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Don DeLillo's reputation rests on a series of large-canvas novels, in which he's proven to be the foremost diagnostician of our national psyche. In The Body Artist, however, he sacrifices breadth for depth, narrowing his focus to a single life, a single death. The protagonist is Lauren Hartke, who we see sharing breakfast with her husband, Rey, in the opening pages. This 18-page sequence is a tour de force (albeit a less showy one than the author's initial salvo in Underworld)--an intricate, funny notation of Lauren's consciousness as she pours cereal, peers out the window, and makes idle chat. Rey, alas, will proceed directly from the breakfast table to the home of his former wife, where he'll unceremoniously blow his brains out.
What follows is one of the strangest ghost stories since The Turn of the Screw. And like James's tale, it seems to partake of at least seven kinds of ambiguity, leaving the reader to sort out its riddles. Returning to their summer rental after Rey's funeral, Lauren discovers a strange stowaway living in a spare room: an inarticulate young man, perhaps retarded, who may have been there for weeks. His very presence is hard for her to pin down: "There was something elusive in his aspect, moment to moment, a thinning of physical address." Yet soon this mysterious figure begins to speak in Rey's voice, and her own, playing back entire conversations from the days preceding the suicide. Has Lauren's husband been reincarnated? Or is the man simply an eavesdropping idiot savant, reproducing sentences he'd heard earlier from his concealment?
DeLillo refuses any definitive answer. Instead he lets Lauren steep in her grief and growing puzzlement, and speculates in his own voice about this apparent intersection of past and present, life and death. At times his rhetoric gets away from him, an odd thing for such a superbly controlled writer. "How could such a surplus of vulnerability find itself alone in the world?" he asks, sounding as though he's discussing a sick puppy. And Lauren's performances--for she is the body artist of the title--sound pretty awful, the kind of thing Artaud might have cooked up for an aerobics class. Still, when DeLillo reins in the abstractions and bears down, the results are heartbreaking:
Why shouldn't the death of a person you love bring you into lurid ruin? You don't know how to love the ones you love until they disappear abruptly. Then you understand how thinly distanced from their suffering, how sparing of self you often were, only rarely unguarded of heart, working your networks of give-and-take.
At this stage of his career, a thin book is an adventure for DeLillo. So is his willingness to risk sentimentality, to immerse us in personal rather than national traumas. For all its flaws, then, The Body Artist is a real, raw accomplishment, and a reminder that bigger, even for so capacious an imagination as DeLillo's, isn't always better. --James Marcus
Book Description
For thirty years, since the publication of his first novel, Americana, Don DeLillo has lived in the skin of our times. He has found a voice for the forgotten souls who haunt the fringes of our culture and for its larger-than-life, real-life figures. His language is defiantly, radiantly American.
Now, to a new century, he has brought The Body Artist. In this spare, seductive novel, he inhabits the muted world of Lauren Hartke, an artist whose work defies the limits of the body. Lauren is living on a lonely coast in a rambling rented house, where she encounters a strange, ageless man, a man with uncanny knowledge of her own life. Together they begin a journey into the wilderness of time -- time, love, and human perception. The Body Artist is a haunting, beautiful, and profoundly moving novel from one of the finest writers of our time.
Download Description
Thrice-married film director Rey Robles informs Lauren, his much younger wife, that he's going for a drive -- and proceeds to travel all the way from the New England coast to the Manhattan apartment of his first wife, where he shoots himself. Now Lauren is left alone...or perhaps not, as she welcomes a stranger into the house -- an eerie, gifted individual she calls "Mr. Tuttle". This odd man, who often speaks in Rey's voice or Lauren's, and who knows both intimate moments of their past life and things that haven't yet happened, seems to defy time and to deepen the mystery of human perception. This is Don DeLillo's stunning exploration of the idiosyncrasies that simultaneously isolate and bind us, as he enters the essential space of human encounter.
Customer Reviews:
Difficult to like.......2007-07-10
The Body Artist is a very thin story written in dense, wandering thoughts. DeLillo's craftsmanship with prose is a redeemable quality, but due to my lack of interest in the characters or plot, it won't linger.
