Customer Reviews

The Bones: A Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

'The Bones' is such a good read that I would extend my workouts just to get one more chapter in. Seth Greenland has given us an exquisite and deeply observed novel of Hollywood, with - I might add - a distinctly non-Hollywood ending. There's definitely no "Come Lift Us Up Where We Belong" feel-good ending here. Frank wants a taste of what Lloyd has; Lloyd wants a taste of what Frank has; and - when both get it - the results aren't pretty.

I suspect industry insiders will have a field day drawing the lines between Greenland's fictional protagonists and their real world equivalents. Even an outsider like can me draw some reasonable guesses, like Sethland's management duo of Robert Hyler and Jolly De Meo seeming an awful lot like Brad Grey and Bernie Brillstein. And the none-too-sharp Bart Pimento sounds quite a bit like Jennifer Aniston's ex.

For me though, the best parts are Sethland's streams-of-consciousness from inside the mind of the tortured scribe Lloyd Melnick; these are simply brilliant pieces where random, jumbled, increasingly frenetic and detached thoughts simply come flying in and rapidly out of Melnick's confused brain. To quote any of it here would be to give away key parts of the story.

The writing here is tight and spellbinding. No wonder David Mamet had picked up the rights to it. It's got a Mamet-like intensity and cadence to it. It seems like the project is hung up a bit right now (according to what I can glean from reports on the Internet). Let's hope 'The Bones' can make it to the screen, because I think it would translate beautifully.

Sharp, witty, complex, intelligent, provocative, funny. An amazing feat for a first novel, this book has a finesse you'd expect a writer to evolve over a few books. This was the freshest funniest book I've read in a long time, yet also deeply provocative and sharp.

A sometimes nihilistic dark comedy that provides an inside view to TV-Hollywood and the human condition around mid-life. This novel has some interesting narrative features of a play.

The two protagonists interestingly contrast the roles of the gusto-grabbing id-libido (Frank) and the sober ego (Lloyd), and these roles are played out to the hilt. Some fascinating thoughts parade across the consciousness of these two men, and to be privvy to them is an intriguing experience. Dialog too flows well and is generally riveting.

There is suspense, sex, and $, but not much violence.

You will laugh out loud.

This book talks to existential questions, without being high-fallutin, and shares some insightful views on popular culture and the human condition in the USA, through the sometimes-jaded eyes of our nation's entertainment capital.

I'll admit it. I love US, Star and schlocky TV shows about Los Scandales. I'm dying for the new season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." And I still guffaw over Seinfeld re-runs. But I also love Jane Austen, Turgenev and Philip Roth. That's why I'm crazy about this book. It's a devilishly delicious stew of colorful, conniving and utterly convincing characters (Frank Bones, Lloyd, Honey et al), insiders' only dish and insanely intelligent language. Plus it's perfectly spiced up with adults only moments and some exciting (but not horrifying) violence. Be warned: once you start reading, you won't be able to put it down -- or stop laughing. Bring on the movie....but buy the book first!

I enjoyed this book -- I read it for book club -- but it's somewhat lacking in substance. The book was fun, but the second half didn't really match the first half. It's not a bad read, but really only a step up from an airplane book.

This is a book set in Hollywood, in the intertwined lives of sitcom screenwriter Lloyd and life-in-the-fast-lane bad boy stand-up comic Frank Bones. It starts with a bang, as Bones does drugs prior to a stand-up gig in Cleveland and then discharges a firearm into the ceiling on stage. That scene sets up the novel, and Greenland delivers with an intriguing story of how both men try to revive their careers. The irony is that Lloyd gets what Bones has been dreaming for, and Bones realizes Lloyd's dream, and neither is happy with the outcome.

The novel has one climax mid-way through, and then Greenland starts Part Two, which covers another phase in his characters' lives. The second half was more like a crime/detective novel, with a very different tone from Part One. I'm not sure I loved the end of the book, but the rest of the journey was a good one.

