The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye [Import] [Paperback]

Jonathan Lethem (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Faber and Faber (December 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571225802
• ISBN-13: 978-0571225804
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,374,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jonathan Lethem was born in New York and attended Bennington College.

He is the author of seven novels including Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, which was named Novel of the Year by Esquire and won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Salon Book Award, as well as the Macallan Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger.

He has also written two short story collections, a novella and a collection of essays, edited The Vintage Book of Amnesia, guest-edited The Year's Best Music Writing 2002, and was the founding fiction editor of Fence magazine.

His writings have appeared in the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, McSweeney's and many other periodicals.

He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing, yet flawed., October 5, 1997

By 

Andrew S. Cruse "andrew2" (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye: Stories (Hardcover)

Jonathan Lethem is one of the best authors in the science fiction genre at making things bizarre and psychedelic seem utterly convincing and plausible.

The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye continues in that vein. Each story is set in a carefully crafted world that stretches the mind and defies the imagination. When reading a Lethem story one is almost forced into the position of simply absorbing the language for later digestion as his prose is at the same time lush and full of ideas as well as it is sparse as far as plot devices go.

This is the downfall of the stories in this volume. Of them, only Vanilla Dunk, and the Happy Man have truly conclusive endings, and the latter's ending is obvious right from the start. The rest of the stories simply trail off ambiguously or end rather abrubtly. In either case the stories fail to reach a satisfying conclusion. It feels as if Lethem has these wonderful stories, full of likeable characters and fascinating ideas, but that he doesn't know what to do with the worlds he creates, with his ideas and his characters. They seem to be incomplete.

Overall, however, it is impossible to deny the joy to be had in these stories. In spite of their shortcomings they remain highly well written...tidbits. To call them stories is perhaps stretching the definition of the word a bit since stories generally are brought to reasonable conclusion. But, as tidbits, or story fragments perhaps they serve well to show of Lethem's prowess at characterization and world building.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Huge Creative Range, but Not Always Satisfactory Execution, June 20, 2005

By 

Lukas Jackson (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye (Paperback)

You never know what to expect from Lethem. Compare the terse, stripped-down language of "Gun, With Occasional Music" with his hyperverbose description in "Fortress of Solitude." The man is a literary chameleon, a ventroliquist of strange new voices.

Of what I've read so far, my favorite two Lethem stories are "Mood Bender" from The Best of Crank! anthology and "The Happy Man" from this one. Like what other reviewers have said, the rest is a mixed bag. Most are interesting, and might show the beginnings of Lethem's literary aspirations, as they are more vignettes than traditional stories ("Light and the Sufferer," about crackheads shadowed by strange mute aliens, is the best of these). Frequently, I found myself impressed by the ideas far more than the stories themselves.

But the collection is definitely worth reading, especially for fans of Philip K. Dick looking for something new in SF. I enjoyed them much more than his more recent novels, where he takes a nose-dive into big-L "Literature," with its endless description and dearth of plot.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating ideas, but one true jewel..., January 30, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Moultrie, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye: Stories (Hardcover)

There's one way to describe Lethem's writing: inventive. Reminiscent of Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick at their best, Lethem's stories are some of the most creative works of fiction you'll ever read. Unfortunately, "creativity" doesn't always equal "entertaining." While none of the stories in this book will bore you, some of them are kind of pointless. You'll get done reading them, and you'll be like, that's it? There is one story in here that's worth the price of the book alone, though: Vanilla Dunk. If you are a sports fan, buy this book, ignore the other stories, and read this one. It's about a futuristic basketball league in which players can have the skills and playing abilities of all the great players of history. It's one of the best sports stories I've ever read. Outstanding. I could pass on the other stories, though.