Depressing Garbage.......2007-06-13
How a book could be both pretentious in style and so vague in its purpose is beyond me. I'd never recommend this title to anyone except those whom I wish to be distracted with absolute "nothingness" for an hour. Cutting-edge nonsense.
with all that reputation ..........2007-05-05
Don Delillo's reputation as one of our best novelists inspired me to buy this book. I had labored through the massive _Underworld_ and approached the brief _The Body Artist_ with optimism. But I cannot remember ever being more completely, hopelessly bored. After fifty pages I began praying for a faucet to drip or for paint to flake -- ANYTHING! to give me an excuse to quit reading. Finally, when the book's mysterious stranger showed up, I gave myself a good pep-talk: "Now, Tim, Mr. Delillo's forte is postmodern risk, breaking narrative, a tight focus on details, and tatters of speech. Stick with it! It will -- somehow! -- reward you!" Then, five pages and one hour later, I awoke and decided to scrape some paint.
Grief...Where does one go from here?.......2007-03-20
Husband dies. Woman grieves. Grief takes her places she never imagined she'd go. Delillo explores the intricacies of the grieving mind, what things it might imagine, believe, and act on in the face of overwhelming sorrow. Where does one go from here?
-- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens
A bit disjointed, but enjoyable.......2007-02-12
This is only the second piece of work I've read by DeLillo, the first being The Day Room, which is a play, not a novel like The Body Artist. I might even call it a short story, rather than a novel. Or maybe even a fairy tale. I'm not really sure what it is.
The Body Artist is the story of a woman, a "body artist" (this term is used for the main character, who is a performance artist, and her skill is to apparently morph her body into different people), whose husband dies leaving her in a general malaise, until she stumbles upon a strange man in her house who has the ability to perfectly mimic other people's speech and movements, but has no personality of his own. That's pretty much the plot. There's not much else to it.
The majority of the book is devoted to. What? he thought, writing the review. He wondered if he had gotten the full meaning of the book, sitting at a table. The book open before him. Reading. It had seemed pretentious at the time. But maybe it is just different. Deeper. Or is calling something too deep to comprehend just a way to avoid comprehending it?
I do recognize some moving elements in this novel, and there were ideas behind the work itself that are very interesting and do bring up considerations about how much we really know about ourselves, but honestly this book is a little slow because of the lack of plot. That doesn't make it hard to read because the sentences are very short and choppy, and the book itself only 124 pages. If you like conclusive endings, you probably won't like this book.
If you like disjointed modern storytelling, without a specific beginning, middle, or end, and without a true sense of the writer's purpose, DeLillo is the writer for you.
Customer Reviews:
Kevin Taylor -- An Artists Progression.......2005-11-29
Kevin Taylor has been in the comic and graphic art industry for over a decade, and before you sits the latest collection of sketches and full blown works of art from his hands to your eyes.
Mr. Taylor draws the human form in a unique and wonderful way. His work spans the well known characters of his own imagination to the beautiful and bountiful characters of our own reality. He has a vision and style all his own that has evolved from the start, and gets better every year.
In this book you'll see works of love, art for his fans, and his own spare time musings. Black and white sketches and full page color paintings await your veiwing pleasure. Every piece has a story only the wiley smiles of his girls can tell.
If you are a fan of busty babes of every genre lusciously rendered, don't hesitate to purchase this book.
Average customer rating:
- Another one for the keeper shelves.....
- Can't wait to read the next one!
- A nice light-hearted read
- Great Vacation Read
- Enjoyable!
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Squeeze Play
Kate Angell
Manufacturer: Leisure
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
General | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0505526670 |
Book Description
SQUEEZE PLAY is the first in a steamy new series of romances featuring a hunky baseball team and the sirens who challenge the players in the game of love.
Customer Reviews:
Another one for the keeper shelves............2007-05-27
The sleepy town of Frostproof, Florida, is about to be shaken up when players from the Richmond Rogues, winners of the World Series, visit. Hometown hero Risk Kincaid wants to show Jacy Grayson that he can be more than her rebound lover. Fellow Rogues teammate, Zen Driscoll, is merely along for the ride until he meets Frostproof native, Stevie Cole. Unfortunately, Stevie is still pining for her childhood sweetheart and hotshot Tampa Bay Bombers pitcher, Aaron Grayson. But is Aaron still the man Stevie fell in love with? And will Risk have the courage to tell Jacy just how special she is to him before the summer ends?
Kate Angell has set the standard for sports-themed romances! SQUEEZE PLAY and the sequel, CURVEBALL, demonstrate just how well a romance can be intertwined with the sporting world. Baseball has never seemed so sexy or entertaining as it is in the hands of the gifted Kate Angell. But whether one is a fan of baseball or not, SQUEEZE PLAY can be enjoyed as the characters are simply so much fun!
