Review of Same As It Never Was: A Novel (Paperback)

I admit, I picked this one thinking it would be a fun piece of chick lit fluff (nothing wrong with that, right?) Instead I was surprised to find myself genuinely moved by Olivia's story as she's suddenly forced to grow up fast. It's fascinating to watch Olivia change from being a self absorbed and shallow brat, to accepting her responsibility towards her orphaned little sister Celia, and growing to love Celia despite herself. There are plenty of laugh out loud scenes (for example, Olivia's obnoxiousness in her English Lit class), but just as many tender moments, such as Olivia watching Celia on the playground and thinking how cute she is, then realizing she never would have had that thought a few months ago.

My one gripe with the novel, bringing my rating down to four stars instead of five, is the lack of any real exploration of Olivia's feelings about her father's death. It is established that they weren't close; even so, realistically she would have experienced *some* grief. A perfect set up for this - Olivia discovering that her father had kept and used an ugly paperweight she made for him as a small child - was basically glossed over, and the subject never came up again. That flaw aside, this was a wonderful and touching read.



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Review of The Dart League King: A Novel (Paperback)

I always find myself more critical of books I simply pull off the shelf in the bookstore.It's as if they owe me more for their being picked at random, as if their cover were false advertising if they don't sing in my hands.It was with this in mind that I was first skeptical of The Dart League King.Morris' premise is all well and good:small-town guy Russell Harmon lays his self worth on his performance in one dart match with a former dart champion.

But then came the clichés.Russell snorts cocaine on the first page, and reveals his debt to a small-time drug dealer by the third.He lives in his mother's basement and can't hold a steady job.His ex-girlfriend walks into the bar, and Russell repeatedly compares her breasts to grapefruits.By the end of the first chapter I was ready to see if I could return the book to Barnes & Noble, get my money back.

I read on, however, and got hooked.Dart League King is a thriller wearing the bulky overcoat of literary fiction, and once you get past Morris' need to overwrite, it's an entertaining read.The intersections between his characters--one an anal-retentive DEA agent, the next a lovingly psychotic drug dealer--are real and well rendered.

Two elements of the novel left me unsettled long after I put the book down.The first is a gratuitous subplot about a recent college grad embarking on a career as a serial killer.The second is Morris' seeming inability to convincingly write female characters.Beyond the attractive young woman at the bar (she sleeps with two characters in the course of the novel), the only other women here are an all-but-faceless drowning victim and a sexless shrew of a wife.If Morris can write complex and interesting male characters, he ought to give the reader a bit more with his female ones.

All in all, I am glad I picked Dart League King off the shelf.I recommend you do as well, though I can't guarantee you won't suffer some buyer's remorse.




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