I'm an English teacher and have been trying to find something I can give to my higher level english classes that will challenge them, but will somehow speak to them a bit more closely than Heart Of Drakness or Dubliners. I picked up LaValle's book because of a review I'd read in the Los Angeles Times and it paid off. I doubted my kids might be able to relate to the expriences involved, but the author won me over into realizing they couldn't relate to a riverboat captain going through Africa, but they still liked that very much in the end. It's literature I've realized, this book. The language is shockingly great, not because of vulgarity but because it's good to see a young author take the time to insure a poetic voice and lyricism that seems missing so much from those under thirty. I am planning to use the book in our next trimester and will be including it as our only contemporary fiction by a young author in their twenties. I am amazed and heartened to know that literature is still being created.

I'd heard about this book here and there, reading very great reviews, but then having trouble getting my hands on it. I finally ordered it and couldn't be happier. I am, admittedly, a professor of comparative literature and with that in mind read this book much less for the storylines (which were strong and in the tradition of a few great American authors, oddly Salinger comes to mind), but more for the great skill with which he's crafted the book.

The second half, that most readers and reviewers seem to feel a greater affinity for, is I think the more straightforward and touching, delving into the complexities of human behavior and the depth of one boy's culpability in the awful things that have happened in his life. But the first half, which is more dramatic true, is where LaValle's intellect and artistry shine for me.

The five stories are placed together and at first read seemed done so simply because they were all about older people (in their twenties) and more violent/dramatic, but on further reading I've begun to notice the deeper/subtler patterns LaValle has worked into the fiction. First, and I believe most impressive, is the way that he has turned each of the stories into an essay (almost) on the personalities of each borough of New York. being a New Yorker who has been away for twenty years (maybe more) I was thrilled to find that "Getting Ugly", the story of Manhattan, is at once a truly brilliant (and undervalued) love story, but is also a take on the vanity of Manhattan as compared to the other boroughs (so self-involved and in love with itself).

In that same vein, "Slave" was a touching story, heartbreaking even, but it also read as a commentary on Staten Island (where I'm from) with its issues of being solitary, cut off from the rest of the world (he even brings up and points out the issue that staten island actually considered secession) and that this commentary on Staten Island's turning from/being alienated from the rest of new York still implies a deepered understanding of how the main character, Rob, feels in his own life!

"Ancient History" also attempts a very brave form of storytelling, two seperate first person narrators telling the same tale (simultaneously by the end). The other stories, I believe, fill in the other personalities of the boroughs and there is also the way that characters from one story filter into and inform the lives of people in another.

The book, the quick prose, allows a fast reader to run through this and think the book stands as simply "gritty" or "tough" tales with little too them. I find it brave on LaValle's part that it is so filled with intellect and art, but doesn't advertise this fact. That he has a mind is not bragged about (though at some points he does become a bit too cute with word choice and phrasing I must admit) and I believe there will be some readers who will pass over it as simple tales of "ghetto life" (they're all working class!) when instead I believe that Victor LaValle has stamped himself into American literature and I only look forward with great anticipation to the continuation of this important literary find.

After seeing his positively glowing review in the San Francisco Chronicle (they compared his book to Joyce, Faulkner AND Carver) I assumed nothing could live up to such hype, but I feel like taking the chance of saying it does. Most people these days don't want to consider let alone admit that a present day work might in any way be a future classic, but I believe this is. It has all the elements: vigor, vibrant new uses of language and voice, and a markedly bright intelligence working the strings behind all these lives. What doesn't seem expressed enough is how deeply humorous a writer Victor LaValle tends to be as well. I could see so many of these stories spiralling into unending sadness and melodrama in a lesser writer's hands, but what saves him every time is that his characters laugh, but even more, I did. I will just go ahead with it, Victor LaValle's Slapboxing with Jesus will be remembered as one of the more enduring collections of stories in this new generation of writing. My hat's off.

Victor Lavalle's The Ecstatic left me feeling ambivalent. I found the novel to be well written, original, and crafty; but at times I also felt lost and confused. Perhaps the latter is intentional since the story is narrated by Anthony Jones, an obese schizophrenic, who lives with his equally schizophrenic relatives. Anthony is rapidly deteriorating and although he seems relatively in control at the beginning of the novel, it is quite clear that he has lost all of his mental faculties at the end.

