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Riveting: Quinten Tarantino before there was Quentin Tarantino

Revisado: 09-30-18

This is an excellent novel that builds a lot of tension, character plot, dialogue and has a great use of social realism.

Elmore Leonard has ver multi layered characters and he knows how to create stories with really good endings that doesn’t seem very cliché and predictable.

The story never feels like it drags, sometimes I have to read sections over and over to make sure I understand it and I was happy that I was able to make time to finish this great novel. I do think for people who want to study dialogue, pacing and how to write characters that are very deep with very minimal description, this is a great book to study.

This is a great novel about morality, friendship, living life on the edge, human desire of wanting to trust people and live and break your own rules. It very well captures adult relationships and betrayals very well while its subject matter is more of a body and a heist story, it still has very emotional impact.

Frank Mueller is extremely excellent in his narration and he does it in a way that is very realistic, he does not put in his own creative touch to a point where it’s obnoxious like when I read the narration for the invisible man by a different reader. I do think that he knows how to read very well and match the pacing of the story and match the actions in the book, an excellent articulator of the Elmore Leonard stories. A buying point for any Audible Elmore Leonard book is Frank Mueller’s reading of it.

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Immersive, poetic, well spoken and kinetic

Revisado: 02-03-18

This is a very well spoken and a very well-written book. I always enjoy Elmore Leonard and his books, and how well the books are narrated.

There is a lot of powerful imagery, short and precise dialogue, short and precise sentences and told add a very fast and immersive pace.

If I did pursue a path Of being a professor or a writing teacher, I would definitely recommend this to creative writing students.

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Immersive, poetic, well spoken and kinetic

Revisado: 02-03-18

This is a very well spoken and a very well-written book. I always enjoy Elmore Leonard and his books, and how well the books are narrated.

There is a lot of powerful imagery, short and precise dialogue, short and precise sentences and told add a very fast and immersive pace.

If I did pursue a path Of being a professor or a writing teacher, I would definitely recommend this to creative writing students.

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Emotional and cerebral

Revisado: 12-17-17

This collection of critiques by James Baldwin is very informative and is extremely saturated; I really think for people who want to review movies and get into movie analysis, these three chapters, almost 120 pages in length should be deeply studied for people who want to become film critics and film analysis for an intensive really long time.

This essay does demonstrate Baldwin’s strength of very saturated text and also somebody who can make this very profound philosophical statements. While he talks about race relations, he does talk about economics, politics and sexism, He does it in a very fair and balanced way – – not victimizing anyone and being very truthful to the American seen in its problems, and how film can be a propaganda, A meta, And escapism from problems in America during the 1970s (when this essay was written) and prior.

Dion Graham is a very great voice for the pros of James Baldwin. He does have a lot of discipline and self-control reading the prose: He does show the emotions in the words and he understands the writing very well; unlike the invisible man, where the narrator of the invisible man Does nuances as chuckle when it is not in the text and almost takes too much of a creative license, Dion Graham reading this essay by James Baldwin he does have trueness in exposition in the emotions and the much cynicism in Baldwin’s critiques.

I do feel that this is one of his best collection of essays. I do like that it’s not completely about race relations so he does venture into new territory for himself and it is something that while being not that long in length, if you really studied this work and take a lot of notes on why it’s good and how It can help you if you decide to do Film critics and film analysis, I work like this will give you a last steps forward to go in.

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One of the greatest and most challenging books ever written

Revisado: 12-04-17

I really like these books that are a good portrait of emotions in African-American literature.

It does a lot with showing how African-Americans feel and showing people being victimized who are African-Americans and also people who are African-American choosing to live accept a life that is objectifying themselves. And I like that approach because it does seem very fair and balanced.

I did read the invisible man in college many years ago too, when Barack Obama was elected president. I also remember how my professor was saying that the theme of much of the African-American literature including this book was African-American nihilism, And basically saying that Brock Obama being elected and his writing transitions from a lot of the pessimism in African-American literature.

I disagree that this book is nihilistic. this book disturbingly, along with many of the writings of James Baldwin, The Invisible Man is very relevant today: in contemporary America, some people feel that they have to be a token or House Negro stereotype to secure respectable jobs; young people can be very misguided into those jobs and organizations that respect tokenism; in the book, There are a lot of symbols of dolls, advertisement
and statues referring to how the black image is looked as repulsive and that is very comparable to a lot of the racist soap commercials today, where they show that African-American skin complexions are a layer of dirt, unlike white or Asian skin; I really think the main theme of the book is finding your own pathAnd having a sense of individualism where ever
You go in this world, don’t be too impressionable; Remember, that towards the end of Barack Obama’s presidency there was a rise in hate crimes, police brutality, Crimes as sexual assault and mass shootings Getting Blatant double standards in the court system and unequal representation on the news of the criminals Because of the criminal’s race.
And this book really demonstrates and very empathetic to illustrate the psyche of a person wanting acceptance and transitioning into this world from being a young man in college to finding the next step.