This is set in Hollywood, but you don't have to be an insider or a fan to enjoy it. Greenland avoids the excessive brand-name dropping that so many novels set in LA and NY employ. It has some very funny moments, especially when the straighlaced Lloyd is trying be as cool as his bad boy pal Frank Bones. From the book, I learned some interesting facts about the industry, like how sitcom screenwriters employ a specific patter to deliver jokes, and how the audience has come to expect a pattern between lines and punchlines, and they laugh on command at the right time.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for some good fiction from a new writer.

I loved this book, couldn't put it down, was forlorn when I came to the final 10%. All that the other reviews say is true: fun read, insightful, and a riotous dissection of everything "310," meaning the westside of Los Angeles.

What struck me is how emotional I felt at the end of the book.

To see our two leads evolve, ever so slightly, brought tears to my eyes. Go figure. Greenland knows what it's like to be near the age of 50 and works his magic over this territory.

Bravo to Greenland, although I think he's doomed to be unable to ever top this tome. Might he be "The Bones" of the literary world.

Check that, if he writes about 'parenting' with the same 'touch' he might conquer all of humanity.

The Bones is book that might look and feel daunting. Don't be put off, it's a beautifully constructed plot and the writing is a joy to digest, which makes it much lighter than the 400+ pages. It's a fun ride, it's often laugh out loud funny, especially in its descriptions of high-life excesses in Beverly Hills or low-life people on the run in a stolen car.

I often felt a sense of awe and joy of certain words or a sentence construction that can run to six lines without causing me any comprehension constipation. Sometimes I revisisted a passage just for the fun of it again, and now I want to re-read the whole book to see if there any plot-holes in it, - I did the same thing with "Usual Suspects". The second half really rolls along fast with some great unexpected twists which are still turning over in my head,-again like a good film.

As well as its plot and observational descriptions, this book is sprinkled with passing characters studies interacting with the leading players, for example the sexy bar-fly packing a stiletto (and not just on her shoes) or a gas attendant who could blow their cover, but chooses to act cool and join the game instead.

Also, reading this book improved my vocabulary. Some of the new words are a joy to read. My favorite is "ananoidily" - as in trying to talk with a stuffed-up nose. Just say it. It's onomatopoeic and it perfectly suits the fussy Hollywood nanny-type who is afflicted with the condition.

By the way, who is this guy Seth Greenland? He only has two and a half lines about himself and yet he knows all about the in-jokes and showbiz lifestyle, as well as bikers' dive bars in places like Tulsa! This guy has lived a little, surely?...Which world does he inhabit? In fact, which way is he headed? From the Bones-like comedy bars to Beverley Hills, or down in the opposite direction? We should follow his progress. I feel a film script, or even a Sam Shepherd-ish play could be in the works. If Sam Shepherd does stand-up comedy, Bones would be his dream role. Yes, he's cool enough, and he seems to have the stand-off attitude that despises the Hollywood system which is meant to nurture his craft. (Note to self: this book makes me think that even I could be movie producer...hmm).

You should catch this book and share it with a friend too, so you can compare notes and that sense of awe at great writing. I can't wait to find out what's going to happen to "The Bones", and to Seth Greenland too.

When it comes to darkly acerbic novels about the entertainment business, I feel like I've read 'em all, from Nathaniel West's "Day of the Locusts" to Budd Schulberg's "What Makes Sammy Run" to Michael Tolkin's "The Player" and pretty much everything in between... and Seth Greenland's novel "The Bones" is right up there with the very best. It is a fast ride and a good read, a razor-sharp character-rich tale of two cities, both of them Hollywood. Greenland works his prose like a surgeon, peeling back the layers of his characters' skin, to muse on how money, talent, pretention, ambition, material excess, and self-destructive existential yearning fester into a world of pain. And what's more funny than pain? I laughed out loud many times while reading The Bones and recommend it for anyone interested in getting an inside look into the world of television, comedy, and "the business".

Its rare that i want to get on here and comment on a book but the bones is fantastic, funny, fun, sharp, irreverent, inside Hollywood's funny farm and although obviously i don't know for sure, frank bones is highly reminiscent of Richard Belzer and even though Larry David is listed in the acknowledgments, something tells me this was written with him or someone close to him in mind. excellent book couldn't stop reading it.