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Loading... Chinese Takeout: A Novel (edition 2003)by Arthur Nersesian
Work InformationChinese Takeout: A Novel by Arthur Nersesian
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Love this guy ( ) I do not see why I should give a gnat's fart about anyone of the characters in this novel except possibly Lynn. I certainly don't see why I should give a gnat's fart about the protagonist. Orloff Trenchant is petty, jealous, obsessive, violent, possibly talented, and not someone I would ever care to interact with. Lynn is focused, ambitious, and self-aware. Exactly why is Or the hero? The story which emerges in the last, oh, twenty pages, the one about Rita's terminal illness and her belief that heroin extended her life, that is an interesting story. That could be an interesting novel about self-delusion and family and illness, but no, we got the story about a straight white able-bodied man and the pain he goes through when women do not appreciate him as he deserves. :( I’m beginning to learn that the books my husband really likes and really wants me to read are usually books I really dislike. Here’s another example. A screwed-up artist, wandering without purpose in New York City, falls for a heroin addict who takes what little money he has for drugs and then ODs. My husband likes the books about the helpless women and the men who fruitlessly try to to take care of them. This author makes some particularly egregious (to me) writing mistakes, and his detailed rendition of his narrator’s every move, from dim sum to selling books to painting pictures, gets a little tiring. Not bad...mind you, editing is dead. It's dead! He spelled author Henry Green's name with an 'e' like Graham Greene and said 'lockets of hair'. No see, a locket is a pendant. Word.net confirms this: The noun locket has one meaning: Meaning #1: a small ornamental case; usually contains a picture or a lock of hair and is worn on a necklace Ed Iting is dead. Mr. Ed is dead. Mrs. Iting is a widder. Back to Nersesian. The book concerns an Armenian artist named Orloff Trenchant (changed from Tanzarian), who lives with his fiancee, June, also an artist. He suspects she's having an affair with a rich art dealer, so he destroys some of her paintings and winds up living in his van. He then becomes obsessed with a junkie named Rita. The story is mainly concerned with how hard it is to succeed in the New York art scene, how poor he is, and what makes or inspires good art/ good artists. He makes a meager living selling used books he buys in thrift stores and at library sales at a table on W. 4th St. The character of the junkie, Rita, is very well done. She's a rich debutante and art history student fallen to prostitution to get her fixes. The ending seemed like it ought to be trite. I knew exactly where he was going and I was saying, no, please, do something surprising, and he did exactly what I thought he would do, but it didn't seem trite when he did it. I didn't feel cheated in the end, so, not great, but a good read, especially if you're interested in art, New York, drugs, prostitution or swimming. no reviews | add a review
From the author of the cult classic The Fuck-Up comes a vicious new tale of art, drugs, love, and death on the Lower East Side. Orloff Trenchant is a painter who sells books on West 4th Street in Manhattan and is obsessed with mastering his craft. Desperate for cash, Or agrees to take a commission no one else will touch: he has three weeks to carve a headstone for a recently deceased restaurateur -- a Chinese takeout box. As Or attempts to make his deadline, he navigates among a toxic mix of fellow artists, struggling gallery owners, bloodsucking art dealers, his politically active friends, and a haunting addict poet whose life is more out of control than Or's own. Nersesian's prose is sparkling and hypnotic in this brutal and comic story that will make you wonder if life and art are two different things. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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