Customer Reviews

Saint John of the Five Boroughs

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the second novel I've read by Ed Falco (and novels are just the half of it: the guy's a master of short stories, and if the world were just his stuff'd be everywhere heralded) and, like his last book (Wolf Point, also from Unbridled), St. John is a dynamite book focused on 'unorthodox' relationships, the battles and fatigue that come from those relationships, the ways in which people wish to be and the ways in which they deal with and/or handle (or, often as not, fail) all aspects of self.

I'll admit to being baffled that anyone'd complain about this book being a drag, or slow-moving, or hard to get into: if anything, Falco's writing's deceptive precisely *because* it's so fast moving--stuff happens at a quick, cinematic pace: in the first fifty pages the reader sees a party, sees a relationship strained, sees the instigation of two strange relationships...there's tons. The richness in terms of plot is more than worth the price of admission. And it's deceptive because, at speeds like those Falco works, a reader might be used to a book which is simpler, shallower--a read that'll provide the popcorn frizz of fun but not the real satisfying heft of Truth or Reality. Falco's working the latter category, strongly.

Stress that word 'cinematic,' actually: I can think of few books--hell, few writers--with as keen a sensory focus as St. John: Falco's work is immersive and rewarding in all sorts of ways, not least of which is that we can, in the best way, both feel and feel for the characters, and we're able to feel so much because we see them so clearly, can see the scenes--we can see that party at the start, can smell and feel what's happening (meaning, of course, that Falco's about as generous an author as one could hope for, willing to give the reader enough to get fully invested not just in the story but in the whole world of the story). Plus there's ideation/theme stuff: we've all read books in which a character is merely a stand-in for some idea the author's trying to hawk or use to prop certain thematic developments; we've all read books in which the characters are, ultimately, beautifully rendered but without any depth or substance, characters which don't offer the reader a way to trace larger currents running beneath the story.

But Falco gives us, instead, Avery and Grant (there's a whole set of characters, but these are the two you'll miss most at the book's close), flawed, complicated, confused, trying-damn-hard people. If great writing's made of sentences which honor the world's complexity, which honor the confused and confusing ways each of us tries to balance desires and fears, to balance hope for what's next and frustration with what we've already done, Ed Falco's St. John is right at the highest echelon of great writing. Buy the book. Read the book.

I read St. John of the Five Burroughs in three sittings; couldn't stop wanting to find out
how the plot and characters were going to evolve/resolve. Excellent excellent book. Falco's
richest and most complex so far. Such great, multi-layered characters -- even when they're
making really terrible decisions I totally understand and sympathize with their logic. There's
so many things to think about with each of them -- the various questions they raise about
responsibility and obligation -- to self, family, art, spirit, society. All woven smoothly into
a compelling narrative.

Reviewers have rightfully stressed the seamless writing, the well crafted world building, and the book's quick cinematic pace. On the one hand, the book reads like a well crafted indy film. Edward Falco creates unorthodox characters that are painfully real in their motivations and logic, which is part of the book's appeal.

On the other hand, I found the unorthodox and real characters to be too "real" at certain points. I could easily picture Lindsay's response to her brother's deployment and her demand that their family relocate to New York City, but just as I could readily imagine Lindsay, I found her to be flighty and annoying.

While I might not have enjoyed Saint John of the Five Boroughs as much as many of the other reviewers, it was just not my thing. Other readers will surely appreciate the clearsightedness with which Edward Falco creates his characters.

Publisher: Unbridled Books; 1st edition (October 20, 2009), 424 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher and Unbridled Book Tours.

Falco writes hard-edged novels whose characters often descend into the depths of what human beings are capable of. Sometimes they emerge from those depths better for having endured such a descent; sometimes not--but they are always changed. In Saint John of the Five Boroughs, Falco's characters--Avery, Grant, Lindsey, Hank--all make that journey into the underworld darkness, and each discovers that world has been around them all the time. The difficulty is coming to terms with that, and in emerging whole. Saint John of the Five Boroughs takes us into the darkness and back--it is a terrific novel.

Focusing on a family in Salem Virginia examines the lives of one family, particularly the young student Avery Walker and her Aunt Lindsay, Lindsay's as the two to break free from the strictures of their world. One night at a drunken student party, Avery follows the lead of her friend Melanie, and hooks up with Grant Danko, a good-looking, compact muscular almost brutal guy with his hair close to his scalp in a military style buzz cut. Here in Virginia spending a couple of weeks with a friend, at first grant sets his sites on Melanie, But after taking him back to their digs, it is Avery who Grant is attracted to. Driven by her artistic temperament and somewhat rebellious by nature, Avery goes on a midnight jaunt with Grant, spiritually and sexually connecting with him. Grant is certainly handsome, but in an interesting way, his brutal warrior-like harshness suggesting other possibilities. It's almost as if Grant felt a special connection and stirs intense feelings with her; "the feel of him in her belly, the way he pulled her apart." The confused and angry sex she has with Grant inspires her to elope with him to Brooklyn.. With Grant her words are "a spill of energy, liquid and electric at the same time, Like shooting up some drug" his dangerous attractiveness becomes all too much for her.

While Avery remains in thrall to Grant's magnetism and scared of the fear approaching and reacting almost viscerally to Grant's comment "I think there's something special about you." Her mother Kate is appalled that she would go off with someone who is considered a "gangster." Kate, clearly loves her daughter, by giving her advice, by looking out for her, and by wanting help. But now at forty she feels old, her daughter moving on and her clandestine affair with Hank has begun to wind down. Meanwhile, Hank has no aspirations, and he's similarly frustrated and angry at Lindsey's bouts of drinking. While Hank - - a smart guy whose job was mostly about lifting heavy things and arranging them - watches his football games, Lindsay drinks for attention, concerned for the future of her seven-year-old son Keith, and also that of her young brother, Ronnie in Iraq, who she loves but is furious at his stupidity and her father, in the early ages of Alzheimer's.

A sudden twist of fate finds Lindsay reeling from the news that Ronnie has been wounded by an IED, and is being airlifted and undergoing surgery, the prognosis unfortunately grim. All eventually head to New York, searching for something. Kate concerned that her daughter has been conned by a strange man who is bewitching her or in some way darkly influenced her. Lindsey is strangely envious of Avery's escape supportive of the notion that going to the city to find a life that fitted her better. But Kate remains wracked by a terrible sadness, desperate for Avery the disappointment and frustration, and challenged by Avery's increasing independence.

Falco writes his scenes, juxtaposing Grant's life and his journey into the sleazy squalor of the New Jersey criminal underworld with Kate, Lindsey and Hank's melodramas, in the process capturing the bustling atmosphere of NY as all of these characters struggle to make sense of their lives. Certainly Lindsey is forced to reconcile her wants, the blast that had destroyed Ronnie had exploded her life too along with the recognition that she could no longer go on with her life as it was. And there's Hank who shuffles around the bits and pieces of his life, trying to figure out what could be moved and what could be changed to keep it all flying apart. At the center of this tale is Grant who is mostly desperate for notoriety and for money. Constantly living in the shadow of his more successful artistic friends, Grant is haunted by a shooting in self-defense and a hijacking that went wrong while transporting stolen goods across State lines. The author recounts Grant's struggles to make something of himself, to be a writer, and an artist, while embedding us deep in Avery's life as she finds herself caught up in the glamorous world of Grant's artist friends. Certainly both Grant and Avery are over-burdened by the expectations of society and their respective families. Despite an overly ambitious plot, it is Avery's growth, and Grant's efforts to achieve redemption from the sorrowful reflections of his past that make this novel such a compelling experience. Of course no-one escapes unscathed, especially Kate who in all her loneliness contemplates suicide as her only child and lover drift from her and of course there's Lindsay who is unable to expresses her feelings as she comes to terms with the costs of the Iraq war and that of her father's illness. Mike Leonard October 09.

Violence only destroys on so many levels. "Saint John of the Five Boroughs" is a intriguing read of a woman and her family facing the cruelty of city life. Author Edward Falco has expertly composed a moving and literary read of the tenacity of woman. "Saint John of the Five Boroughs" is a moving and highly recommended read that should not be missed.

Falco is a master: of craft, of character, of tension. Saint John of the Five Boroughs is literature, really good literature that actually moves (runs, hops, leaps, etc.). What thrills me most about this novel is the way in which it explores a very physical drama involving love relationships, the current war in Iraq, and mobsters, while also digging into the psychological tensions between the book's diverse set of personalities. Falco disrupts expectations, discovering a string of somethings less expected and all the more real and compelling within each of the characters in the novel. Read it for its intelligence, for its craft, or for its drama--but read it.

And when you're looking for more work by Falco (you will be), check out Wolf Point and In the Park of Culture, or anything else Falco has written.

I stepped into page one of this novel and couldn't put it down. Ed Falco's writing flows seamlessly, the story building in momentum from the very beginning. Falco is brilliant in the way he develops characters who are real and intriguing. I found myself empathizing with these characters and thinking again and again about the complexities of their choices and actions. Through Falco's writing (novels, short fictions, poems, and plays) I visit places and lives that are very different from my own. But the layers of his characters' emotions - and the essence of their struggles - resonate with me. In the smallest of details, Falco reveals the aching places that exist in each of us.

Avery and Grant meet and the sparks fly. Avery has just finished college and is making the move to Brooklyn where she will live with Grant. Avery's loving family make the trip to Brooklyn to talk some sense into her. The lives of everyone involved will never, ever be the same.

Drugs, sex and violence are very much a part of this book. Life is a struggle and we become who we are because of the things we experience. This is a story that rings true to life. A startlingly beautiful novel.

Twenty two year old, Avery Walker is trying to find herself. She is a bit of a wild child. When Avery meets thirty seven years old, Grant Danko, things change rapidly. Grant is so much more mature from her past boyfriends. Grant is a theater performer. His stage name is Saint John of the Five Boroughs. Grand and Avery's relationship is very intense. Almost like a love/hate relationship. Through Avery is enthralled by Grant that she moves to Brooklyn with him. Avery's mother, Kate is worried about Avery that she is spiraling down a path that she won't be able to return from.

When I read the book synopsis for this book, I thought it held promise. Unfortunately. I didn't feel this book or the characters. I kept reading hoping that soon, I would be drawn in but I just couldn't. I gave up about a third of the way in. The story didn't move quickly enough for me. Avery and her problems turned me off. She needs to grow up. I felt that Grant was the villain in this story. He dominated Avery. I didn't like that. I wish there was something really positive I could say about this book but I couldn't this time.