Customer Reviews

I'll Let You Go: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Plenty of books are described as "Dickensian", which usually indicates that they are teeming with characters and probe the seamy side of a particular world. Bruce Wagner understands what the Dickensian appellation actually means-to expose the ordinary reader to worlds so completely new that they might as well be on different planets. In "I'll Let You Go," the reader meets not only the desperate indigent, but also the out-of-sight rich. To most of us in the middle, either of these worlds might as well be on Mars.

Wagner's Pip, (or David, or Nicholas) is Tull, son of the daughter of the 18th richest man in America. He stays at his grandfather's fairy-tale estate with his drug addicted mother and two cousins. One of his cousins is hideously deformed but brilliant, and the other is an equally brilliant, funny girl who sees herself as a writer and makes things happen. By happenstance, they meet Amaryllis, a homeless girl who clicks with them. But before Amaryllis can be safely woven into their world, fate whisks her away on a nightmare journey.

One of the most appealing thing about this novel is that the children are treated equally. Tull and his cousins are not demonized because they are rich, nor is Amaryllis sainted because of her heartbreaking background. "I'll Let You Go" is full of quirky, interesting characters, surprising plot twists, and elegant prose. It is not a party-trick book, where the author shows off by demonstrating how many links he can make between Dickens' London and Tull's L.A. It is an affecting work with enough deep emotion, humor, and surprises to keep you hooked from start to finish.

First, let me say that this book can be read for the story, for that story is just short of fanciful and truly beyond interesting. But slow down; take in the language, the crafted sentences, and the wonderful puns. Take this book lightheartedly, please. I think that is what we are meant to do--Wagner tells us of much death and misfortune but his comical tone suggests that this is not meant to be a book to cry over. So, don't be pretentious and write this novel off because you wanted it to be serious or because you don't understand the puns. This is simply a wonderful satire of all socio-economic levels.

For seven eighths of this book, I was astonished by Wagner's writing skill. His flawless evocation of the Dickensian novel is intercut with bits of modern dialogue that are shocking in their compellingly contemporary grounding. The characters are fully realized and sometimes alarmingly grotesque. Horrific things happen to the luckless, impoverished females in this book; descriptions of the horrors visited upon them are harrowing in their specifics. The author has great insight into the inner lives of children, both rich and poor; he knows of their secret dreams and fears and takes us with them on their journeys to freedom--both physical and psychological. His characters, particularly Topsy/Will'm and the baker Gilles, the grandfather Trotter, and the birth-defective, brilliant Edward and his impulsive sister Lucy, the orphaned and abused Amaryllis, are also Dickensian in their great passions and flaws. Sadly, about 75 pages from the end, the narrative wobbles badly when it moves into emails back and forth between the children, and letters between the adults. This contemporary segment, with little of the previous lavish language present, simply isn't as compelling as what came before. Fortunately, Wagner recovers to deliver an ending that is realistic in terms of the characters he's created. But those 50-60 pages near the end are overwrought and detract from an otherwise splendid accomplishment. That said, I recommend this book for its extraordinary vocabulary, its brand-name roster of designers and stars of every ilk, and for a gripping tale told in incredible style.

What an amazing ride this book is. I am not surprised that review after review compares Wagner to Dickens, though having read both, I'll take Bruce Wagner's writing any day. This is a story I coudl not wait to get back to, and Wagner delivered every event, every development in language so clear and evocative that i went back and read some apssages twice. If you love books, this will give you another reason.

For a while, I thought (hoped) this was going to be a large sweeping indictment of LA in the vein of what Bonfire of the Vanities did for New York City, but it's not even close. True, we get the huge contast between the obscenely rich and the destitute homeless, but the characters don't reach out and grab. Their comments don't stay. There are too many characters. Even as I was nearing page 549, I had trouble remembering who was who and who was related to whom.

The best passages involve the lists of what the superrich can buy: their food items, the brand names of their household objects. The passages involving the poor are difficult to read because they're so graphic and squalid. Is this supposed to be a parody of Dickens? The orphan waif we have to love? The kindly rich who adopt the abandoned?

The narrative voice is irritating and hard to take. He uses the word "chuff" too much (three times on page 320!). I got very tired of reading "he chuffed." And I can't imagine referring to the current Diane Keaton as a starlet. The smug and snarky asides to tell us we don't need to know what happens next are silly. How did he decide what to tell and what to omit...what to put in the text and what to relegate to the footnotes? At least half of the 549 pages could have been omitted. I didn't enjoy being assaulted by the stilted arch vocabulary that was more showoff-y than relevant. "The book is too long, too dull, and without a satisfying payoff," I chuffed.

I read "I'll Let You Go" four years ago and it still haunts me.

Two thirds of this book are awesome. The story is epic, and the writing is sharp, sharp, sharp. Wagner builds a great network of fanciful characters that are connected in perhaps a few too many ways for realism, and he somehow tethers this impossibly colorful structure to reality nonetheless, with an amazing glue of sparkling wit and painful grit. For a few hundred pages it's captivating, and then the unlikely interconnections amongst the characters become so numerous that even the very real pains they endure, as well as the pleasures Wagner's writing gave to this reader at least, are not enough to keep the whole tangle from collapsing into itself and rolling out into space. It's a shame I can't just recommend the first part of the book--the last portion really soured it for me, but a story needs an ending. Still, if you do read this, you'll probably come out ahead.

A ripping good yarn, intriguing mystery, sympathetic characters. I also found myself Googling on the Internet to learn more about Apert's Syndrome, the Broken Column (and other follies of 18th Century France), and the difference between labyrinths and mazes. The novel itself could be said to be either, but I would classify it a maze since it does have "tricks," "false leads" and a reward to be had at the end. And it definitely does not end at the same place that it begins.

Bruge Wagner delivers again! I loved "I'm Losing You" and found this book even better. Not only is it filled with Wagner's signature hilarity and exhilarating observations, but it's a real old-fashioned page-turner. I couldn't help but race through it the first time for the story. Now I'm reading it again, savoring every beautiful sentence. I highly recommend it!

In her New York Times review of Bruce Wagner's brilliant new novel, Michiko Kakutani calls it a virtuoso piece and then goes on to say,"His tale and the myriad other plot lines it generates attest not only to Mr. Wagner's range as a writer - his ability to write with affecting sincerity as well as satiric glee - but also to his power as a storyteller to beguile."
I couldn't agree more. It is LA seen through the eyes of Dickens, by way of Tom Wolfe. Very different from his scabrous and brilliant "I'm Losing You," the scope of this novel is a flat down knockout.