Review of Tales of the Seventies
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Review of Tales of the Seventies
[Following is a volunteer review of "Tales of the Seventies" by David Done.]
If you think there’s nothing more confusing than this world we live in today, then pick up a copy of Tales of the Seventies by David Done. It will go round for round, pound for pound. I can’t talk about every story in this review, but I will dive into a few, which I think exemplify the rampant issues with this collection.
The book opens with Point to Point After, a story about a bookseller, Zhen, who recounts the memories of his life with his dying wife. The conclusion is sudden, sad and violent. There is a third character in the present moment, who, according to the narrator, alternates between boy and young man. The contradictions do not end there. Zhen is also depicted as a man with what could be construed as a split personality. For example, “When [Zhen] entered the room, everyone made way and let him pass. Even so, he was quiet and unassuming…” or “Zhen walks out from behind the counter, his movements are quick and agile.” (Also if you noticed, these two passages are written in different tenses. Done frequently switches tenses within paragraphs, which makes the prose jagged. This happens throughout the book.) The only other explanation for Zhen’s world bending movements and tense shifts could be that the omniscient narrator is unreliable and simultaneously exists in parallel universes. Ironically, if this technique were to be used regularly, it would produce a tale that I could trace to no other period than the hazy days of the 1970s.
Blind San Franciscans is about Don who founds a charity for the blind and sells tickets for an annual variety show via telephone. He employs a group of people that he refers to as the “disenfranchised” and “the hangers on!” The story splits into two as Don takes a new young female employee under his wing, while two of his regular employees begin to suspect the legitimacy of their boss’ charity. Nothing really happens in this story, which is aptly explained by the fact that if I give one more sentence of summary, the story would be spoiled. My favorite line in this whole collection is when the two suspicious employees take a bus across the city and at one point, they watch “the dock areas roll by.” I don’t think Done intends for the characters to view the world tumbling around like clothes in a washing machine, but it’s hilarious nonetheless.
Mack the Knife ties with The Short Life of Terrence McAkers, for weakest story in the collection. They both rely on the crudity of violence and sex for their structures. The former is about Mack, a physically deficient man with a voice that never dropped. He summarizes his life with lines like “In his travels he searched for acceptance and as he grew older he found it.” The latter story is about a tough guy, Terry, who goes on a drunk rampage, raping women and beating people up. Nothing else to add.
The novella at the end, Yesteryears Snows, is made up of scenes from the life of a schizophrenic. This is the only story of the collection that at least partially works for me. The disjointed scenes were appropriately jarring and to a point believable. I think Done is yearning to write this novella and the previous stories are just warm-ups to this trippy, sad, story. The length of the novella allows Done to develop his character more than previous stories, but he still struggles with the same problems. Something I found extremely inappropriate was that when the author describes the basis for this novella in the book’s introduction, he uses an exclamation point at the end of a sentence describing the street scene of his friend's suicide. Done lets sensationalism take charge in what is actually a decent story structure with the first consistent character of his book.
These stories are about insecure twenty and thirty-something men resorting to sex and violence to fuel their lives. The stories are so unbelievable that the reader could not possibly be transported anywhere. Only the narrator is escaping. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. Also, the grammar is atrocious as can be seen in the examples provided throughout this review. 1 out of 4 stars.
******
Tales of the Seventies
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
If you think there’s nothing more confusing than this world we live in today, then pick up a copy of Tales of the Seventies by David Done. It will go round for round, pound for pound. I can’t talk about every story in this review, but I will dive into a few, which I think exemplify the rampant issues with this collection.
The book opens with Point to Point After, a story about a bookseller, Zhen, who recounts the memories of his life with his dying wife. The conclusion is sudden, sad and violent. There is a third character in the present moment, who, according to the narrator, alternates between boy and young man. The contradictions do not end there. Zhen is also depicted as a man with what could be construed as a split personality. For example, “When [Zhen] entered the room, everyone made way and let him pass. Even so, he was quiet and unassuming…” or “Zhen walks out from behind the counter, his movements are quick and agile.” (Also if you noticed, these two passages are written in different tenses. Done frequently switches tenses within paragraphs, which makes the prose jagged. This happens throughout the book.) The only other explanation for Zhen’s world bending movements and tense shifts could be that the omniscient narrator is unreliable and simultaneously exists in parallel universes. Ironically, if this technique were to be used regularly, it would produce a tale that I could trace to no other period than the hazy days of the 1970s.
Blind San Franciscans is about Don who founds a charity for the blind and sells tickets for an annual variety show via telephone. He employs a group of people that he refers to as the “disenfranchised” and “the hangers on!” The story splits into two as Don takes a new young female employee under his wing, while two of his regular employees begin to suspect the legitimacy of their boss’ charity. Nothing really happens in this story, which is aptly explained by the fact that if I give one more sentence of summary, the story would be spoiled. My favorite line in this whole collection is when the two suspicious employees take a bus across the city and at one point, they watch “the dock areas roll by.” I don’t think Done intends for the characters to view the world tumbling around like clothes in a washing machine, but it’s hilarious nonetheless.
Mack the Knife ties with The Short Life of Terrence McAkers, for weakest story in the collection. They both rely on the crudity of violence and sex for their structures. The former is about Mack, a physically deficient man with a voice that never dropped. He summarizes his life with lines like “In his travels he searched for acceptance and as he grew older he found it.” The latter story is about a tough guy, Terry, who goes on a drunk rampage, raping women and beating people up. Nothing else to add.
The novella at the end, Yesteryears Snows, is made up of scenes from the life of a schizophrenic. This is the only story of the collection that at least partially works for me. The disjointed scenes were appropriately jarring and to a point believable. I think Done is yearning to write this novella and the previous stories are just warm-ups to this trippy, sad, story. The length of the novella allows Done to develop his character more than previous stories, but he still struggles with the same problems. Something I found extremely inappropriate was that when the author describes the basis for this novella in the book’s introduction, he uses an exclamation point at the end of a sentence describing the street scene of his friend's suicide. Done lets sensationalism take charge in what is actually a decent story structure with the first consistent character of his book.
These stories are about insecure twenty and thirty-something men resorting to sex and violence to fuel their lives. The stories are so unbelievable that the reader could not possibly be transported anywhere. Only the narrator is escaping. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. Also, the grammar is atrocious as can be seen in the examples provided throughout this review. 1 out of 4 stars.
******
Tales of the Seventies
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: There's a Rooster in My Bathroom! by Trish Ostroski
