Steve Tesich (1942–1996)

There's two reasons this book is not underrated. The first person narrator and protagonaist is a profoundly unlikeable, irrational, self-sabotaging emotional cripple. Now, I know that doesn't mean it couldn't be a good book, but the trouble is that the writing is just not good enough to get us on board with him. Compare Saul Karoo with Nabakov's Humbert Humbert and clearly Nabakov's character is much more morally repugnant. However, he still manages to charm and woo the reader far more than Saul Karoo ever does. That's because although there are passages of wit, the writing in this novel doesn't have the sizzle and relentless brilliance of Lolita. The descriptions meander, the action is less than crisp and the same point is laboured too often.

The second reason is that at some point the author loses faith in the power of his irony and drops it, so that the second half of the book becomes too earnest and suffers for it. It's a mistake that Julian Barnes or Martin Amis would never make.

This could be a very good three hundred page book, but it's too long and the author doesn't have the technical ability to realise his ideas.… (más)

"he would have to live out his days with the knowledge that he had no future"

"his story line goes from the epic genre to the tragic and from the tragic to the tragicomic, until it finally settles down to farce. Whatever journey he had been on is over."

Astonishing, jarring, completely unfiltered writing. The unspoken thoughts spoken. The unbearable realizations realized. The impossible confessions confessed. An extraordinary odyssey that hurtles into the void. What is our pain when we understand that our dreams will never be realized? How acute is our suffering when we acknowledge that our time has run out? What do we do when we have days to live with no future to live them in?
A brilliant novel that will stay with you for an eternity.
… (más)