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Reviewing on Amazon

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:October 25, 2004
Post category:Media Personal Reviews
Post comments:1 Comment

Thanks to my reviews on Amazon.com - where I'm currently ranked 8345, and climbing - I've been offered a free copy of Ernesto Quiñonez' new book, Chango's Fire by his publisher's marketing department. As Amazon has firmly established itself as THE online bookstore, it's reviews have become more and more influential, with some places even selling mailing lists for their Top 1000 Reviewers for marketing efforts! I was kind of surprised at the offer as my review of his first novel, Bodega Dreams, wasn't exactly glowing and Publisher's Weekly's review of Chango suggests it has many of the same flaws.…

Breakfast of Champions, Running with Scissors

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:September 28, 2004
Post category:Reviews
Post comments:2 Comments

Days like this, I want to be at home, relaxing in bed with a good book. I'm currently reading Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, one of the most subversively whacked-out books I've ever come across. In the midst of seemingly random observations he unexpectedly drops cynical nuggets of truth: Viet Nam was a country where America was trying to make people stop being communists by dropping things on them from airplanes. The chemicals he mentioned were intended to kill all the foliage, so it would be harder for communists to hide from airplanes. And: That was the main reason the…

The Village: Better Than the Reviews

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:September 3, 2004
Post category:Pop Culture Reviews
Post comments:4 Comments

The Village, much-maligned for not living up to M. Night Shyamalan's media-manufactured reputation for shocking twists, was actually a pretty good movie when judged on its own merits. An interesting, well-told story - not quite the allegory of a post-9/11 world some critics have suggested - it features what is arguably one of the most amazing debut performances by a young actress in Bryce Dallas Howard. There is no way in the world Kirsten Dunst, the original actress cast in the role, could have handled the part as the movie would have sunk on her frail, one-note shoulders. The twists,…

I, Robot vs. Spider-Man 2

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:July 18, 2004
Post category:Pop Culture Reviews
Post comments:5 Comments

I, Robot didn't just whomp Spider-Man 2 at the box office this weekend, it also beat it out in my overall opinion of the two.

Crawfish Dreams, Venom’s Taste

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:June 9, 2004
Post category:Reviews
Post comments:0 Comments

I love randomly discovering new [to me] writers, especially when they're not well-known bestseller list types. That whole underdog thing. I finished Crawfish Dreams last week and am happy to say that Nancy Rawles is a remarkable talent! She weaves an intricate tale of a family of Creoles living in mid-80's Los Angeles into a delicious literary gumbo. Pretty Miss Camille Broussard is the roux, a strong base around which her family, the Watts "riots," and the dark side of Reaganomics all come to vibrant life. Her children, in particular, are so finely detailed that you want to smack them…

Set This House in Order

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 28, 2004
Post category:Personal Reviews
Post comments:1 Comment

Finished Matt Ruff’s Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls yesterday. Absolutely amazing! He’s one of a handful of writers I want to BE.

A description of the plot would be inadequate because his work is so layered and full of texture that it wouldn’t do it justice. Kind of like explaining procreation in clinical terms. Suffice to say that his ability to convey a multitude of distinctive characters has never been stronger than in this twist on a coming-of-age tale of two people with multiple personality disorders. Each personality, or “soul” as he calls them, is as sharply drawn as any of the major characters in Fool on the Hill or Sewer, Gas & Electric: THE PUBLIC WORKS TRILOGY, and the way he presents life inside their heads is nothing short of brilliant.

That the story takes place in the real world, as opposed to the hyper-realistic fantasy settings of his first two books, is a testament to his versatility and a body blow to the idea that “fantasy” and “literary” are two separate genres.

The lives of Andy Gage and Penny Driver, the protagonists of House, will stick with me for a long time.

Up next: Crawfish Dreams, by Nancy Rawles, another random-while-browsing discovery. One chapter in and I’m liking her style.

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Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 3, 2004
Post category:Reviews
Post comments:0 Comments

Fun with Merriam-Webster. con-tra-vene : The feeling that life is moving too slow and your kids are growing up too fast. sur-re-al-is-tic: Your mother telling your wife about finding the lingerie catalogs you used to hoard as a teenager, believing it's true but not really remembering it happening. stul-ti-fy: Between louderARTS and Urbana's combined 17 finals slots for 2004, there's only 14 people filling them; 8 of those have been on at least one national team, including several championships. ad-um-brate: "On the eve of the rollout of the new commercials, Mr. Kerry flew home to Massachusetts on Sunday for a…