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All That Follows (2010)

by Jim Crace(Favorite Author)

2.88 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

038552076X (ISBN13: 9780385520768)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Nan A. Talese

review 1: Meh. I couldn't finish this one, although I had been looking forward to reading it, because I enjoyed Pesthouse so much. Crace's new novel does feature a particularly fine passage about a solo jazz performance, but beyond that, it's another story of another aging man doing stupid things, thinking all along "I know better than to do this, but somehow, I just can't help myself" and then repenting of it later on, after consquences ensue. Which can be very interesting, but I'm DONE with the male mid-life crisis genre. DONE.
review 2: Leonard Lessing is a man most people - certainly most middle-aged people - will find convincing and likeable, a jazz musician, nearing 50, whose daring and talent for improvisation are confined to the stage; in real life he's a hesitan... moret character who dreams of heroic deeds but thinks twice about everything before opting for the safest course. When, therefore, he gets caught up on the fringes of a hostage drama he is well out of his depth and bumbles from calamity to crisis. I rather resent, incidentally, the explanation of his physical clumsiness - "he is a slightly lumbering left-hander". The belief that left-handers are clumsy and uncoordinated was old-fashioned, and somewhat offensive, decades ago and I'm surprised to see Crace repeating it.The writing is mostly good, never more so than when it is describing Leonard's feelings about his music; it managed to communicate his passion to me, despite the fact that I don't like jazz. My biggest problem with the book is that I found its end very predictable. There was little tension here, despite the subject matter. I just knew, from early on, more or less exactly how things were going to end up. Calling your main characters Lesser and Max is an unnecessarily clunky signal too.It's an amiable if not especially memorable book, with a light touch and some wry humour. less

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