I started out liking Beautiful Children by Charles Bock. It is a novel set in Las Vegas and begins with a missing boy. From the publisher:
"In this masterly debut novel, Charles Bock mixes incandescent prose with devious humor to capture Las Vegas with unprecedented scope and nuance and to provide a glimpse into a microcosm of modern America. Beautiful Children is an odyssey of heartache and redemption–heralding the arrival of a major new writer."
At times Bock's writing is almost beautiful - most of the time it is tedious. It verges on pseudo-philosophical and there are scenes that have actually turned my stomach. I was excited to read a book based in Vegas - with Vegas as a character - but I have been sorely disappointed. It seems only the dirty, seedy side of Vegas is of any interest to Bock. Missing children, pregnant runaways, porno, strippers, pawnshops, and drugs surround a family that is falling apart.
I don't mind dark books, or mysteries and thrillers where bad things happen. But I don't like books that seem to try to shock me with each new chapter. As I progress I think, "Maybe he is getting at something with this .... I'll just trudge through this and get back to the plot ..." Alas, something disturbing is happening in Vegas with every turn of the page.
NOT recommended.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment