Official Review: Notes on The Bronx by Mark S. Greenberg

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revna01
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Official Review: Notes on The Bronx by Mark S. Greenberg

Post by revna01 »

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Notes on The Bronx" by Mark S. Greenberg.]
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2 out of 4 stars
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Notes on The Bronx is a work of fiction by Mark S. Greenberg. Hosting a collection of short stories and poetry, the book is broken into four segments, with each segment following the same structure: short poem, medium-length story, and longer story. The segments represent seasons, beginning with Summer. According to the “About the Book” notes, the storyline is modeled after The Four Seasons, a classical music composition by famed composer Antonio Vivaldi, where each season comprises a shorter complete work that fits seamlessly into the whole. As the title denotes, Bronx, NY is the overarching theme of this book.

The pieces in this book are connected in a way that is not immediately apparent, leaving the reader to decode the author’s cryptic intention. Certain themes seem to appear more than once, with photography and the Jewish culture being the most obvious examples. The author’s writing style is unique, showcasing an interesting assortment of sentence fragments and beautifully-depicted imagery with immaculate phrasing. At times, this conspicuous dichotomy left me scratching my head.

While I’m certain I did not decipher every hidden nuance the book had to offer, I did easily unearth frequent grammatical and punctuation errors. Although this did not greatly interfere with my ability to follow along, it certainly was distracting. Larger issues with flow were noticeable when the subject or speaker was not clearly identified. Occasionally a character would appear as though the reader ought to know them, but the introduction had never occurred. I felt largely that the stories were not interesting enough to earn a place in the short lineup of pieces in this book, and would have enjoyed better character development and more intriguing plots.

As a whole, I think the concept behind this book is tremendously clever. I love what the author has envisioned and feel it has great potential as a theme. I really enjoyed the poetry and feel that style of writing was the author’s forte in this work. There were a handful of simplistic black and white photos that made for a lovely addition. As I mentioned earlier, there were times when the writing was superbly crafted, seeped in vivid details and subtle plays on words.

As the reader, what I was really hoping to find was more engaging stories; something that would hold my attention. Additional editing is a must for this piece, and with the proper revisions, I feel this book could be a terrific read. In its current state, I can only offer 2 out of 4 stars.

******
Notes on The Bronx
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Post by kandscreeley »

I'm sorry that this story didn't meet your expectations. I love the way that it's organized, and it sounds like with a bit of work, it could be something really good and worthwhile! Thanks for the review. I'll wait for another edition.
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Post by nobunkum »

You said that stories left you wanting but were the poems enjoyable by themselves?
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Post by revna01 »

nobunkum wrote: 17 Apr 2018, 10:21 You said that stories left you wanting but were the poems enjoyable by themselves?
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! Yes, I enjoyed the poetry; my favorite piece was entitled To Mozart. There were only four poems and this one was the second longest.
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Post by revna01 »

kandscreeley wrote: 17 Apr 2018, 09:21 I'm sorry that this story didn't meet your expectations. I love the way that it's organized, and it sounds like with a bit of work, it could be something really good and worthwhile! Thanks for the review. I'll wait for another edition.
Thank you for reading and commenting!
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Post by Vickie Noel »

It's a pity it didn't quite turn out as expected. I loved your method of description: "... interesting assortment of sentence fragments and beautifully-depicted imagery with immaculate phrasing." Ordinarily, I'd have had my antennae high up for the book were it not for those other issues. I'll just have to hold on for a revision. Thanks for intimating us on this!
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Post by revna01 »

Vickie Noel wrote: 17 Apr 2018, 17:01 It's a pity it didn't quite turn out as expected. I loved your method of description: "... interesting assortment of sentence fragments and beautifully-depicted imagery with immaculate phrasing." Ordinarily, I'd have had my antennae high up for the book were it not for those other issues. I'll just have to hold on for a revision. Thanks for intimating us on this!
Thanks for stopping by with the lovely insights! Appreciate it :)
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Post by crediblereading2 »

Quite an interesting mix including poetry and images. Sorry about the shortfalls though.
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Post by revna01 »

crediblereading2 wrote: 17 Apr 2018, 23:46 Quite an interesting mix including poetry and images. Sorry about the shortfalls though.
Thank you for reading and for leaving a comment :)
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Post by Libs_Books »

There aren't many people who do well as poets and as novelists or short story writers, are there? I like the way you give credit to the over-arching concept, but I'll take your word on the overall level of merit.
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Post by revna01 »

Libs_Books wrote: 21 Apr 2018, 16:03 There aren't many people who do well as poets and as novelists or short story writers, are there? I like the way you give credit to the over-arching concept, but I'll take your word on the overall level of merit.
As always, I truly appreciate your taking the time to read and comment on my review. Cheers :)
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