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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
59 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another literate, thoughtful page-turner,
By Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Talk Talk (Hardcover)
With TALK TALK, his eleventh novel, T.C. Boyle has constructed another literate, thoughtful page-turner. The protagonist is Dana Halter, an independent, feisty, attractive woman in her early 30s. She teaches school, enjoys an occasional evening out at loud nightclubs, and has a younger boyfriend named Bridger Martin who adores her. In short, she's a normal, responsible young woman who also happens to be profoundly deaf. The problem is that apparently there's another Dana Halter out there, as she discovers when she's arrested after running a stop sign. This other Dana Halter passes bad checks in multiple states with her driver's license number, her social security number. And this Dana Halter has skipped bail twice. So despite Bridger's best efforts, Dana spends a humiliating, uncomfortable weekend in the San Roque county jail."Dana Halter" is only one of the identities that the antagonist Peck Wilson has collected in the years since he was released from prison in New York State. As the book opens, Peck lives as Dr. Dana Halter in a Marin County waterfront condo furnished with nothing but the best for his kitchen (he's a very gourmet sociopath) and his bed (a Russian beauty named Natalia.) He is an old hand at identity theft and manages them carefully, wringing them almost dry before moving on and covering his tracks. When the real Dana is finally released from jail, she finds that the authorities aren't overly concerned with prosecuting this so-called victimless crime. It's up to her and Bridger to retrieve her impounded car and field phone calls from irate creditors. But Bridger acquires the thief's cell phone number from one such creditor and makes contact. Peck, wanting to cut his losses, informs the wary Natalia that his name is not Dana after all, and trades in her BMW Z4 on a wine-colored Mercedes S500 for their escape from town. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse, Jetta vs. Mercedes chase across the continent that culminates in a final showdown of sorts at a train station in Peck's hometown of Peterskill, New York. The plot packs a wallop matched by Boyle's inventive language and multi-faceted, believable characters. Dana's "handicap" has made her tough and stubborn; we see the tremendous effort it takes to make herself understood, and how frustrated she gets when she can't. Bridger has learned to sign and she reads lips, but under the fatigue and uncertainty they face, sometimes communication between them breaks down. The thief, Peck, wears his sense of entitlement as naturally and easily as his Italian suits, and in the long stretches of narrative from his point of view, we are equally fascinated and repulsed by his absolute disregard for anyone but himself. Natalia, who he thinks he loves, is really just another fine possession, more complicated than a car perhaps, but manageable by charming lies or threatening fury. T.C. Boyle is in fine fettle here. He can linger on a character's momentary interior state for a page and a half without boring us, because he can also cover a few days effectively in a single paragraph. Boyle's cleverness makes us smile. "At the impound yard --- CASH OR CREDIT ONLY NO CHECKS --- they waited in line for twenty minutes while the people in front of them put on a demonstration of the limits and varieties of hominid rage." And his incisive similes keep us firmly in a character's head. Here is Peck in an ecstatic mood: "Then it was back down what had to be one of the most scenic highways in the world, the road sliced right out of the side of the mountain like a long abdominal suture holding the two pieces together, and the view had never seemed so exotic to him, sailboats on the river like clean white napkins on a big blue tablecloth, the light portioning out the sky in pillars of fire." TALK TALK succeeds because it ponders the mysteries of identity and communication while seducing the reader with that most primal of motives: revenge. Will Dana have it, and if she does, what will it cost her? Or will the wily Peck slip under the radar once again? --- Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kafkaesque Tale about Identity Theft,
By
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This review is from: Talk Talk (Hardcover)
First of all, let me say that I am a huge fan of T.C. Boyle. This book did not disappoint, and was a real page-turner to boot.Summary, no spoilers: Dana Halter is a 33 year old deaf woman who teaches at a school for the deaf. One day, on her way to a dental appointment, Dana drives through a stop sign. She is stopped by the police, and she finds out that the officer thinks she has warrants out for her arrest. She is a victim of identity theft. The man who stole her identity is named Peck Wilson, and he is a violent con man who has been living high off the hog off of Dana and a few others. The book follows Dana and her boyfriend Bridger Martin, as they attempt to find Peck Wilson, both to reestablish Dana's good name and make sure this doesn't happen again - and also to seek revenge on him for the havoc and misery he has caused. This is real page turner, and I can tell you because I was a criminal attorney that the arrest/jail/courtoom scenes described in the beginning of the book are spot on. Getting arrested on a Friday is a Bad Thing - especially if it's all been a terrible mistake. This book was quick paced and lives up to Boyle's high standards. It is also a very frightening book - because we all realize how we could end up like Dana Halter, and have our own lives turned upside down because of the greed and avarice of someone who would steal our identity. And the book shows us how easily that can be done. Frightening. Highly recommended.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Talk about Talk Talk...,
By Lynn Barry (Hume, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Talk Talk (Hardcover)
I had the privilege of listening to TC Boyle read the first chapter of Talk Talk at the Barnes and Noble in Lincoln Center on July 10th, and it is the day after my day of reading Talk Talk... Now that I have slept on it I still marvel at TC Boyle's imagination that often seems unlike any others and the carefully orchestrated (even if grown organically) design of each of his creations. His imagination literally pieces together bits of data and observations after pondering a topic. TC Boyle shared with event goers how he 'worries about everything all the time,' and it appears that he might just worry about all kinds of people in all kinds of conditions impaired, sociopathic, aliens, split family members, hard working people who get ripped off... the list seems endless as evidenced in his empathy towards all the characters in Talk Talk. I was drawn to Bridger because he fell for Dana without realizing she was deaf and remained faithfully by her side throughout this tale. This character for me stays true to his name, bridging two worlds with a solid foundation. Similar to a junior high kid, Peck is hellbent on trying on everyone else's identity, in effect stealing the most precious thing we all have...ourselves. In my mind Dana is not the main character, but a supporting cast member to the meat of the story...our senses and how they define who we are at times. Talk...is communication, whether it be oral, or body language Taste...is subjective Hearing...is not always with our ears Seeing...with our eyes and our minds Touch...a brush up against someone can communicate (Talk Talk) volumes
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