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Title: Sweet Land Stories by E. L. Doctorow ISBN: 1-4000-6204-7 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 01 May, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: All Surface and No Depth
Comment: One of my favorite books is E.L. Doctorow's RAGTIME, so I really expected to love SWEET LAND STORIES. Instead of loving them, I was extremely disappointed.
While the stories in SWEET LAND STORIES are well written, they're all trite and clichéd. They're mildly entertaining, but not one of them offers us a fresh insight or original look at the world and the characterization is both stock and paper-thin. There's not one character, male or female, who's is truly believable.
The plots are just as thin as the characters. They are so sketchy, they read more like outlines than actual stories and they're all cliché. Every one of these stories represents material we've seen done before and done quite a bit better as well.
Another thing I found disappointing about SWEET LAND STORIES was the fact that they are almost entirely narrative. Doctorow certainly has the ability to create convincing characters and dialogue, to give us stories with complex themes and a fresh look at old problems. As I read the stories in SWEET LAND STORIES, I had to ask myself over and over: What happened?
The stories contained in SWEET LAND STORIES are quintessential American stories and the characters are quintessential Americans, but in a bad way. Doctorow seems intent on hitting the reader over the head again and again with the fact that America is a "sweet land" and that his very flawed characters have the ability, in America, at least, of moving on, of transforming themselves, of reinventing their lives. I might have believed it had the characters and the stories had any depth, but as it is, they're so shallow I simply couldn't buy their ability to do much at all.
Sadly, the stories in SWEET LAND STORIES are all surface and no depth. SWEET LAND STORIES is an extremely disappointing collection from one of America's premier authors. Recommended only for those who want to keep up on everything Doctorow writes.
Rating: 5
Summary: Short stories that are a cut above the rest.
Comment: I first became acquainted with the marvelous short stories of E.L. Doctorow while reading the 2002 Best American Short Stories anthology; in fact, the first story, "The House on the Plains" included there is also in SWEET LAND STORIES. I often read short stories and Doctorow is easily one of my favorite authors of this genre. His short stories never fail to entertain and amuse me to the last sentence. While short stories from other authors often leave me with a flustered feeling his stories are always delicious and pleasurable.
The common denominator between the stories in SWEET LAND STORIES is a unique relationship with the land that they live on and travel through. Often these characters are restlessly traveling from one state to another to get away from the past and start anew.
The reason why I didn't give this book a higher rating is because it only contained five stories. It merely sharpened my appetite for more of E.L. Doctorow. SWEET LAND STORIES is much too thin to satisfy its serious fans, but I'll take what I can get in hopes of him publishing more in the near future. 4.5 stars. Recommended.
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Title: Truth & Beauty : A Friendship by Ann Patchett ISBN: 0060572140 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 11 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Death Match by Lincoln Child ISBN: 0385506708 Publisher: Doubleday Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Little Black Book of Stories by A. S. Byatt ISBN: 1400041775 Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: Old School by Tobias Wolff ISBN: 0375401466 Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Nothing Lost by John Gregory Dunne ISBN: 1400041430 Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Pub. Date: 01 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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