I do think that if you can understand symbolism and how to look at surrealist work and analyze the imagery, comparing it to things in the real world, what are these images and passages referential of, I really find the book will be a really easy read. With the compelling narration, this book goes by very, very fast, I’ve almost read the whole entire book in less than five days for something close to 600 pages.

The narration is very 50-50. I really think that either the narrator really understands the story so he reads it in a very emphatic way and that helps make The story very understandable – – and it also gives a very powerful emphasis on Reading out loud your work so you know how it comes across or if it needs to be edited to come across in the way you want it.

I really feel the narration is very irresponsible. He seems to chuckle a lot on his own, adding it to the story and I find that to a point where it’s very obnoxious and also very disrespectful, because it is not part of the book—it’s not Joe Morton presents the invisible man, it is the invisible man written by Ralph Ellison: the difference being narrators should be more Word for Word and not chuckling or adding other nuances. it was very irresponsible let him get away with that because No book should get that creative license treatment, Again it’s not the narrator’s story, it’s the author’s story.

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One of Elmore Leonard’s best works

Revisado: 11-19-17

I really enjoyed the ease of this book. I read out of sight if you months ago and I did not like how that book was a little confusing to read, especially with different characters speaking in the same paragraph.

In freaky deaky, There is 30 chapters to go by very quickly. They’re very episodic, but just like a storyline television series as breaking bad, the 20th and 19 season of South Park and 24, where this book feels like a thriller and there’s enough attention to individual characters, breaded off into simple sections. I think when you write about multiple characters, it’s the job of the author to make the story understandable and also do it in a way where it’s not elongated to a point where it becomes unengaging.

The strengths of this novel, and elements that I find in his novels are: usage of hypotheticals, What characters imagine of other people and their interpretations, what characters like to eat, what smells are interesting to them, knowing how to be lyrical with short and long sentences in a paragraph, starting and ending each chapter with something interesting that hooks you, And he does have a strong ability to be very experimental in his writing– – It feels that his influences does partially Stem from poetry. He does know how to write dialogue for characters very well, and I don’t feel he’s like Quintin Tarantino where it’s the same Way of talking for every character and I do like his usage of regionalism in the novel, you know how Detroit feels and looks through his characters point of view.

Frank Muller is transcendent and he really has a great vibe in the articulation of the story and the characters. I really want to read everything that audible has with this narrator doing the Elmore Leonard stories.

From reading this novel. I’ve learned a lot from wanting to become a better writer for my own novels and screenplays. As Elmore Leonard said, it’s really about knowing how character sound and doing unless revisions until it sounds right, and in addition, not being afraid of the dialogue – – let characters get to a point where they know how to speak for themselves and don’t be worried about foul language in prose or in dialogue if it’s necessary for the story.

Along with Raymond Carver, for the contemporary era of literature, literary work after the 1980s, he Elmore Leonard is somebody that any person serious about writing in a very contemporary way should study and he should be talked about and colleges. Every time I read him, he feels like a step forward and what I want to learn to become a better writer for novels and screenplays.

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Great book, mandatory for any story-driven creative writing, but a very long-winded book

Revisado: 11-13-17

This book is very fact-filled and it’s definitely beneficial for people who are interested in any form a creative writing that deals with storytelling.

I really feel the chapters run on very long, some of the themes and his terminologies are repeated way too much. Also, the author keeps quoting from different plays a lot, in a really comes off as him trying to add length to the book.

There are question and answer section in this book. It feels like the author is asking his questions and giving his answers to them: it does come off as very narcissistic and self indulged, to a point where it takes away from the book.

There is a section of the book where the author references a play that uses the N-word—this book was written in the 1940s, and that referenced play was about the racial issues at that time. Even though they did have a discretion message about the chapter, The whole chapter should be omitted from the book and the recording, or even just that section of the play—I did find offensive because it seems like excessive use of racial language is inescapable wherever you go even with books on recordings and I did feel it was a unsettling and added for shock.

The recording was well read.

I do think Audible is not really good with dividing their chapters for writers who write both long and short sections. In this book, 10 chapters that are small, the next chapter in the audible recording would be after those 10 chapters. other books that I’ve read, there are sections that go on for hundreds of pages, So each audible chapter can be over an hour, and you have to stop in the middle of those 100 pages so it’s hard to find your place again. If they’re going to have a chapter book like this one that has a lot of small chapters, I would want the recordings to begin and end at each chapter, not after 10 chapters being read; I do feel like that makes the book harder to read when you have to sit through an hour and a half, because I tend to read the start and end of an audible chapter, I don’t like stopping in the middle of sections that go on for hundreds of pages, Or in the middle of a recording That includes 10 or more small chapters.

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The first section is the best

Revisado: 11-06-17

Another country is a very amazing book and definitely it’s going to help me on my journey to become a better writer and a filmmaker.

There is such philosophy, definitely showing Baldwin’s influences Of earlier writers and philosophers. It’s definitely very powerful and it’s characters and the things that they’re discussing, and I do like how there is so much philosophy stated by the characters. James Baldwin does have a style of leading in essay and fiction pros, and the and result of that is usually a work where characters are very dimensional by what they say; and I want to add that he’s a master of using imagery in a way that reflects the mentality, the damage mind And the ideological perspective is characters have of the world.

