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isaachart's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
jon_doyle's review against another edition
"Here, times gone are both something to escape and retreat into, to remember and forget, questions and answers and warnings all rolled into one. They come with lessons we’d do well to learn, expectations we’d do well to ignore. Ultimately, Big Lonesome paints the past as something that can destroy us, and as something that could save our souls."
See the full review here: http://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2017/05/24/joseph-scapellato-big-lonesome/
See the full review here: http://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2017/05/24/joseph-scapellato-big-lonesome/
asensualcow's review against another edition
2.0
"They never said much, just sat there on their bedrolls trying not to look too lonesome, their faces crossed with firelight, their jaws working jerky and tobacco and fingernails and knives. Who knew what was worked in their hearts."
kawai's review
3.0
Sometimes the right book comes along at the right time, and sometimes it doesn't. I say that only because my reaction to this book has less to do, I believe, with the merits of the book itself (which are many) and more to do with timing.
Scapellato's doing something interesting and unique with this collection, stories that have their own voice and style: simultaneously fabulist and realist, lighthearted and brutal, satirical and earnest. There are staccato vignettes and longer pieces with open endings, as well as a constant refrain of certain images (the sun in the natural environments, cowboys waking in miserable circumstances, guitar-playing and groups of men moving through the environment, etc). All of that is interesting and fun to read.
But for whatever reason, this collection didn't grip me the way I need a book to grip me right now; perhaps it's the structure, perhaps it's the themes. It's certainly not the writing, which is skillful and unique and brave, and produces memorably odd, entertaining work.
Scapellato's doing something interesting and unique with this collection, stories that have their own voice and style: simultaneously fabulist and realist, lighthearted and brutal, satirical and earnest. There are staccato vignettes and longer pieces with open endings, as well as a constant refrain of certain images (the sun in the natural environments, cowboys waking in miserable circumstances, guitar-playing and groups of men moving through the environment, etc). All of that is interesting and fun to read.
But for whatever reason, this collection didn't grip me the way I need a book to grip me right now; perhaps it's the structure, perhaps it's the themes. It's certainly not the writing, which is skillful and unique and brave, and produces memorably odd, entertaining work.
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