Kate Angell has a definite gift at creating memorable and quirky characters. Jacy's unique style shines through each page and her open and caring attitude make her an endearing character. And who can't help but love Stevie and her seemingly limitless knowledge of useless baseball trivia? In fact, the only character I struggled with liking was Natalie, and thankfully her role was minor.
SQUEEZE PLAY is yet another hit from the talented Kate Angell as she brings the town of Frostproof and its inhabitants, both temporary and permanent, to life. As the first book in a trilogy, SQUEEZE PLAY sets the stage for CURVEBALL but it is by no means necessary to read these books in order. Kate Angell ensures that each book is a stand alone and the story is complete in and of itself. SQUEEZE PLAY is easily recommended as this delightful tale has definitely found its place on my keeper shelves!
COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES
Can't wait to read the next one!.......2006-10-31
This is a great book. It was like reading two stories in one. It's characters center around professional baseball players that are known as the Bat Pack. The world series is over and they return to Risks hometown for a charity ball game.
Risk and Jacy have been friends forever. Back in High school he helped mend her broken heart. They made a deal then and he has been picking up the pieces ever since. They are rebound lovers. When one needs the other to pick up the pieces of a bad relationship they call and have rebound sex.
Both the characters are completely besotted with eachother but are afraid to do anything that might ruin an already good thing. They are best friends.
Stevie has been in love with Aaron forever. The whole town knows it. So when he comes home with a fiancee, not only is she hurt, but she's hurt in front of the town.
Zen is another pro ball player that comes to town with Risk. He see's what Aaron did to Stevie and tries to be there for her. He's fascinated by the baseball trivia queen.
There are so many wonderful characters in this book. There are so many laugh out loud moments. There are also some moments that will make you teary. It's a very well written book. With clever characters and dialogue. It's fast paced and hard to put down. You'll be as anxious as I am for the next book on the bat pack.
A nice light-hearted read.......2006-08-13
A nice, quirky contemporary romance. Squeeze Play is a good light-read...and I don't mean that in a negative way. It's just a good book when you want something that's light-hearted, funny, and romantic...not something that's an emotionally wrenching and getting-through-tragedy type of deal.
I really enjoyed the characters (most of them). Jacy was great. I loved how quirky she was and how she went her own way. She and Risk were a nice match. The supporting cast was great too. I like Stevie and Zen, and the Bat Pack - those guys (the Bat Pack) cracked me up. They were a great addition to the book. I could have done without Aaron, and definitely without Natalie, but I suppose the were necessary to the book. As for the romance, Angell played it out nicely. Having Risk and Jacy have to spend weeks together without being able to have sex was a great way to strengthen the bond between them. The secondary romance with Stevie and Zen was nice as well.
Squeeze Play was a good read If you like light-hearted romance, you'll like this one.
Great Vacation Read.......2006-08-06
Squeeze Play is fun, flirty, sexy. Coffee store owner, Jacy Grayson, is whimsical and free-spirited and the perfect match for hottie center fielder, Risk Kincaid. Visit Frostproof, Florida and enjoy the romance, banter, Stevie and Zen, along with the Bat Pack - who I hope to see more of in Angell's series.
Enjoyable!.......2006-07-24
Angell pens a hot summer read. Readers will fall in love with rebound lovers, Risk and Jacy, as they seek a life-long commitment. Nice small town setting. Fun banter. Sizzling sex. Stevie and Zen compliment the story. Aaron and Natalie should be arrested! (read the book and you'll understand). Definitely recommended. Reads in similar tone to Rachel Gibson, Deirdre Martin, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
Book Description
Here for the first time in one volume are Hugh Kelsey's four outstanding books on squeeze play—Simple Squeezes, Strip-Squeezes, Double Squeezes, and Triple Squeezes. Each title is complete in itself and by the time the fourth book has been mastered, a formidable amount of knowledge will have been acquired. The ability to execute an effective squeeze play lifts a player's game to an exciting new level—all would-be improvers need to read this book.
