Book Utopia Mom’s Review of Last Gasp

[erastes]

What I love and respect about Book Utopia Mom’s reviews is that they are long, detailed and very balanced. If she doesn’t like something, she says exactly why—without having to resort to aren’t I clever and witty tactics—or flaming the author concerned.

She admits that there were things that she didn’t like with Last Gasp, and there was something she didn’t like in three out of four of the stories, but she appreciated the readability, the historical aspects and all-in-all, what the anthology set out to achieve. Which is pretty happy making for me, I have to say. She marked it as 39/50 which is high enough to please anyone, I’d say.  She also said that what she didn’t like in Tributary was the remote feel:

I found myself distanced from it emotionally. Both Guy and Louis left me cold, Guy especially. For me, his insouciance, the lack of focus that personifies both the time period and how he’s drifting along, translated into a sense of stagnation that sucked away any kinesis he might have had as a character.

But yes, that was deliberate. It’s 1936, and as the blurb says, “disaffected youth waits in the space between a war that destroyed a generation and a war that they know is inevitable.” (or some such) His very sang froid is … English.

BUT! she also said:

its single greatest strength rests in its attention to detail, the careful construction of 1936 Europe and the people struggling to find a place in it. It’s also one of the most readable of the collection, paced well and flowing smoothly.

Thank you Book Utopia Mom!

Comments

[tiggothy.livejournal.com]

Fabulous :-) You don't happen to know if there's an lj feed for her reviews? As mentioned before, I'm kind of useless at checking other blogs but since I added the feeds of jessewave's reviews and SiN I've really enjoyed reading all the reviews on them...

...long, detailed and very balanced sounds like a great review site.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I made you one

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/book_utopia/profile

[tiggothy.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! You are FANTABULOUS.
*squishes*

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

I'm reading bits of this (I have LG on a flash drive and hope to read ALL of it at the table, over the weekend) and I've got to tell you that the secondhand smoke from your characters is driving me up the wall. I know it's entirely appropriate--there were even claims that smoking was good for the lungs (!) but ye gods, it's irritating. Good writing!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Nod nod.

I don't know if you've seen "Mad Men" (where literally Everyone smokes, i'd love to see how the actors do it, or what they are actually smoking) but yes - it wasn't until the 50s that the warnings started to be publicised and not on the packs. back in the 30's it was considered to be good for you!

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

I haven't - and that's a big reason. I'm horribly allergic to something in cigarettes (there are something like 400 different additives that don't have to be named on the label). Pipe and even cigars--not a problem. And with both my parents dying of tobacco-related disease, I hate to see it on the screen, even in the name of accuracy.