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The Dart League King (2008)

by Keith Lee Morris(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0979419883 (ISBN13: 9780979419881)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Tin House Books

review 1: I'm tempted to give this book four stars, because its epilogue deserves five (more on this later). However, were it not for the epilogue, the book would rest firmly in the three star category, so there it shall stay. For all of this averageness, however, there is much to recommend in this fast-paced depiction of rural life. The characters are vivid and memorable, despite their conformance to stereotypical country bumpkins. The plot somehow manages to be both predictable (again, confirming our stereotypes regarding these characters) and intriguing at the same time. Finally, Morris truly excels at depicting place. You can see the bar where these characters play darts, the narrow roads that transport them to lake houses, the duplex cottages where so many of their parents wast... moree away. In the book's epilogue, these exemplary renderings of place combine to excellent effect with a cacophony of the novel's voices. It's a remarkable and incredible 30 pages of prose that so far exceeds what comes before that it almost makes you forget what precedes entirely. This book reads incredibly quickly -- I read nearly all of it on a 2.5 hour flight between Chicago and NH. And all of this time was worth it to arrive at its incredible end. In fact, I suspect re-reading this novel knowing what was coming at its end would produce a far more satisfactory experience.
review 2: This is definitely an enjoyable read most of the way through. The four main characters are fascinating, both repulsive and attractive in their ways, and their relationships with the women in the book (not strong women, I have to say, and I wonder what female readers of this book make of that) are tortured to say the least. Given the lack of focus, I wonder whose story this is meant to be. Is it the lost male generation? If so, it's a bleak portrait. less

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