Customer Reviews

The Foreigner

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

 

 

After having read three other books in the MTV series and finding them to be filled with depth, angst, and substance, I expected nothing less from this first novel by Meg Castaldo. I was to be deeply disappointed, I soon discovered after starting it.

The only redeeming quality of this novella is its length. Coming in at just over 200 pages, it seems pointless not to finish it after starting it. Despite the brevity, Castaldo breaks the work into 35 chapters (and an epilogue) spread over three parts, a technique that only increases the cheesiness and self-importance of the book. Some chapters are less than two full pages, scarcely more than a single, brief conversation.

As a general rule, works of fiction need to have either dynamic, three-dimensional characters or a very strong, action-driven plot, or both. This has neither. The entire book shows paper-thin characters that we know nothing about doing (often mundane) things for no observable reason, sometimes completely non sequitur.

Reading the book, I felt that Castaldo knew a lot more about her characters and plot than she wrote into the book, but because it wasn't there, it reads like a police report. The novella is written from the perspective of the main character, but we know so little about her (or any other character), and can empathize with her so poorly, that the entire work feels detached and superficial. While the title given by Castaldo, "The Foreigner," might be a commentary on how little we are meant to know about the characters, I don't credit the book with that much intelligence.

The whole plot comes together, more or less, with a less-than-climactic climax and non-existent denouement, thanks to a poorly contrived master scheme (again, that seems to exist only in the author's head) that pretends to be much more than it is.

The novella also suffers serious timing issues. For example, two characters enter an upscale French restaurant in Manhattan, sit down, and order. They exchange three lines of dialogue, and then their food arrives. To have such speedy service! Add in a gratuitous sex scene that fizzles as much as wet fireworks and you have the sum of the book.

I don't know how many rejection letters Castaldo received before MTV Books said yes, but it wasn't enough. This book is mediocre at its best, and the quality of a high-school freshman English composition at its worst. I generously gave it 2 stars (instead of 1) because it serves as an excellent example for teaching new writers how NOT to write.

With The Foreigner, Meg Castalado has written a fast-paced, intriguing novel full of interesting characters and plot twists. The Foreigner is plainly written with little or no traces of a unique writing style on the part of Castalado. Where she shines is in the ability to construct an even, exciting page-turner. It's exciting and entertaining, plain and simple. Nothing more. But sometimes all you need is a cheap literary thrill ride like this.

In the largely uneven field of MTV Books (Fake Liar Cheat, Perks,F-Up: Great! Dreamworld, Brave New Girl, Pieces: Awful)The Foreigner is a return to the good. While not as funny as Fake Liar Cheat, not as moving as Perks or as f'd up as the F-Up, the Foreigner is a delicious little book about life that is missing the pseudo angst of Brave New Girl & Pieces. A quality read and a good five hours of my life.

This book is fun and it moves fast, but not because of a weak or light plot. It moves because Meg Castaldo is a creative writer and you want to find out what on earth happens next to these wacky characters. New York by itself, is strange, but when you throw in neighbors in a building and friends-of-friends, it becomes even crazier. The plot twists and turns and a murder is thrown in and you just want to keep reading to see what is going to happen on the next page. This is a fun book to travel with, but not for everyone. It is not rocket-science, don't expect Grisham or Patterson or Hemingway - expect a great, new, fresh writer you hope we will hear more from soon!

A friend recommended The Foreigner to me and I found it to be not only an easy read, but a page turner. The author weaved a tale that had me wondering how it would all come together. And it did with a believable twist. The characters were described in such a way that you felt you knew them. My only complaint was I had trouble putting it down and stayed up too late reading. A very good book and I look forward to reading more by Ms. Castaldo.

At twenty-eight, Alex Orlando feels she is living proof of inertia, as she seems to be in a state of perpetual rest. Following college, a series of depressing jobs and Europe, Alex feels parental pressure in Sacramento to get on with her life. She escapes when her Uncle Anthony Carmine Orlando asks her to house sit his Manhattan apartment while he does his annual pilgrimage to his Holy Land, Puerto Rico.

Uncle Carmi warns his niece that being a foreigner on this crazy island is dangerous and gives her a list of taboos that the natives know to avoid. Priority one is to avoid the neighbor, Christian THE FOREIGNER. Within seventy-two hours, Alex has checked off everything on Carmi's list having been there and done it, but that has led her to her new excitement, as an amateur sleuth trying to solve the murder of THE FOREIGNER next door.

This novel is a wild ride around Manhattan that will please the audience with its hip ironic look at "natives and foreigners". The humorous story line focuses on the antics of Alex, a disenchanted youth, but is fun because the key players seem genuine. Everyone has a relative who has warned him or her in a Reefer Madness type of way. Everyone also learned quickly to use that relative's "list" as a fun guide. That is the premise behind the Carmi-Alex relationship that propels the California foreigner to step into one incident after another until the heroine plunges deep into a who-done-it. This fabulous debut requires Meg Castaldo to provide more novels like this New York tale.

Harriet Klausner

Alex Orlando is a Californian house-sitting for her uncle in New York while he's on vacation. Despite her uncle's warning, she has a fling with her (slightly odd) foreign neighbor, Christian, just a day before the man she's been in love with comes to visit.
In the meantime, her `oldest friend', Kyle, who is now living in New York, is obviously involved in something unsavory and is very close to going over the edge.
Then, she finds Christian murdered and New York suddenly starts to feel like a far less welcoming place.

Though it may sound confusing the story is very well-told and these seemingly unrelated and incompatible characters intertwine seamlessly in the absorbing plot.
The ending was a bit of a give-away but a good read nonetheless.

Picked this book up in DC for the plane ride home, because it looked like an easy read and something I could get into quickly. I ended up cracking this book in the hotel room and was well into it by the time I got on the plane. Loved the wacky characters, New York city descriptions, and quick, expansive plot. I'm not sure what I expected, but this book packs a lot into a short read. Castaldo is a good storyteller. First person point-of-view may not be for everyone though. I was pleasantly surprised by this "plane reading" purchase and finished it after I got home.

The Foreigner, by Meg Castaldo, is beautifully controlled, auspicious debut by a young writer who has her fingers on the pulse of contemporary urban life. Castaldo's characters are finely drawnly, believeable and yet maintain an air of mystery. Despite the fact that the plot-involving-a-murder is thrilleresque, there is something far greater going on beneath the polished veneer of this fast-paced narrative: a canny intelligence compelled by the nuances of both human behavior and the manners of people living on the edge.

Castaldo is a remarkably gifted writer. She has the requisite story-telling instincts of a novelist, but she also had a deep understanding-- Jamesian in scope -- of the people she invents. She's just cutting her teeth here in The Foreigner. I'm sure there are far greater things to come.

Got this book as an early fathers day present. Hadn't a clue as to the capabilities of the author. By the end of the first page, I was pleased by the likable, fast paced style of the prose. The characters developed nicely, although I must confess that I began to wonder how it would all tie together. To my pleasant surprise, it did come together and I ended up staying awake reading way past my bedtime to finish. The protagonist is very likable and I could easily see this evolving into a series.