There are many things that bothered me and that definitely our weaknesses are James Baldwin’s work:

1. I do not like him using the words sex and love In place of male anatomy and birthing fluid. I do understand that it was written in the 60s or the 50s so you cannot be that proFane. But it does seem a little irritating to hear over and over and also does come off as childish. When you use sex in literature, Call body parts for what they are and call other things for what they are, don’t use words like his sex and he spewed his love in her.

2. Not like Giovanni’s room, This story is not that much of a challenge for James Baldwin. This does feel very self referential, and talking about race relations is very powerful and he does that very well, but not at the mastery He has in Giovanni’s room and in his essays. I really think James Baldwin strength is talking about child characters, his adult characters, I do think James Baldwin was a very egotistical and pompous man, and I think that really hurts his characters because they carry over his attitude, and sometimes it’s like when the writer writes a story and they’re very successful, they may get used to Writing characters that don’t relate to people or rely on things that are catchy but not as well developed. I did feel the characters were on relatable and they did rely too much on talking about race relations to be popular, and also when he talks about sex and this novel, it really just feels like filler or he’s trying to grab you. And I do agree with many critics that it does feel like James Baldwin one writing about James Baldwin, Over trying to make a point.

3. I really think the writing style of James Baldwin can be very powerful. And I do feel his strengths are better off in novellas. This book is 400 pages and a lot of it seems elongated, even though he writes a lot about the emotions of the character. And I do hate his Breaking things off into 100 page or more long sections and breaking it off into parts. Sometimes, That works very well in writing, but it’s very confusing and most people would want breaks after amounts of pages, not just reading 100 pages to clear a section. It does rely a lot on how he hooks you as a reader, by making those pages go for very long.

4. It really is not a easy read. I did feel that after the first section where one of the characters dies, the second section, after a few hundred pages, introduce is another story And character, so it really drains you when that happens. Your invested and one thing and then it feels like, You have to start over or it’s a beginning to a Nother story, after you read a labor estimate of pages. I actually had to walk away from the novel a couple of times and instead of reading along, I’m reading the book while listening to the Audible, I had to just listen to it on tape and long bus rides, just as a time waster. Because became so boring and like a drone

5. For James Baldwin, he does have a lot of power In his utilization of imagery, philosophy, character, his willingness to talk about serious issues and how his language can be very mesmerizing and hook you; And these are all reasons why he should be studied and it’s definitely upsetting that is not talked about more, but also very rewarding that many people in schools and colleges are now teaching him and he’s a great example of African-American literature, and a breaker of many negative stereotypes – – I remember going to school and there of been many people who thought African-Americans have not written literature or not intelligent enough, because Some schools, especially in most public schools, they do not teach African-American writers so James Baldwin is a great entrance into African-American literature and he deserves his place in history, and he will be a grandfather to future generations of writers, very relevant for today so that’s all the strength of him. I really think the weaknesses of James Baldwin is him elongating stories, a lot of the stories really feel about himself and he lets his ego and pompousness of the characters do damage to the quality of his literature, and it really comes off that he was somebody who either did a lot in his life or really rushed his work so he doesn’t hold up as a writer unlike Dotyevsky And other writers who have made many more quality and quantity work. I also think that some people said about Baldwin, he does have a problem of repeating the same subject matter: racism, people being insecure about their possible homosexuality or bisexuality, abuse, sexualAggression, sex in a very immature way I feel, very internalized and egotistical characters, and some of his writing is not that well written. So, I really feel that he’s a great writer because good writers to learn from our people who you can see a lot of weaknesses and also strengthen their work; I really thinkThat has many college professors have said to me, he doesn’t hold up as a fiction writer that well, but as an essay writer he’s very powerful, but in my opinion, he really is a 50-50 writer, because most of his later works or not that well written and he takes less R that has many college professors have said to me, he doesn’t hold up as a fiction writer that well, but as an essay writer he’s very powerful, but in my opinion, he really is a 50-50 writer, because most of his later works or not that well written and he takes less risks going out of subject matter. So I really think that this book is evidential of his weaknesses and weaknesses that linger in his work later on.

To give it a letter grade, I will say that this book is a B-. I will say Giovanni’s room is his best fiction.

And the lessons that I’ve learned from this book is just keep writing about serious issues and have a lot honesty when you write too. But also, be very careful when you’re right about characters or use first person, it’s good to show weaknesses and if your character is very pompous or you present your character pompous in the third person, where it’s less intense, unlike the first person, just be very careful to understand that I may annoy the audience and if you want to be a writer, diversify your content.Do not be somebody that talks about race issues and other issues over and over again, different park but same ideas type of person. And as a filmmaker, one of the reasons why took a year off from filmmaking is to gain new ideas so that’s important in any part of our creativity, Be versatile and telling the same story with the same themes, is doing the same thing, even if you change things for a different book just a little so that is the struggle James Baldwin wear this and many of us later works are really rehashing old ideas he has done before

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