Customer Reviews:
piracy.......2007-09-03
Clyde Elton Love was my grandfather. In 1987 my mother, (his daughter), Marian Love MacAlpin renewed all copyrights to his books. Dover publications pirated the copyright to this book, and as my mother is dead and my family cannot afford pressing suit, this publication is actually illegal. Happy as I am to see Grandfather's books still in demand, I am saddened that Dover, with its "good" reputation, stooped to such an action. Dover hides behind the quality of the books they publish.
Excellent declarer play for intermediate/expert players.......2006-07-26
If you read this book thouroghly it will improve your game tremendously. The bidding in it is antiquated and it is written as a very dense textbook, but the declarer play is incredible. Love describes in detail all the different kinds of squeezes and how to execute them. He has detailed examples for you to work through, and then problems for you to try on your own before looking at the answers. His coverage of strip squeezes was a bit confusing, but he covers simple, double, and compound squeezes wonderfully (he covers more exotic squeezes, too). However, I wish he had discussed defending against squeeze plays more (it was only mentioned briefly). This book is not for the beginner or casual player, but it's fantastic if you're serious about bridge.
The Bible of Squeezes.......2006-05-23
This is by far the best. Not for beginners. You won't need all of its chapters in your daily play, but if you do know how to deal with every board presented in this book, then you are likely to win the bermuda bowl.
This book will explain all types of squeezes, from the most simple ones to the worst and most complicated. You may be confused with the terminology, but I guarantee that reading this book will make you THINK, and EXECUTE your opponents!
THE textbook on squeeze play.......2002-10-07
This isn't the sort of book you pick up for 10 minutes before bed... it's the sort that you read at a desk with a pad and paper to take notes with! If you're willing to put the time and effort into a serious reading of this book, however, you will learn a tremendous amount.
If you're looking for an accessible, casual introduction to the subject, look elsewhere (I highly recommend David Bird's _Bridge Squeezes for Everyone_). It's also not suitable for beginning players. This is a book for serious study but is well worth the effort.
Review by an non-expert bridge player.......2001-08-09
Absolutely fantastic book on squeezes! The book gives a fairly complete survey all types of squeezes and explains the background and particular structure of each type. It does not just give a lot of diagrams and shows that a squeeze of some type exists. Instead it provides a very clear description of all conditions and the reasoning behind 'the cards should be played in this particular order'. I especially love the chapters on double compound squeezes!
Average customer rating:
- A Great Baseball Novel...And More!
- Unbe-bleeping-lievable!
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Squeeze Play: A Novel
Jane Leavy
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Sports | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0060567740
Release Date: 2003-08-14 |
Book Description
Inspired by the author's career as a sportswriter for the Washington Post, Squeeze Play tells the story of female reporter A. B. Berkowitz, who is assigned to cover the men of the Washington Senators -- the worst team in major league baseball. Life in the locker room shows her not just the players'…um…assets but also their all-too-human frailties. Love for the game and love for the newspaper business are the stars in this hilarious and heartbreaking novel that "will have you singing a rousing chorus of 'Take Me Out to the Locker Room'"(People).
Customer Reviews:
A Great Baseball Novel...And More!.......2003-12-20
Most baseball fans with an interest in the game's history will remember that for the first 70 years of the twentieth century, the nation's capitol was represented by two American League clubs known as the Washington Senators. (Their moments of glory were few. The famous cry was: "Washington. First in War, First in Peace and Last in the American League.) But what about the third Senators franchise, born in 1989? You don't remember them? That's because, sadly, they only existed in the imagination of Jane Leavy and between the covers of this book.
"Squeeze Play" is a wild, bawdy, funny, true-to-life account of life in a big league clubhouse and in the sports department of a daily newspaper. Leavy, a former sportswriter and more recently the biographer of Sandy Koufax, draws on her own experiences, a passionate love of the game and a wild imagination to create one of the most entertaining baseball novels I've ever read.
I suppose I should add a cautionary note: "Squeeze Play" is not for the prudish. Sex and crude behavior are often on display (just as they are in the real world.) The book is told in the form of a diary of the Senators' first season, as chronicled by Leavy's alter-ego, A.B. Berkowitz. Berkowitz, who grew up worshipping Yankee Joey Proud (a fictional re-creation of Mickey Mantle) is about to find out if her love of the game will withstand close daily exposure to it...in particular, as practiced by this group of has-beens and never-weres. The team starts out the season challenging the record for most losses to begin a campaign and comes to the wire shadowing the 1962 Mets for the title of worst team of the modern era.
