Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Tedious, September 11, 2006
Reading this book was as tedious as running a mile in chest-deep water. Comparisons to King and Proulx are ridiculous. King, at least, keeps his stories humming while Proulx's writing is minimalist brilliance. Harvey's story is waterlogged and interminable, leaking page-bloating, tangential backstories every ten pages and peopled with annoying, boring characters. As for his style, it's bloated, taxing and sodden, the occasional surreal touch nothwithstanding. (Sure, an albino shark barfing up a human head is startling, but it, like so much of this novel, is ultimately meaningless.) Every time his character, Miss Laracy, opens her toothless mouth (how many times do we need a description of her pink, shiny gums?) and chatters endlessly in her apostrophe-riddled, irksomely rendered Newfoundland dialect, I got so weary I could barely hold the book up in my hands. Worse, while Harvey's story is intrigueing enough to keep you reading, his climax and resolution are so uneventful and silly and, well, boring, that I actually tossed the book aside after (finally!) finishing the last page. Four hundred and seventy-one pages of over-plotted, over-written monotonous drivel. Pure tedium.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Author Who Almost Forgot How To Write . . ., September 9, 2006
I had great hopes for this book. The title was intriguing; the premise--- original. But I think the writer lost his way . . . about 3 quarters into the book.
The prose itself is wonderfully wrought and the images described are unforgettably vivid. Some standouts is the description of the child ghost: Jessica who haunted her mother and freely interacted with a living child. The fact that she was drowned figures greatly in how she is seen. And the writing is so crystal-clear that I could practically smell her . . . I imagined sea urchins, snails and rotting Sargasso seaweed. The scene where she manifested her deterioration in the sea after death was particularly dreadful! In a Classic Horror --- sort of way. (This is a compliment.)
Kenneth Harvey is gifted. For me, there is no doubt. His character development , most evident in characters who had the Sight: Tom Quilty, an artist savant, Miss Laracy and Robin--- was outstanding. And his attention to detail in the physical world in this book . . . is beyond the painful ability of most writers. His writing is just too beautiful for words.
But I think he couldn't figure out how to write the resolution of his tale? I am still puzzled as to the source of the villagers' illness. And how the illness affected their environment. I read how they appeared to be cured but it seemed incomplete somehow. It was unsatisfying. It felt as if the author was just trying to close the book. The big event at the end of the book just seemed contrived. A device to finish the story. A unruly knot to close the thread
I will read the writer's next book. In hope that his next tale's denouement will improve. Because the other elements of his writing skills are top-notch!! 3 and a Half Stars for allowing me the pleasure of reading this book at least 3 quarters of the way.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alienation and the Painful Loss of Family Connection, August 21, 2004
The Town That Forgot to Breathe is one of the most original and interesting novels that I have ever read. Our alienation from our roots, our families and ourselves is a common topic for modern novelists. However, few of them are able to take such a poignant and powerful route to capturing the pain of those problems. Mr. Harvey has written a book that virtually defies genre description. The best I can do is to call it a modern fantasy fable . . . with an undertone of horror. As the book developed, I often felt that I was in Stephen King's grip . . . but then a ray of love and light would penetrate the fog and uplift me. It's a startling use of contrasts that makes reading the book very engaging and intense. I found it hard to put down. The depressed fishing village of Bareneed, Newfoundland finds itself beset with all kinds of unexpected events. People in town suddenly find themselves becoming angry, thinking murderous thoughts and losing their ability to breathe. At the same time peculiar fish begin being found . . . with even more peculiar contents in their mouths. After that the sea begins to disgorge even more unusual contents. I love books with remarkable characters and this book has several of them. The one who will stay with you longest is an old woman, Miss Eileen Laracy, whose fiancas lost at sea when she was young. She's lived her whole life in the fishing town of Bareneed and never lost of child-like view of the world. Her eyesight is filled with beautiful auras around people, spirits and visions of what's coming next. Young Robin Blackwood will also intrigue you. She's the daughter of Joseph Blackwood (who's separated from her mother, Kim) who has brought her to Bareneed for a little vacation and to visit his great uncle. Robin soon finds herself also in contact with the spirit world. Tommy Quilty is a retarded man who knows more about love and values than everyone else in town combined. He is able to show the power of love to deal with our problems. Lieutenant-Commander French has an equal grasp of the scientific and the spirit worlds, and straddles them in helpful ways for the citizens of Bareneed. Doug Blackwood has been a fisherman all of his life and hews to the hard values of work and virtue. There are some other memorable characters I won't mention because describing them might spoil the story. The book is enlivened by remarkable local dialect captured in the dialogue that rings and sings in your mind as you read it. I found myself reading some of it aloud for the pure joy of the sounds. Don't read ahead to the end. You'll find yourself spoiling some nice surprises if you do.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
