Customer Reviews

Right Here, Right Now: A Novel

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

 

 

Read trey's new book. It's about a self-help guru who goes a little too far for society's taste as he veers from "acceptable" behavior into the realm of megalomaniacal and quasi-mystical dillusion. In the process he drags along a bunch of gullible, souls who think all the big answers flow from his golden throat and his prodigious, erm...karma. How does the main character, Austin, an upper class African-American, go from a being relatively normal, if some what over achieving motivational speaker, to a man hunted by the feds for debunking dim middle class rubes out of their money and their wives...? It's a journey marked by wasted human lives and many empty cases of Evian water. We can see the end coming, but Trey gives us such a wickedly obnoxious blend of pretense and idiocy, that we can't help laughing all the way.

Usually, when young writers try to get satirical, they get too broad and dumb. Ellis, on the other hand, has a deft touch. You laugh out loud sometimes, but mostly you laugh inside. His understated use of language is a treat. And can I just say that I really enjoy a good, fresh sex scene, and Ellis has NO problem delivering the goods in that department. It's a breezy read, but you feel like it was time well-spent when you're finished.

I really liked Trey Ellis' clever, funny third book. His talent has responded well to the wider platform here and demonstrates a maturing vision. I anticipate enjoying Mr. Ellis skewer other American idiosyncracies with his absurdist wit, as he clearly enjoys that territory as demonstrated in RH,RN. It's also refreshing to see a writer so clearly have fun with form in his work, and it makes for an engaging read. I'm anxious to see what or whom this emerging talent will poke some fun at next.

Ellis does a marvelous job here of completing the thematic lattice he started with his first two works. While Platitudes has the exuberant if uneven gait of the young thoroughbred, RHRN marks the confident gallop of a literary stallion. He may be furlongs from the finish, perhaps, but Ellis has accomplished, in my opinion, a rare novelistic triple crown.

This book really touched me. It's really about what's happenning today. I thought it was really topical. I don't know how this guy knows so much about sex, he must do it alot and think about it more than that! I read it in one day!

Right Here, Right Now mixes brilliant satire with laser-sharp observation, and the best thing is you can never tell which one's which. The more outlandish it gets, the realer it seems, somehow. I love this book.

The narrator comes off as a likeable rogue spewing the kind of self help you can even see on PBS, but after consuming a heady brew of cough syrup and drugs, he has a vision and goes off the deep end, taking the book with him as he sinks.

Hey Trey, I'm sure you're reading this. What must it be like for an author to see his readers' reviews?

I've read all of your books and this is the best one yet. Definitely movie material. Need help with a screenplay? The expired cough syrup and marijuana delusion is priceless. And the cult followers wearing GAP clothing? Brilliant. This is great satire. It's perfect for end of the century hysteria.Can't wait for your next one.

This book really touched me. It's really about what's happenning today. I thought it was really topical. I don't know how this guy knows so much about sex, he must do it alot and think about it more than that! I read it in one day!

I didn't really kow where this book was going to go. It takes you in weird whirlwind, to where you don't know if the hero is hallucinating, or is actually an enlightened spirirual master. You keep asking whether this guy is a nut or is he on to something.I really liked how Ellis keeps you guessing. It's really weird how the two bes fiction books of last year came out of Ssanta Cruz, this along with Brauner's 'Love songs of the tone deaf', is a very impressive display of literary talent in one town. Buy this book, you'll love it