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Title: Already Dead: A California Gothic by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0-06-092909-X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.43 (37 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Another work of excellence by a master of surrealist fiction
Comment: I, too, am bewildered, and more than a little amused, by the dismissive (and ultimately insubstantial) negative comments of other readers. How can one read this book and not be impressed? Agreed, this was not Johnson's best work, but it should be obvious to any thoughtful reader that this is a gifted writer, and that this novel--like each of Johnson's in its own way--is unique and thought-provoking and, yes, compelling. Those who are "bored" with this novel should probably not tax their poor brain cells too much. For them, a little friendly advice: Stick to Grisham or Clancy. "Already Dead" is neither "Jesus' Son" nor "Angels" nor "Fiskadoro"--but then, asking him to repeatedly crank out more of the same is a little like complaining that Dylan refuses to keep re-writing "Like a Rolling Stone." Johnson takes huge risks with each outing and obviously intentionally avoids the mainstream--and admittedly this novel is not perfect. But it undoubtedly ranks among the top five or six literary works of 1997-98. An excellent work: simultaneously funny, bizarre, stunning, off-beat, and hallucinatory--in other words, typical Johnson.
Rating: 4
Summary: Fantastic poetry
Comment: Not as intriguing as his short stories or even his poetry, but it still is an amazing book, nonetheless. Denis Johnson is an amazingly gifted poet, and this book is the epitome of "a novel written by a poet." The book starts out fairly conventionally, and has the reader hoping for a gothic look at the underbelly of Northern California (where I suspect he has spent little time). But it's not too long before you realize that things are going to get a bit screwy.
Demons, possession, channeling are all normal here, and Johnson tries to pull off a story that can combine such fantastical themes with the reality of everyday life in a rural background. He doesn't do that so well. While some of the New Age and demonic passages are truly inspired, most just take away from the amazing language and ideas that Johnson creates throughout the text.
"Already Dead" is not equipped with an engrossing plot or developed characters (who knows which demon is really in possession of which character anyway?) The novel's plot is pretty much wrapped up in the first 200 pages or so. But Johnson can do remarkable things with words, and this novel is certainly evident of that. I know that I'll be ridiculed for doing so, but I kinda look at the book as an extended prose poem (I know that the story is based on a song or poem by someone.) And despite the fact that I knew what was going to happen (or what had already happened?), it kept me involved and left me truly breathless.
All in all, a inimitable look into the creative imagination and skill of one of today's best poets.
Rating: 3
Summary: Reads like a first draft
Comment: Everything characteristic of Johnson is here - the poetic style, the originality, the brilliantly and efficiently sketched characters, the eccentric and engaging themes, the vision of transcendence - but it's just not a polished work. It's extremely long, meandering and often losing the thread of the plot; disturbed by meaningless shifts in the method of narration (from first to third person to retrospective documents), marred by far too much stream-of-consciousness rambling, such as a series of letters written by a lunatic which hold no interest at all; the characterization, also, doesn't feel concrete, and the most important characters (Van Ness in particular) have a weak presence in the narrative, and their motiviations are often unclear, while minor characters recieve huge amounts of attention and then are suddenly forgotten. The themes also seem a bit too overt at times, and Johnson verges on self-satire, in one episode in particular which bears a suspicious and unflattering resemblance to his earlier 'Angels,' and in another passage which annoyed me unreasonably, where he makes referrence to a specific album by the Violent Femmes, which seemed entirely personal and unrelatable.
I'd always wondered why his other novels were extremely short. This would explain it.
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Title: Angels: A Novel by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0060988827 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0060976098 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Jesus' Son: Stories by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0060975776 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 December, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Seek : Reports from the Edges of America & Beyond by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0060930470 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 19 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Resuscitation of a Hanged Man by Denis Johnson ISBN: 0060934662 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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