Customer Reviews

The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I admit that the title alone is what drew me to this book, but the author doesn't disappoint: THE MANY ASPECTS OF MOBILE HOME LIVING is as odd and beguiling and clever as its title promises. It's no white trash epic, but actually a weird and compelling ride with a young, spiritually lost judge of the New South and his brother, a charming rogue with his own problems. Their misadventures and romances and conversations are never less than entertaining, but Clark has more on his mind than that. He uses his characters, so strange and complicated that they seem as real as any fictional people you'll ever encounter, to explore many important themes -- success, the American Dream, race, the meaning of life -- in a subtle and yet thrillingly original way.

At the end, I got the feeling you always get from the best books, that everything the author wrote is true and that all the characters you met are off living their lives in the same fits and stalls and moments of transcendence we all experience, and if you knew them or had their phone numbers you could just call them up and talk about whatever goofy things you talk about with your real friends. The blurb on the back compares him to Hiassen, but entertaining as Hiassen is, I think Clark is a deeper and rarer bird, already more accomplished in limning real people and the things they do - if not as sharp with plot, which at times seems almost incidental. But the writing is so good it doesn't matter.

I purchased this book because a friend of mine told me about it. (She had seen it in a Book-of-the-Month Club magazine--nominated for their fiction award.) I discovered when I checked it out on Amazon that it had received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus. Then I read an excellent review in my local paper (Baltimore Sun), and saw a rave review in The NY Times. After I bought the book, I also saw that Newsweek's reviewer liked it. The bottom line: This novel had good word of mouth, a great local review, and excellent national reviews from the New York Times and Publisher's Weekly. So I bought it and loved it. This is a brilliant, funny book, part mystery, part legal thriller, part spiritual trip. It's as good as the buzz. While I realize this is not a chat room. I do take issue with one of the reviews that appears on this page, suggesting that all the good reviews come from Mr. Clark's friends. This wouldn't be possible, would it? I do not know Martin Clark, but I did feel that I should write and defend this book. It's a fine, excellent read, and I doubt that the author's remarkable success has come because he has friends at the Times and Newsweek and Publisher's Weekly, etc. So my name is Holly Santos, I'm ordering another one for a friend, and this one gets five stars.

How many books do you run across which are thought-provoking and full of wild plots and wonderful characters? The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living has all this and more. I couldn't figure out how the author was going to tie all this toghether at the end, but he did, and the ending just left me shaking my head. You'll not find a better book out there. This one takes chances and breaks all kinds of rules, but it really works. Hope to see Evers and Pascal and Pauletta again soon.

Part legal thriller, part humor, and even a bit spiritual, "The Many Aspects..." is a very smooth and relaxing read.

Circuit court judge Evers Wheeling finds himself, his pot smoking, heavy drinking brother and friends on a cross-country journey from N.C. to Utah to retrieve a hidden treasure. The treasure comes by the way of a mystical woman who cries pearly tears, Ruth Esther English. She promises a part of the fortune to Evers if he will drop her brother's case when he appears in court before him. Prompted by a sense of the wealth and a sense of adventure, Evers agrees.

As the group sets off to retrieve the treasure they are joined by Ruth Esther's almost militant-like, black lawyer Pauletta. Some of the books funniest moments occur when the conservative, southern-bred Evers and Pauletta trade barbs.

The treasure, stolen drug money, is also found to include a mysterious letter that Ruth Esther goes to any length necessary to keep to herself. Curious about the content of the letter and the mysterious tears that Ruth Esther produces (which they believe are wish-bearing and build a shrine for) the group sets out to find the truth behind it all. In doing so and as their wishes come true, they reveal hidden and truths and feelings about themselves that they didn't even know existed.

It may seem weird, but while reading this book I was taken in by a sense of tranquility. Clark has a very calm and soothing way of writing. Instead of the sudden and abrupt plot twists and turns associated with thrillers, the "go with the flow", almost melting-like writing is like a breath of fresh air. Although containing no real edge-of-your-seat, nail biting theatrics, there is plenty of suspense and intrique to keep the reader thouroughly engrossed.

I bought this book a few weeks ago when I noticed that it was one of Amazon's "Penzler's picks" for April, and I got around to reading it this week after the great New York Times review on Sunday. Amazon and The Times are right--this is a suberb, wonderful read. The character development is as good as I have encountered, and the writing is sharp, funny, and moving. Finally, though, it's the incredible, unexpected ending that left me amazed. The plot is beautifully wound up, a message about faith is delivered, and the reader is left completely satisfied. This is literature at its best; thanks to Amazon for spotting it.

THE MANY ASPECTS OF MOBIL HOME LIVING is the best book I've read in years. It's a tour de force--brilliant, funny, clever and a great read right to the end. So very few books these day are plausible and entertaining on a plot level. This one tells a great, fun, twisting tale and drops in a real lesson without getting preachy. MOBILE HOME LIVING is the real thing, the whole package. Highly recommended.

Clark's first novel is a rollicking read, a classic Southern novel. With his artful prose and well honed vocabulary, Clark tips his hat in the direction of other fine Southern writers that have preceded him, while remaining strikingly fresh and new.

This novel takes us on a serpentine trip, both literally and figuratively, as we explore not only the North Carolina and West Virginia landscapes, but also take the occassional side trip into the inner workings of our revered legal system. Not to mention a drug laced exploration or two into the meaning of life. Clark has managed, in these short 350 pages, to conjure up and slay many of our most feared demons, from the classic disillusionment of our post-graduate times to the spiritual abyss that so many of us have adopted as our safe haven. And he has done it through the introduction of a cast of rascals and ner' do wells that tug at your heartstrings like long lost friends. While the task seems to be nearly overwhelming on its face, Clark manages to twine all of the pieces into a solid rope, leaving only one question unanswered at the surprising conclusion of this excellent first work--Where is my Ruth Esther? This is a must read!

Comparing this judge's writing with John Grisham's (I've seen it on these very pages) is like saying hummingbirds and ostriches are both birds. Alright, if you insist on pigeon-holing let me say a wry blend of distilled Another Roadside Attraction and The Crying of Lot 49, but that's just me. This book is an original and so is the marvelous writer. The odyssey to the "religious or spiritual or something" takes many an odd twist and turn including some of the best writing I've ever encountered on getting stoned and having hangovers as well as losing it for a while. The only comparison to Confederacy of Dunces, a book I also love, is that both make you laugh out loud. Here let the book speak for itself: "How did this happen?" Evers wondered. Two weeks ago, on his way to work, he had seen Ruth Esther English for the first time, a hazy, dim hungover day of entropy that started in another bathroom amd ended when he...(read it)" pp64-65. This book has renewed my faith in living to become beatific. It is a first-rate cosmic journey.

The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living is full of quixotic characters and clever situations, and at times it's laugh out loud funny. But Martin Clark is every bit as smart as he thinks he is, and readers who want to believe the tidy ending might want to think twice. Somebody gets away with murder. Death-bed conversion, anyone? Still, there's much to admire in the audaciousness of this novel, and it's easy to fall under the author's spell for just the sheer pleasure of it. I can't wait to see what Clark comes up with next.

I never figured this one out until the very end, and I loved the payoff on every level. A hard book to pigeonhole though--John Grisham mixed with John Updike and a little Hunter S. Thompson maybe. The writing is exceptional, and I loved the author's sense of humor. Everything about this book seems so polished and evocative that you just slip into it and roll along with the characters. It's smart and moving and right on target. I've actually started it again.