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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Something of a sophomore slump,
By
This review is from: The Third Brother: A Novel (Hardcover)
McDonell's first novel "Twelve" was effective because although it wasn't beautifully written (and it did have moments of this), the book's style served its purpose well. In other words, the shallow characters and short chapters helped us understand these disillusioned characters a bit better and weirdly enriched the book. Bret Easton Ellis did this (fast pacing, shallow characters) before McDonell in both "Less Than Zero" and "The Rules of Attraction", but McDonell made his book unique and exciting.
"The Third Brother" is certainly not difficult to read. It is not a tedious piece of modern "literary" fiction. It is written in much the same style as "Twelve." The problem with this is that given the characters and action of "The Third Brother," short chapters make no sense. McDonell needs to garner the confidence to let his characters have depth and complexity. He needs to allow for longer dialogues, scenes, and chapters. There is nothing inherently wrong with short chapters and basic characterizations in fiction, but 21st-century expatriate journalists and intelligent post-adolescents, as nihilistic or hedonistic as they may be, aren't best portrayed like this. As has been mentioned in reviews not on Amazon, McDonell's three-piece narrative is also weak and again smacks of a lack of confidence in his ability to maintain a good story. McDonell nonetheless has a lot of talent and the potential to do well -- or at least much, much better than this second effort.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great Gag Gift,
By Nerd Alert "Xon" (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Third Brother: A Novel (Hardcover)
My girlfriend bought this book for me for Christmas so I felt obligated to read it. After reading it I am seriously contemplating breaking up with her.
The only positive thing about the book is that it's a quick read, mainly because it is at a 7th grade reading level. Little Johnny might like this one while his mom is driving him to soccer practice. The story is weak and fragmented. There is no character development. You get the feeling the author is writing about situations that he has no clue about. For instance, the whole first part of the story takes place in Thailand where Mike is trying to hunt down one of his boss' old college buddies. Mike is supposed to infiltrate the backpacking, drug using scene around Thailand to find him. However, you get the feeling the author might've watched the travel channel once and thinks having a few Mountain Dew's is his idea of a wild time. Mike makes Thailand seem like Kansas in a feeble effort to spice things up. I have already wasted too much time writing about the book and I have not even said anything (much like the book). This book seems forced, Just stay away from it.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Just awful,
This review is from: The Third Brother: A Novel (Hardcover)
First off, I thought Twelve was a sensational novel and promised a great career for the author. But this? Not only was it not a novel, but it was barely even an idea. Poorly written, poorly paced and poorly edited. How did this get published??
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