

Canin's language is rich and languid. He builds upon the inner workings of heart
and mind more than observable action. The novel is thoughtful and engrossing.

I too am surprised by the negative reviews. This may not be the best book ever written, but Canin has a remarkable skill with language and description that I found arresting.

There was a power, as well, to the device of at first seeing the brother as grown man, who'd lost his way, and then earlier, an all-knowing older brother.

As for tedium, I dunno what readers are looking for - a thriller perhaps? I read this without putting it down.

I thought this was a very well-written and interesting description of the relationship between two brothers. I agree that pages 75-125 were slow but the rest of the book is by no means dull. Canin gradually reveals what caused the estrangement of the two brothers and his description of life in the small Wisconsin town where he grew up is often vivid with truly three-dimensional characters. I don't know whether anyone will believe me after reading the prior reviews but I highly recommend this novel.