But this book is about a lot more than wins and losses on the field. Leavy has a lot to say about life, love, friendship, moral values and all the things that really matter....and she does it with an abundance of wit, style and humor.--William C. Hall
Unbe-bleeping-lievable!.......2003-09-12
This book was awesome, simply awesome. As a female baseball fan, it was great to get a glimpse of these fictionalized baseball players through a fellow woman's perspective. It's one of those books that I couldn't put down, didn't want to finish, but had to finish because it was so GOOD. It has a little bit of everything - love, sex, sarcasm, slapstick, raunch, baseball, hilarity, thoughtfulness...
Book Description
The three stars from Rosemont -- David "DT" Green, Glen "Scrapper" Mitchell, and Roberto "Magic" Ramirez -- are taking the minor leagues by storm! But come October, will the three friends get to go to Spring Training with the Majors?
Customer Reviews:
Nancy's Still Got It.......2006-01-21
It's been quite a while since I read this book, but I would say it's of the same quality as the original Nancy Drew Mysteries, only more modern and up-to-date.
Mystery on the Field.......2000-12-28
It wasn't surprising that this book started off with Nancy and her friends going somewhere to relax and have fun. Nor was it surprising that Nancy stumbled on to a mystery. What was surprising though, was how the auther manage to work a mystery into a Baseball Game. I still get amazed at how Nancy Drew figures out all these complicated problems and still saves the day. This time it's to help a star pitcher find his little girl and still win a game. I've been reading Nancy Drew for over 9 years now and I think that this one was one of the best!
Average customer rating:
- Paul Auster novel in disguise
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Squeeze Play
Paul Benjamin
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books | Authors, A-Z | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | General | Large Print | Mystery | Police Procedurals | Thrillers | Writing
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ASIN: 0380676869 |
Customer Reviews:
Paul Auster novel in disguise.......2004-02-18
This novel is of interest to fans of Paul Auster -- He wrote it and published it under a psuedonym when he was desparate for money. It is a fairly routine, but competent and readable, sports mystery.
Average customer rating:
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SQUEEZE PLAY
Mel Glenn
Manufacturer: Clarion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0899198597 |
Book Description
Squeeze Play in Beantown, a rousing historial fiction, revolves around an attempt to bring about Sunday baseball to nineteenth century Boston, where recreation on the Sabbath was prohibited by law. Rowe's protagonist, Will Beaman, seeks to have the National League's Boston Beaneaters play the Cincinnati Reds on a Sunday late in the torrid 1897 pennant race between Boston and Baltimore. Frederic Remington's first exhibition of his western art, feminist Emma Goldman's push for radical reforms, John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald's ambition to be mayor of Boston, and England's return of the famous William Bradford history of Plymouth Colony to Massachusetts provide the backdrop for Will Beaman's scheme. The 1897 Boston Beaneaters also play important roles. Dr. Rowe's training as an historian serves him well as he faithfully recreates life and love and mystery in the bustling streets of late nineteenth century Boston.
Customer Reviews:
Not my cup of beans.......2005-07-27
This book was sent to me as a gift, and I'm glad, only in the sense I didn't buy it myself. Why anyone would find this "mysterious" much less interesting is beyond my imagination. This must be a self-published vanity project, because it's targeted toward a non-existent market: a juvenile mystery for kids who love early 20th century baseball ?
Baseball and Boston -- A Perfect Match.......2004-04-26
G.S. Rowe has spun a splendid tale of murder, mayhem, free love and baseball in Boston in 1897. With a historian's eye and novelist's fine touch, Rowe?s second Will Beamon mystery remains true to the texture of Boston society and politics before the turn of the twentieth century. The pages are filled with historical characters -- Jimmy Collins, the Hall of Fame third baseman; "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, soon to be mayor of Boston; Arthur Soden, the penurious owner of the Boston National League club; and Emma Goldman, the anarchist who supported the struggle of workingmen for fair wages with her fiery rhetoric. A famous manuscript from Pilgrim times is stolen, and Beamon and his friends are charged with returning it to thepeople of the Commonwealth. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, all wrapped around the exciting last month of the baseball season, a year when the Boston baseball club would not fade in the stretch.
Average customer rating:
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Squeeze Play (Loveswept, No 448)
Lori Copeland
Manufacturer: Loveswept
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
General | Romance | Subjects | Books
Copeland, Lori | ( C ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0553440861
Release Date: 1990-12-01 |
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