Sunstroke [Import] [Hardcover]

Jesse Kellerman (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons (2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316731943
• ISBN-13: 978-0316731942
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,826,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jesse Kellerman is the author of three previous novels, The Genius, Trouble, and Sunstroke. His plays have also won several awards, including the 2003 Princess Grace Award, given to America's most promising young playwright. He lives in California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A unique style, February 2, 2006

By 

Brian Baker (Santa Clarita, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sunstroke (Hardcover)

I've read the previous reviews, which were interesting themselves in seeing different readers' takes on this book. It's slammed or lauded on its merits as a "thriller" in many cases.

I don't think this book falls into that genre. It seems to me to be more like the noir novels of the early fifties in many respects. It's certainly a character study of the lead protagonist (Gloria), and is quite effective as such. Much of the novel takes place in a fictional (I assume) location in Mexico known as Aguas Vivas and its environs, and is very effectively drawn as a haunting and deserted landscape whose few denizens are memorable characters. Think "Bad Day at Black Rock", or "Treasure of the Sierra Madre".

This isn't a classic whodunnit, though there are elements of that, and the search for the truth of the disappearance of her boss (Carl) certainly animates Gloria's quest.

But this novel is hard to pigeonhole. It's very stylistic. The dialogue is sometimes very sharp, often witty, yet sometimes vague; reflective of how real conversations between strangers often transpire. But you really need to keep in mind that this book is character-driven, as opposed to plot-driven.

There is a mystery here that is solved by the end of the book, but the pacing is leisurely yet still engaging because of the sharply drawn characters and settings.

This book may not be for everyone. I enjoyed it, and I think Kellerman shows some real promise.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Trying too hard..., March 1, 2007

By 

K. Laar "Kathy" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sunstroke (Hardcover)

I, like many of the other reviewers, had high hopes when I bought this book. Ultimately it felt contrived. As though he wanted to use every idea he ever had for a clever turn of phrase in one book. Sometimes I could only roll my eyes as I was reading some of the metaphors. I didn't care about Gloria. In the end her character didn't make sense anymore and I was just glad I had finished reading the book so that I could read another perhaps more interesting and satisfying one.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, inept, awkward and dull, January 19, 2006

By 

William Lenderking (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sunstroke (Hardcover)

Jesse Kellerman's debut novel has been hypd excessively, but it simply doesn't deliver. The characters are dull and uninteresting; all the secondary characters, such as policemen, clerks, waitresses, officials, and ordinary people, are described the same way and portrayed as mendacious oafs, lazy, greedy and corrupt. Attempts at humor or insight are flat and dull. The writing strives to be fresh but is merely forced and klunky. ("They looked gutted, as though they'd been forced to chase a pile of laxatives with Drano martinis." p. 144) It gets tiresome, especially because the main characters plod their way through an unoriginal plot, full of pages and pages of droning flashbacks and tired narrative. The book desperately needs some sharp editing; editors are credited but they were asleep on the job. The length could be reduced by half without any loss and possibly some gain.

Overall, the story reads as though it came fresh out of a creative writing class, with the writer trying to press all the right buttons but unable to say anything fresh or original. Mr. Kellerman certainly has promise, but let him learn his craft better before inflicting another overblown "thriller" on the public.