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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I liked "The Flies" the best,
By A reader (Seattle) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Love in a Blue Time (Hardcover)
This is a small book of short stories, but for some reason it took me awhile to finish it. It was my third foray into Kureishi territory (The Black Album and the Buddha of Suburbia were first) and I have to say now, somewhat regrettably, that I'm hooked. I didn't, and don't, always enjoy reading his subject matter, but as an aspiring writer myself, his work continues to impress me. He is a talented literary artist, which is something that most average writers aspire to be. In this book, he writes in an economic style, and gives life to his stories with well told action, realistic dialogue, interesting conflicts and memorable characters. But the true strength of this book is in the passages, and in how emotion is communicated in an evocative, and often poetic way. His work often has a distinct dramatic and theatrical element, which could explain the multiple successes of his books' translations into plays and films. He rarely shies away from tough topics, and he indeed does have a special talent in exploring and explaining the depths of the human soul. He is able to tap into the minds and viewpoints of his many characters, and change the perspective of the story, which again is something that only the talented writer can manage successfully. I really like that his characters are always true to their character, and they never say or do anything that seems contradictory. In this book, I most enjoyed the stories "We're Not Jews", "D'Accord, Baby", and "The Flies". The latter is a morose and highly repulsive tale, but artfully done and very memorable nonetheless. I kind of look at these stories as "mood pieces", and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone looking for something light and cheery. But if you're in the market to explore some serious literary work, pick it up and maybe, like me, you'll be impressed.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Solid Introduction to Kureishi's World,
By A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: LOVE IN A BLUE TIME: SHORT STORIES (Paperback)
For those (like me) familiar with Kureishi only via his film work, the stories here will not surprise, as they exhibit his usual sensitive approach to the themes of cross-cultural difficulties and men completely adrift in their middle-age. The ten stories--most in the 5-15 page range with three 40+ pagers mixed in--are fairly mixed in quality, there are a few failures, but what is good is exceedingly good. In the cross-cultural difficulties category are three workmanlike, but unremarkable stories: "We're Not Jews," "With Your Tongue Down My Throat," and "My Son the Fanatic." The latter offers an excellent example of how a somewhat offhand short story can be turned into a quite compelling and powerful film. The other seven stories all deal in one way or another with men struggling to come to terms with marriage, responsibility, commitment, and sheer growing up--or more often, not struggling but trying to simply avoid it all. Two of these, "The Flies" and "The Tale of the Turd" wander off into Gogolish territory to no great effect. Kureishi's writing is inarguably strong, and he's able to make his characters come alive with a minimum of words, and often with a fair dose of humor. But while it's fun to read the stories just to enjoy good writing, too many of these men start to feel like they're living under the same desperate cloud, which gets tiresome.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kureishi should stick to Short Stories,
By A Customer
This review is from: Love in a Blue Time (Hardcover)
Kureishi's got this great gift to create amazingly fleshed out characters that we've all known or wanted to know, have been or wanted to be. Almost all of the stories are immensely readable--not because we want to know what will happen, but beacuse we want to know what the character thinks about what will happen. Not surprisingly, then, the weakest stories are those that abandon the first-person ("In a Blue Time" comes to mind). Kureishi soars when he lets us into the thoughts of his beautifully maladjusted characters. Plot and structure are of secondary consideration, which is just as well, since I'd buy the book if it simply contained character sketches.
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