Excellent for 90% of the novel. Disappointing end. ( )

Well, I'm on a Jonathan Lethem jag...probably the last reader on the planet to read him and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Verdict so far: despite the brilliant first image of the two girls at sunset, the first 100 pages kind of go nowhere. And the writing isn't that great either in that: characters are predictable and I had this creepy feeling that the author looked at a lot of postcards or old movies and took stuff from there. I mean, I read it all before, somewhere else, where it was fresher. It is very second-hand. And this stuff about "race-relations" is kind of old. I mean, we've moved past black-white and we're into shades of yellow and brown. Maybe if he moved out of Brooklyn the author would figure this out. I don't like to be so negative, but when something is so highly recommended, it has to fullfil a big order.

Found it hard to get into, but certain parts of the book I really liked. I admired the writing style, but also found it tedious in parts as the book was longer then it needed to be. But for some reason, I feel it is a book I wouldn't mind reading again in the future. ( )

I had a hard time starting this book, so much so that after I got about a hundred pages into it, I put it down and didn't touch it for 4 months. However, I am glad that I finally decided to finish it as the story did pick up after those initial hundred pages. The story center's around Dylan, the lone white kid on his block in Brooklyn during the 1970's. The book focuses on Dylan as he first tries to become invisible to avoid daily bullying and then as he tries to but physical distance between himself and Brooklyn by going to high school in Manhattan and college out of state. The story particulairly revolves around Dylan's friendship with Mingus Rude. Where Dylan tried to hide from the neighbourhood to protect himself, Mingus becomes part of the streets in order to build a reputation that not only will protect him but allow him to protect Dylan. I'll admit that some parts of the book were great and engaging while others seemed to drag, but I'm glad I finally read the book and I feel like it is one that I will remember for quite sometime. ( )

Argh!