Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Last Exit for the Lost... April 21, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The plot of this book is as thin as a butterfly wing, but that doesn't detract from how good it is. I think this book will only be dearly loved by those that feel anything in their own lives has mirrored those of the characters.
Twenty-something failures that didn't 'make it big' on all their old teenage dreams. Apparently Moody has basically disowned this book, which I feel sad about because I picked this book off the shelf by chance, and was mesmerised by the beautiful use of language in a story that has no real heroes. Just people trying to get on with their lives.
I've read this book 5 times now, because Moody's writing is almost poetic in his use of alliteration, simile and metaphor. If T S Eliot had written a book about burned out young adults in Hoboken New Jersey, I think it would have turned out a lot like this book.
 The first collection of Rick Moody's short stories. April 4, 2003
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven" is a precursor of Moody's later short story collection "Demonology" (2001)- personally I think the later collection is superior, but there is much here that is great. The 11 short pieces here were issued in this collection in 1995- following the success of Moody's second novel "The Ice Storm"; several of them had previously appeared in such publications as Esquire, Harper's & The Paris Review. The title story is more of a novella than a short story & is a work that should be enjoyed by anyone who has read Moody's debut work "Garden State". "The James Dean Garage Band" is another highlight- while the opening story "The Preliminary Notes" plays with form. Another highlight is the post-modern annotation "Primary Sources"- which stylistically was continued in both "Demonology" & "The Black Veil"- Hawthorne listed here shows the origin of the latter title. Here we see how Moody relates his personal life to literature& we get intrigueing comments on Angela Carter, The Feelies, 'A Lover's Discourse', Borges, Lester Bangs, StarTrekTNG, Denis Johnson's Angels, Arvo Part, Sebadoh & William Carlos Williams: I'd love a whole book like this (though I'm not sure anyone else would). This collection should appeal to anyone who has enjoyed Moody's novels Garden State, The Ice Storm & Purple America- the short story a great form where a lot of the longer works originate from. Worth a read- up there with short works from Denis Johnson, David Gates & Russell Banks.
Whinge along with the characters. It's fun! February 10, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This unprepossessing novel plunged me into a mid-20s crisis. How tragic and how common it is to lose your way, like these characters, and fail to live up to the potential your schoolteachers crowed about! How nice it is to wallow in self-pity and angst, fuelled by a narrative as elegant as Garden State!With a dense, poetic voice, and a plot that sort of boils up from within its New Jersey setting and then recedes again, this novel takes its time to settle into a rhythm, but is insidiously fascinating once it does. We don't expect much from any of these characters, and they don't seem to expect much from themselves either. The confessional tone established by Moody's foreword adds a nice sense of immediacy. Although it seems self-indulgent at first, with its emphasis on a set of characters who are miserable, bored, self-obsessed and self-destructive, it's an absorbing read, if you can relate their disenchantment to your own.
Great debut novel. September 12, 2002
3 out of 11 found this review helpful
I am very happy that 'Garden State' has been reissued in the wake of 'The Black Veil' and 'Demonology' that have added to Moody's profile since the adaptation of 'The Ice Storm'. The foreword regarding the books inception makes me want to go and buy 'The Good Earth' by The Feelies and makes me conclude that these kind of forewords are the best (see also the Bloomsbury edition of 'Last Exit to Brooklyn'). The world is not far (though without the unnecessary homicide) from films like 'Out of the Blue', 'River's Edge' & 'Suburbia'. I think it is a much better debut than 'Bright Lights, Big City' or 'Less Than Zero' - fans of those books would find a lot more here. I think anyone in the Western world can relate to those who suddenly lose it in their 20's- whether living with parents, continuing hedonism or experiencing mental health problems (oh, and drugs...) 'Garden State' is the best place to start with Moody, before proceeding with the short-story collections and 'The Ice Storm' (I found 'Purple America' quite hard work). It's great that it has been reissuedand with an ironic new cover to boot!
urban decay... and james dean. April 8, 2001
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
in this collection of short stories (and 1 novella) moody covers many topics, most often the claustrophobia of modern society, from the james dean garage band to the ring of brightest angels around heaven he knocks the reader out with each story, so finely constructed. moody has such an eye for detail he really connects with each character, especially in the novella. a very great read.
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