gabsalott13's reviews
403 reviews

While I will admit that this book was extremely long (as is somewhat the style of Joyce Carol Oates), it was worth the 2 weeks it took me to finish this. I really felt that the footnotes (like in The Women by T.C. Boyle) brought the narrator to life, and in this case added a much-needed relief to what otherwise would have been unbelievably long. I loved Skyler's narrative but felt that the progression was rushed; by the time of the conclusion I kept forgetting that the long-standing mystery of the had been solved. It was, however, fulfilling for Skyler to know that he really didn't do it (though I hardly noticed he felt this way until after he'd discovered the true murderer). Besides this, I found it to be a greatly written and extremely fascinating novel. Any recommendations for the next book from her?

You will enjoy this book tremendously if you are a Yankee in the South. You'll find a lot of parallels between Odessa and your community. Not only will it help you believe there are still some sane people (somewhere over the Mason-Dixon) in the world, but you will find Friday Night Lights much more believable than strict Northerners or the more biased Southern folk. I'd still encourage it for all people.

I just can't get enough of J.C. Oates. Perhaps I'm biased?

I read this book looking to find something similar to The Women, which it was not. I think I prefer Boyle's period pieces, partially because he's older, I found it easier when he writes an aging Frank Lloyd Wright as his protagonist than a 33-year-old deaf woman. This troubled me throughout reading. That said, I really did like this book. T.C. Boyle is a MASTER of description, and I love the sense of belonging to the story it creates for me. This description, of course, makes his books seem tediously long. Talk Talk was the first book I finished on my Kindle, and after the half mark, I was literally counting down the percentage at the bottom of the screen until I was finished. I don't even think it was truly that lengthy, it just started to feel that way. I can say I HATED the antagonist(s), Peck (and Natalia), in this book. If this was Boyle's intention, right on. I literally wanted to throw up at parts due to how judgmental and conceited both of them were. Dude, none of it was your money! Also, grown men who bully lesser people are amongst my least favorite types of humans. I think the villains (still not sure if Natalia, who really didn't do anything but sip from her illegitimately-earned silver spoon, was a villain. Isn't slothfulness one of the seven deadly sins or something, though?) are really developed, but almost too much so? Really, when are the identity thieves ever true people with such vibrant pulses? I guess in Talk Talk we see that they're all scumbags with first-class lives and crummy motives.