Customer Reviews

Stop Breakin Down: Stories

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I heard about "Stop Breakin Down" in Publisher's Weekly and soon sought out a copy, never having heard of McManus previously, not knowing what to expect. Rarely if ever have I been so stunned, so unequivocally awed by an author's first work. This is what fiction is meant to be: a fearless odyssey into the language of the mind. McManus delves unflinchingly into the savagery and beauty of the human soul and maps the lives of the fifteen or so heroes of his stories with beautiful, fluid prose rarely attempted in American fiction. For an author his age to have accomplished this feat is unprecedented. Read "Sleep on Stones," a beautiful, haunting account of obsession and revenge, and you'll be hooked instantly. Read the closer, from which the collection gets its name, and your fingers will grip the page with suspense. Read just about any of the stories and you'll be hooked instantly. McManus is the first of his generation to contribute anything of this magnitude to our canon. If this is what's to come, I'm excited. Ron Franscell, another reviewer on this page, entirely misses the mark when he interprets the book as just another attempt at post-modernism. "Stop Breakin Down" possesses none of that flawed school's arrogant, self-reflexive doublespeak. This is something new, something far better. Already I want to read it again.

stop breakin down is a very interesting book that you will enjoy every minute of. the stories are intelligently written, and have a nice flow from page to page. this is a great book that you won't regret buying.

John Mcmanus is one of the freshest voices to that I have come across. His style is nothing short of engrossing. Mr. Mcmanus matches anything I have read in a long time for depth and vision, and these are just short stories. His narratives are bright and paint vivid images.

This book, in time, will come to be viewed as a masterpiece. An example of the intelligence of my generation, a generation that has unfairly been branded apathetic and idiotic by the mainstream. I say, maybe we are just understood. Finally, we have one of our peers to give our strange misadventures a voice.

Mr. McManus, I salute you! :)

I started reading Stop Breaking Down with some trepidation as I felt a personal connection to the author. What I found was a book more challenging than my average read but more rewarding for it.

The experiences related in the stories are mundane enough for you to imagine yourself in similar situations, but the intensity of feeling retains that voyeuristic appeal. I dont know anything about post modernism or its relative merits but I do know that the stories seemed alive and the characters at once your best friends and complete strangers.

Well done Mr McManus!

When I bought this book, I expected that it would be a formulaic book of short stories, most of which were written for writing classes or workshops. I was pleasantly surprised to find a book full of beautiful language, original stories, and a unique voice. John McManus experiments with language in a way that only a person who truly understands it could; he is not a novice. Some of the stories were so good, they could easily translate into novels. I can't wait until John McManus publishes a novel.

I first read John's work in Oxford American Magazine and had to have more. I hope he keeps writing and refining his style. Some of the stories were difficult for me to read as I don't relate to some references from his generation but I'm certain he will continue to adjust his craft and will be one of the outstanding and prize winning (not to meniton SOUTHERN) authors of his generation. I'm now an unofficial groupie clutching a first edition story book looking forward to a first novel! Keep up the great work young McManus!

I first read John's work in Oxford American Magazine and had to have more. I hope he keeps writing and refining his style. Some of the stories were difficult for me to read as I don't relate to some references from his generation but I'm certain he will continue to adjust his craft and will be one of the outstanding and prize winning (not to meniton SOUTHERN) authors of his generation. I'm now an unofficial groupie clutching a first edition story book looking forward to a first novel! Keep up the great work young McManus!

A lyrical collection of stories worthy of high praise.

In the headlong skid through John McManus's collection of stories, "Stop Breakin Down," there's an eerie sense of post-modern *deja vu,* as if Generation X is channeling the Beats. This debut doesn't herald a new voice as much as it heralds the discovery of an older voice by a new young writer, and the effect is mixed.

"Stop Breakin Down" is a difficult book to read. McManus, only 22, has made the beginning writer's mistake of elevating form over function. Perplexing, page-long paragraphs and minimal punctuation obscure his real narrative message and punch. His refusal to use quotation marks to separate dialogue from the rest of his prose is, in this case, an affectation that ultimately only confuses the reader.

A lot of bohemian ink has been spilled in the name of post-modern literature, some of it quite good, from Barth to Pynchon. But when straying from the linear, Grand Narrative style, "pomo" writers not only run the usual risk of bad writing, but the peculiar risk of being incoherent, too. McManus isn't incoherent, but he also has not exploited the pumping, streaming, raging rhythms of post-modern writing to their full effect.

What is the author's intent when he diverges from the conventions of literature? Who knows, and who cares? The text itself is the thing, and a reader should not dawdle about a writer's intentions. The story speaks for itself, or it doesn't. The hallmarks of post-modern work -- anarchy, radicalism, sarcasm and raw nerve -- sometimes provide the illusion of high art, but in literature, the real art is the message and it should at least be digestible and clear, no matter the style.