Conocimiento común

Nombre legal: Gregory Stanley Kihn
Fecha de nacimiento: 1949-07-10
Género: male
Lugar de nacimiento: Baltimore, Maryland, USA

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Painted Black: A Novel (Dust Bin Bob, 2) por Greg Kihn

I've read--and mostly enjoyed--all of Kihn's previous novels. But this one, unfortunately, was an absolute chore. It's essentially a study in what lackluster editing can do to sink a novel.

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:

Omar St. Groovy and His Snake Stomping Review had a gig coming up over the weekend, and Bobby was excited about it. Tom Naylor had secured the gig at a coffeehouse in Timonium, Maryland, just past Towson, called Patches 15 below. Patches was a local TV personality and he and his wife, Liz, ran a wonderful basement coffeehouse, fifteen steps below the parking lot of a modest strip mall. The name Patches 15 Below referred to the amount of steps you had to descend to get in. It was fifteen steps below the parking lot.

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:

The minute Brian saw Anita, he could see deceit and betrayal in her eyes. He immediately accused her of what he was convinced had happened and which indeed was the sordid truth. Keith and Anita had been playing house the whole time he was gone. (Note: This is all tell)

Screaming at Anita, Brian described the scenario. (Note: Now Kihn is telling us what he's about to show us)

"As soon as I was gone, Keith made his move, didn't he? And he had his way with you, didn't he? You cheap little German slut! You had sex with him! Admit it! You sucked his dick! You spent every moment together, didn't you? Didn't you?"

Of course, Anita denied everything. Her ability to lie was quite sophisticated, and she could stick like glue to the flimsiest of plausibilities. (Tell, tell, tell)

The fight came to blows as most of their big arguments did. In the end, Brian relented and they drove on to Marrakech.(Really? He gets physically abusive with her and it's not even worth a couple of sentences to illustrate?)

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.

… (más)

Denunciada

TobinElliott | otra reseña | Sep 3, 2021 |

Rubber Soul: A Novel (Dust Bin Bob) por Greg Kihn

This one was a bit of a departure for Kihn and, at least to my mind, not quite as successful as his horror novels.

Yes, he has what seems to be an encyclopediac knowledge of not only the Beatles but all the bands that influenced them. For someone who doesn't necessarily know everything about the Beatles, this would likely increase the fun of the book. However, being a ridiculous Beatles nut myself, I found it more of a rehashing of a lot of things I already knew.

Can't blame that one on Kihn, though.

The major thing that bothered me about this book was that Kihn seemed to enter into the Jimmy Buffett area of plotting and characterization. That is, create a too-nice-and-too-morally-upstanding-to-be-true main character who's also a touch naive and awestruck by all the world has to offer. But they also seem to have just enough savvy to get by.

Then, once that's established, then go on to have them meet exactly the person they need to meet at exactly the right time so they can provide the exact thing that main character needs.

It happens over and over and over again in this book, and it becomes a touch irritating.

My other major quibble is the somewhat forced integration of certain Beatles lyrics into everyday dialogue. For a bit there, I kind of had a flashback to the horrible reading experience that was [b:Clockwork Angels|13592828|Clockwork Angels|Kevin J. Anderson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337657558s/13592828.jpg|19180940]. The good news is, Kihn didn't do it anywhere near as much.

Finally, certain plot points just seemed to come up and either get abandoned or, once it moved the plot in the right direction, forgotten. Dust Bin Bob is warned by Cricket's brother that she has been "troubled" in the past. It's brought up, then never mentioned again. And Cricket seems absolutely fine. Bob's father dies and everyone's sad...for about a paragraph until they head to London and all is right with the world again.

Overall, it just felt like there needed to actually be some conflict running through the book. One of the main rules of writing is to chase your protagonist up a tree and, once he's stranded there, throw rocks at him.

Instead, Kihn happily provides a catcher's mitt and a ladder every single time.

It was a disappointing read after the horror novels. Ah well, here's hoping [b:Painted Black|20977833|Painted Black (Dust Bin Bob #2)|Greg Kihn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1398034629s/20977833.jpg|40355111] will be better.… (más)

Denunciada

TobinElliott | 2 reseñas más. | Sep 3, 2021 |

Mojo Hand (Special Warfare) por Greg Kihn

I actually really enjoyed this book, for a bunch of reasons.

Kihn made the romance more subtle this time. He also eased up on the woo-woo preachy stuff that Beau was going through ten years earlier in the last book. He also tied this series, that started with [b:Horror Show|1352829|Horror Show|Greg Kihn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1182936624s/1352829.jpg|804472] and continued with [b:Big Rock Beat: A Wacky Zany Romp|818606|Big Rock Beat A Wacky Zany Romp|Greg Kihn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312053383s/818606.jpg|804470] with his second novel, [b:Shade of Pale|818607|Shade of Pale|Greg Kihn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387740344s/818607.jpg|804471] by bringing George Jones in for what amounts to a prequel to that novel. Then he brings in Robert friggin' Johnson and does him justice. As well as Keith Richards, sorry I mean Heath Pritchard, also one of his better characters. Then, he even manages to get a mention in of his own Greg Kihn Band.

Seriously, the only thing he was missing was Omar and the Apostles, the best thing from Big Rock Beat.

This novel, his fourth, hit exactly the right tone of fun and seriousness. It had a decently complex plot and some great characters.

Well done.… (más)

Denunciada

TobinElliott | Sep 3, 2021 |

Big Rock Beat: A Wacky Zany Romp (Special Warfare) por Greg Kihn

I enjoyed Horror Show, but I really enjoyed this one. Lots of old faces, some interesting new ones, and a plot with a lot more depth.

Kihn was obviously growing and improving as a storyteller by this, his third novel. He's never going to be a great writer, and he's never going to be a great horror writer, but his stories are fun.

I probably enjoyed the Impresser story point more than anything else in the novel. The Impresser was supposedly the Porsche Spyder that James Dean was driving when he died, though Kihn drops enough fun hints to make it, if not a brother to King's Christine, at least a cousin.

And Omar and the Apostles? As far as I'm concerned, they could be a book all on their own.

But some of the other stuff rang a bit flat. Beau meeting the ill-fated Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones felt forced. The whole Ramona subplot was far too new-agey for me. And El Diablo and his son, Johnny Immaculata? They just came across as all bluster, no substance.

Yet, for all of that, there's so much crammed into this novel's short 351 pages, there's something to be enjoyed by any reader.

My favourite of the Kihn novels, so far.
… (más)

Denunciada

TobinElliott | Sep 3, 2021 |

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