Greg Kihn
Autore di Horror Show
Serie
Opere di Greg Kihn
Unkihntrolable 3 copie
Sounds Of The Eighties - 1983 1 copia
Opere correlate
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Nome legale
- Gregory Stanley Kihn
- Data di nascita
- 1949-07-10
- Sesso
- male
- Luogo di nascita
- Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Utenti
Recensioni
Premi e riconoscimenti
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 13
- Opere correlate
- 5
- Utenti
- 321
- PopolaritÃ
- #73,715
- Voto
- 3.5
- Recensioni
- 15
- ISBN
- 22
There's just so much wrong with the novel. From simple things like spelling mistakes (mostly notably, "it" for "in" on two different occasions) to broad narrative issues such as Brian Jones getting new girlfriends with absolutely no noted passage of time, or things like, "Tell me about this auction," when no auction had been mentioned up to that point. It's things like some using most of the blank tapes, then later that's switched to half. Or Cotchford Farms having a five-hundred acre wood, then later downgraded to a hundred-acre wood.
It's things like the fact that no character goes pale. They always go a "whiter shade of pale" just so the Procol Harum song can be referenced.
But it's deeper issues as well. Kihn, at least in this novel, can't seem to exercise any subtlety. The reader is beaten over the head with facts. Some are repeated, like each time the Monterey Festival is brought up, the reader is always given a long list of the performers, always ending with something like, "and, of course, The Who and Jimi Hendrix." Not once, not twice. Every time.
Or there's sections like:
Pop quiz: where did the "15" come from in the Patches 15 Below name? Yeah, I'm guessing you caught it. As well as the fact that it was a coffeehouse, seeing as how that was also brought up a couple of times in a couple of sentences.
If this was the only instance, that would be fine. But it's not. It happens constantly.
There's a writing rule that states, "show, don't tell" and it's a good one to follow most of the time. Kihn seems to ignore it far too much here, telling what should be shown, showing (boring little details the reader doesn't need) what should be told.
For example:
Stephen King once said something along the lines that movies tended to be mostly surface, and novels were all depth. An author can dig into their characters' psyches. Kihn never does this. This book is all surface. Dust Bin Bob is one of the primary characters and he's such a whiny wimp he's totally unlikable. As is Brian Jones. I think Kihn was going for tragic, but Jones came across as an asshole woman-beater. No one seemed to have any motivations beyond John Lennon asking them to help.
If this was a first novel, I'd be willing to cut it some slack, but this is Kihn's sixth, and he's also edited an anthology. And he's so much better than this. I've read everything he wrote.
So, back to my original thought. I truly believe that, had he had an editor who knew what he was doing, instead of (from all appearances), editing this book while watching TV or something, this could have been a book worth reading. Dump the unnecessary subplots. Tighten the writing. Show, don't tell. Fix the errors.
I won't mention anything about the horrid cover, other than, it's horrid.
But this? It has made me seriously consider whether I'd ever read another book by Kihn. It's too bad. I really enjoyed his earlier novels.
… (altro)