Review of De La Sole
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[i][Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "De La Sole" by Lisa Dempsey.][/i] [rwc=id493544-125]4 out of 4 stars.[/rwc]De La Sole is, to quote the book cover, ‘a story about the right people, the wrong reasons and some shoes.’ That’s as good a summary of Lisa Dempsey’s short novel as you’ll find. The reference to ‘la sole’ in the title is another indication that shoes feature prominently in this book.
The story opens with the meeting of four friends for after-work drinks. There’s cute Jane, streetwise Trish, hunky Marc, and lovelorn Tim. Tim is in love with Jane but hasn’t told her. He simply stalks her instead. Actually, he claims to be more of a lurker than a stalker. When they meet for drinks, Jane is agitated. Having been left alone in the apartment of her latest date, Doug, she has just discovered something about him which worries her: he has a pile of jazzy shoes under his bed and pairs of parachute pants in his closet. Doug, it appears, has a bad case of jazzymysymous. Added to the fact that his name indicates that he’s a past-tense verb (dug), that spells trouble. So much trouble, indeed, that the four friends find themselves caught up with a bunch of gangsters with names like Fat Lou, Skinny Phil, and Johnny Soft. Are they part of the verb gang or the jazzy shoe mob? It’s hard to tell; things have been complicated since the Great Bologna War. Will Jane and Doug remain a couple? Will Tim quit lurking and finally do something? Will they all end up wearing Capezio shoes and parachute pants? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
After reading one or two chapters of this book, I was convinced that it was going to be a mainstream romantic comedy. At some point, however, the story takes a sharp turn and becomes markedly more offbeat. My first reaction to this was one of irritation at having my expectations upended. The further I got into the book, the more I enjoyed it. While it retains some vestiges of the romantic comedy genre, it is much more than that. It satirizes in-group and out-group relationships while, at the same time, parodying every wise guy movie or book you’ve ever encountered. The dialogue is fast, furious, and witty.
There wasn’t anything I disliked about the book once I’d got over my initial surprise at the direction it was taking. It is beautifully written, exceptionally well-edited, and strikingly funny at times. It’s also very clever. Is it funny? Humour is a very individual thing, but I don’t think there’ll be too many fence-sitters with this novel. Readers will either find the whole absurdist vibe of the plot hugely entertaining, or they’ll throw the book down in exasperation at how silly it all is. I found myself grinning broadly at some of the dialogue sequences.
I am awarding this book 4 out of 4 stars. It’s aimed at adults, as there is some salty language scattered through it. That aside, I don’t think there’s anything here that should offend anyone’s religious beliefs. I’d recommend it to those with a slightly offbeat sense of humor who like to find the unexpected and the slightly surreal in their reading material. If you’re more mainstream in your tastes, this may not be the book for you. ****** [i]De La Sole [/i] View: [url=http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=493544]on Bookshelves[/url] | on Amazon
The story opens with the meeting of four friends for after-work drinks. There’s cute Jane, streetwise Trish, hunky Marc, and lovelorn Tim. Tim is in love with Jane but hasn’t told her. He simply stalks her instead. Actually, he claims to be more of a lurker than a stalker. When they meet for drinks, Jane is agitated. Having been left alone in the apartment of her latest date, Doug, she has just discovered something about him which worries her: he has a pile of jazzy shoes under his bed and pairs of parachute pants in his closet. Doug, it appears, has a bad case of jazzymysymous. Added to the fact that his name indicates that he’s a past-tense verb (dug), that spells trouble. So much trouble, indeed, that the four friends find themselves caught up with a bunch of gangsters with names like Fat Lou, Skinny Phil, and Johnny Soft. Are they part of the verb gang or the jazzy shoe mob? It’s hard to tell; things have been complicated since the Great Bologna War. Will Jane and Doug remain a couple? Will Tim quit lurking and finally do something? Will they all end up wearing Capezio shoes and parachute pants? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
After reading one or two chapters of this book, I was convinced that it was going to be a mainstream romantic comedy. At some point, however, the story takes a sharp turn and becomes markedly more offbeat. My first reaction to this was one of irritation at having my expectations upended. The further I got into the book, the more I enjoyed it. While it retains some vestiges of the romantic comedy genre, it is much more than that. It satirizes in-group and out-group relationships while, at the same time, parodying every wise guy movie or book you’ve ever encountered. The dialogue is fast, furious, and witty.
There wasn’t anything I disliked about the book once I’d got over my initial surprise at the direction it was taking. It is beautifully written, exceptionally well-edited, and strikingly funny at times. It’s also very clever. Is it funny? Humour is a very individual thing, but I don’t think there’ll be too many fence-sitters with this novel. Readers will either find the whole absurdist vibe of the plot hugely entertaining, or they’ll throw the book down in exasperation at how silly it all is. I found myself grinning broadly at some of the dialogue sequences.
I am awarding this book 4 out of 4 stars. It’s aimed at adults, as there is some salty language scattered through it. That aside, I don’t think there’s anything here that should offend anyone’s religious beliefs. I’d recommend it to those with a slightly offbeat sense of humor who like to find the unexpected and the slightly surreal in their reading material. If you’re more mainstream in your tastes, this may not be the book for you. ****** [i]De La Sole [/i] View: [url=http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=493544]on Bookshelves[/url] | on Amazon
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