The book is divided into three sections. In "The Whale" segment, Lavelle opens with Anthony's younger sister, mother, and grandmother rescuing him from Cornell University. He has not attended classes in a couple of years, is living in squalor, and has supported himself with menial jobs. He returns home to live in the basement and reacquaint himself with the old neighborhood. It is in this section that we learn about Anthony's atrocious eating habits, his mother's mental disorder, and his family's relationship with the neighbors. He tries to reinsert himself into society by losing weight, dating, and getting a job. Sadly, he is exploited by his employers and neighborhood thugs, fails at weight loss, and is jilted by his love interest. In the "Miss Innocence" segment, a family road trip to the sister's beauty pageant goes awry, largely due to Anthony's worsening condition. They meet a few questionable characters along the way that seem equally insane as the Jones clan. The last segment, "The Hounds" is Anthony's final descent into dementia where he becomes a danger to himself and others. He is literally trapped physically in his neighborhood by the patrolling dogs and mentally in his weakened mind.

At most, The Ecstatic is entertaining. As mentioned earlier, Lavalle lost me on a few twists and turns, but I continued reading to see how it would end. I think the pacing of the story was solid, but character development was somewhat lacking. Anthony's character was the most developed and that is putting it mildly; the other characters were lightly sketched and void of any real definition. There were plenty of dark comedic episodes sprinkled throughout that caused me to laugh aloud, but more importantly, I felt pity for the central character as he surrendered to his illness. I would not recommend this novel to everyone, only those who are curious and courageous enough to venture down a dark and disheartening literary side street.

Phyllis
APOOO BookClub, The Nubian Circle Book Club

This was a very interesting novel. The style, transition, characters, dialogue, realism and humor make this a stand out read. I was initially compelled to read this novel based on the synopsis, but from page one I was hooked!

The author was able to reveal the antics of life for a very dysfunctional family and let us ride the insanity with the main character, Anthony. Anthony is the 300+ pound paranoid schizophrenic. We journey with Anthony and his family as they try to live life, but are compounded with obstacles such as insanity.

The story has a myriad of characters who kinda come into Anthony's life for several reasons, but they add to the dark humor that is consistently displayed throughout the novel. The author's play with humor and realism of insanity was compelling and scary at the same time.

This book is dark. That is the one word that for me relates this story. As the story continues, the darkness continues which makes the humor almost horrifying.

The author's use of the English language is beautiful. His style is very different, but quite refreshing. The characters are well-developed and thorough characters. The story is a mirage of several incidents that take place in Anthony's life and this is a literal perception of how one is mentally ill, but can do nothing to stop the insanity. It is like a roller coaster ride of the insane.

I do wish for a different ending, but because of the subject matter no other ending would probably work. This is one novel everyone should pick up and read if for nothing more than a change and read something that is brilliantly written.

I'm writing because I'm just concerned, straight up, with some of the reviews this novel has been given by people who meant well but, if I'm being honest, simply can't give other people a fair minded picture of this spectacular novel. First of all, IT'S NOT CONFUSING!!!!!!!! I can't say that enough. The problem is that if you've only been used to eating candy your whole life you're not going to know how to take a steak. Some of the people who've posted before me have been talking about how the novel loses them at times, but if you're used to reading smart fiction, even slightly literary, then you can breeze through this book. In fact, at times you'll have to slow down because you're enjoying the poetry of the language so much that you forget to take notice of the story. Are we ever going to just come out and say you should have to take an IQ test in order to read certain books? Probably not, but maybe we should. I mean, I don't think great literature means that it's got to be confusing, but I get mad when I see good, decent folks trying to pretend that just because there's not a straightforward romance going on the book is Finnegan's Wake! Of course, I realize that now I've made nothing but an in joke, but what saddens me the most is that there are people for whom that reference was over their heads. My god, the state of American readers is dismal. Okay, I shouldn't turn this review into nothing but a big complaining session so let me tell you that I haven't read a book this ambitious and profound in ten years. Imagine a novel that tries to be funny and heartbreaking at the same time, sometimes in the same line. I put this book down feeling like I'd discovered my eyes after years of being blind. It just made me so happy to see that this painful and touching novel was actually published.