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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Painful,
By
This review is from: Death of a Writer: A Novel (Paperback)
(First, I apologize for the length of this review, but I included wordy quotes to illustrate exactly what I found tiresome with this novel.)
I gave up at p. 250 of this 300-page novel. I don't even know if the ending redeemed this slog of a read nor do I care who killed whom. An overwritten, meandering, repetitive and ultimately tiresome story. The PW synopsis was what lured me initially, and admittedly, I was engaged in the first half. For me, the story fell apart in the second half: (1) Repetitive and pedagogical discussions on the existential significance of main character's novel. The reader is treated to a lengthy discourse on Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche ad nauseum; once is interesting, five or more times is annoying. (2) William Carlos Williams' poem is interjected several times, yet the meaning is never made clear nor is its connection to the murder revealed (maybe it was on the last few pages, so correct me if I'm wrong). Several instances like this. Not necessary to ram down the reader's throat that you're into Nabokov, Dostoevsky, WCW, Nietzsche, Hawthorne, etc. when they have no bearing on the case/murder/mystery. It's like being back in the classroom again. (3) Det. Ryder's inner turmoil (problem with daughter, problem with present wife, problem with past case, problem with this case) is revisited over and over. Okay, I got it, he has personal demons. What fictional detective doesn't? (4) Main character's vegetative state is described repeatedly. Enough already--it's painful to read. Once or twice would have been more than sufficient, but time and time again, it almost smacks of cruelty. (5) Peppered with characters who have no significance to the story, yet each is treated to recurring appearances and lengthy exposition each time. What's the point? (6) Several reviewers here are spot on: the story became messier as it progressed and the progress was at snail's pace, and too wordy when a concise paragraph would have had more impact. I just picked a page at random...this is just ONE SENTENCE amongst numerous paragraphs throughout describing Horowitz's ascent to stardom: "He was now entrenched in this collegiate reading circuit, keynote speaker at commencements, commanding a king's ransom for a mere night's engagement, recipient of no fewer than five honoree doctorates, and paid administrator of cash-rich grant-in-aid scholarships, almost always disquietingly named after the dead, or the near dead, insufferable socialite wives of the rich, from the L. Myrtle Schwartz Foundation for the Arts and the Kathryn S. Breedlove Grant to the Amaryllis Grubb Endowment, named for Amaryllis Grubb, a hard-of-hearing octogenarian heiress he had been forced to coddle for funds over numerous dinners, a woman who had lost the ability to ---- silently." Not convinced yet? Here's another random selection...one describing an atrium. What's the significance of the atrium? None. Horowitz was just passing through it to get to another room: "He had read somewhere that the flying buttressed colossal excess of medieval cathedrals had been created for the sheer effect of such contrast between peasant existence and the gilded mansion of heavenly eternal reward, though this building was different, of an eartly concern, a secular shrine to learning, the walls painted with various natural phenomena: images of erupting volcanoes, flowing magma, earthquake fissures, continental shelves, deep cave stalagmites, landscape images of a rain forest canopy, an ice sheet, a desert dune, a cross section of the earth with a molten ball at the core, a giant periodic table of the elements, all done in an art deco coloring of yellow and olive and tonal oranges, the drawings reminiscent of those in the World Book Encyclopedia Yearbook Horowitz's immigrant father had given him as a kid each year." (7) What does this novel want to be: A murder mystery? An exposé on the ills of the publishing world/vanity presses? A denunciation of second-tier universities? A criticism of liberal arts degrees? A lecture on philosophy? An indictment of authors who sell out? I don't know because it doesn't focus on one or two themes; it's just all over the place. Then, there was something about a chimpanzee. I'm not even going there.
20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 STARS AND A STANDING OVATION,
This review is from: Death of a Writer: A Novel (Hardcover)
Booker Prize nominee Michael Collins brilliantly combines a psychological study, the literary world, and mounting suspense in his latest novel Death Of A Writer. Collins's satirical take on academia is priceless, while his understanding portrait of the tragic compelling. More than a story this novel is also a telling picture of the lives of many today. Part I introduces E. Robert Pendleton, acclaimed author of Winterland. He was hailed, called a literary rising star but that was ten years ago and the well quickly ran dry. "His latest work had been rejected by every major house in New York." Thus, he is reduced to teaching, becoming a professor at Bonnockburn College, a small Midwestern university or, as he puts it a "venerable cradle of mediocrity." Yearning for the success that escaped him he drinks too much and hangs onto tenure for dear life. He has been asked to bring a known writer to the campus for the Distinguished Lecture Series. He does so, but schedules the event, an academic one, for Homecoming Weekend, the worst time possible to gather an audience. The Chair of the English Department calls the choice of the date a "setup" for failure. Actually, the date conflict was not enough - he has invited Allen Horowitz, an author who had once shared the limelight with Pendleton as a rising star. But while Horowitz's career had skyrocketed, Pendleton's had died. He is so obsessed by Horowitz that he even keeps a spreadsheet of all of his reviews. Disgruntled, depressed, Pendleton invites Adi, a voluptuous seven year grad student, to accompany him to the airport to pick up Horowitz. He is briefly revitalized when she tells him that she is reading his book, Winterland. That victory is short lived when Horowitz quickly captures her attention. Pendleton decides there is only one option - he will take his own life. He hurriedly writes a will, leaving all to Adi and begins to kill himself. Despite quantities of pills and vodka he is unsuccessful but the attempt has left him in a comatose state and later relegated to a wheelchair. Adi has come by his house to check on him. She is the one who saves him from death to a living death. While he is in the hospital a novel, "Scream" is found hidden in his basement. It is an incredibly fine story of a child murder. Adi and Horowitz decide to have it published. It is received with all the public and professional approbation that Pendleton sought. However, he is not in any condition to enjoy his success. Further, the murder at the center of the story bears an uncanny resemblance to the actual unsolved murder of a young girl, Amber Jewel. Part 2, titled "The Investigation" introduces Jon Ryder, an experienced cold case cop who knows how to ferret out the truth no matter how long it has been hidden. He has the copy of a cassette mailed anonymously that brought to light the parallels in the deaths of Amber and a fictional victim. The taped voice ends with a question asking how the author, Pendleton, "had gotten so precisely the details between the two victims, given that Scream had been originally published before the April 1977 discovery of the true-life victim's body?" Michael Collins proves once again that he is, indeed, a major talent. Five stars and a standing ovation for Death Of A Writer. - Gail Cooke
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Mixture Does not Gel,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Death of a Writer: A Novel (Hardcover)
Pendleton is a creative writing professor whose writing has not been very creative for a long time. He is in such despair about his failed career that he attempts suicide and put himself into a vegetative state. While he is comatose a graduate assistant discovers he has written and suppressed a brilliant novel, which contains details of the subsequent murder of a thirteen year old girl.
The first 75 pages read as a satire on academic life, along the lines of Mary McCarthy's "Grove of Academy" or Kingsley Amis's "Lucky Jim" or Randall Jarrell's "Pictures from an Institution" or Richard Russo's "Straight Man." The plot thickens and the atmosphere changes abruptly with the arrival of Ryder, a detective who is, amongst other personal problems, suspected of the murder of his first wife (a loose end that never gets tied up). From then on there's a lot of grim small town atmosphere (rather reminiscent of the author's "Keepers of Truth.") There's still some literary talk but it's serious and pretentious. He piles tragedy on tragedy and nobody has any fun. Collins seems unable to blend his mixture. Although the solution of the mystery is ingenious the ending was clumsy. I was a little irritated by the carelessness about police procedures. One of the suspects is a local policeman, and we're not even told anybody's rank.
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