A young couple from Southern California confronts the madness of contemporary life during one tortuous day.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
It's inspiring to see how far she's come since Burning.,
By Victoria Pond (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Burning (Mass Market Paperback)
I loved Le Divorce, which I found absolutely compelling and gracefully written. So, like many others, I went and read some of Johnson's other works; I bought Burning to reward myself for completing my last final exam. What a gyp. The book is clumsy, disorganized, lacking in focus. The characters are poorly drawn and unconvincing (and worse, so forgettable that it's hard to keep track of who's who), and the plot just meanders pointlessly. But you should read it if you want to become a professional writer, because if you compare this to Le Divorce you have no choice but to conclude that even the most unpromising works can give way to later triumphs.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Early Johnson,
By disco75 "disco75" (State College, PA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Burning (Mass Market Paperback)
This early novel by Diane Johnson uses as its setting the California upper-class housing development; its characters are the eccentric post-hippies and pre-yuppies who migrated there in the 1970's. The story covers the events of one day in broad social comedy that still contains seeds of incisive insights into the dynamics of marital relationships. It examines in a sometimes successfully comic way the Kafka-esque bureaucracy of child welfare services, the madness of some medical practitioners, the alienation of suburbanites, the disaffection of the drug addicted. The book is not as refined, subtle, or enriching as "Le Divorce," but then "Burning" was a product of an author nearly 30 years younger. Probaby best for ardent fans of Johnson.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Burning my drawers off with humor,
By A Customer
This review is from: Burning (Mass Market Paperback)
This is one of the funniest books I can recall reading. The pretentious snobs,bimbos and quacks that personify Bel Air neuroses would make most of us gag. But given Diane Johnson's gift for wit and humor-filled dialogue this makes for one enjoyable book. Can you imagine what Doctor Laura would say?
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The heat in September in Los Angeles turns everything brown except where people love and water their gardens at great expense. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
dangerous felon, sleep mask Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Doctor Harris, Tinker Bell, Geoffrey Nichols, True False, Hal Gartman, Hal Harris, Miss Hart, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Los Angeles, State of California, Department of Child Welfare, Noel Fish, Child Welfare Department, Maxine Gartman, Mulholland Fire Department, Santa Monica Boulevard, Where's Max, Bureau of Social Welfare, Chicken Delight, Joan Fry, Lamotte Lane, Red Cross New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The heat in September in Los Angeles turns everything brown except where people love and water their gardens at great expense. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
dangerous felon, sleep mask Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Doctor Harris, Tinker Bell, Geoffrey Nichols, True False, Hal Gartman, Hal Harris, Miss Hart, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Los Angeles, State of California, Department of Child Welfare, Noel Fish, Child Welfare Department, Maxine Gartman, Mulholland Fire Department, Santa Monica Boulevard, Where's Max, Bureau of Social Welfare, Chicken Delight, Joan Fry, Lamotte Lane, Red Cross New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 10
books:
See all 10 books this book cites
- Lying Low (William Abrahams Book) by Diane Johnson on 4 pages
- The Shadow Knows (William Abrahams Book) by Diane Johnson in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
- Persian Nights (William Abrahams Book) by Diane Johnson in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- Jane Austen: Women, Politics, and the Novel by Claudia L. Johnson in Front Matter
- No Telephone to Heaven by Michelle Cliff in Back Matter
See all 10 books this book cites
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