Customer Reviews:
enlightment.......2003-09-30
If you are in law enforcement this book should do more for you than kindle rage. It's background information shows that the war on drugs was based on loosely proven propaganda which has been far out dated now. This war that we spend so much of our money on, like other wars our current administration is involving us in, is shown to be basically useless. Desperado should do more for a person than piss them off, it's shows what's wrong with the system we have in place and is meant to motivate people to push for a change in our system. If only we hadn't already conformed to what society holds true certain drugs would be decriminalized today. Let's face it, the best way to put a dealer out of business is take over his business. Not only would it save money, but it would ensure a quality safeness to the drugs we have roaming the streets today. In short, let this be a guide for future change. All it takes is one person to see the light and stand up for a cause, no matter how comfortable they are with their lifestyle already.
very perceptive historical insight into today's drug problem.......1999-06-30
As a current federal "narc" and former "border rat" (9 years on the US/Mexico border in California), I feel that Shannon did an excellent job portraying the past drug problems in Mexico. Guess what? We did not solve them then and the problem is worse now. Customs Commisioner Von Raab and DEA Administrator Lawn were very outspoken on the issue of the kidnapping of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. Of course, that was before the days of "political correctness". America still refuses to decertify Mexico due to their unwillingness to truly combat drugs and continued reputation of graft and corruption. Having met and worked with many mentioned in DESPERADOS, I have utmost respect for those who indeed fought the drug war. Elaine Shannon's DESPERADOS is worth the time to read and is a must for the drug agent's home or office library.
Must read for law enforcement!.......1999-01-03
This book should be read by all law enforcement oficers who enforce drug laws. Will enlighten and enrage at the same time, I would recomend it as reading for all law enforcement who work along the US/mex border or any city plagued by narcotics.
Well-documented examination of the DEA in Mexico........1998-10-06
Events in this book revolve around the kidnapping and murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1985. It is not only the story of how this came to pass, but an examination of US drug policy in the '70s and '80s, and reveals the flimsiness of Reagan's "war on drugs." The reader will be outraged by the manner in which political considerations took precedence over the apprehension of the killers of an American agent. Despite my outrage at what I read, the book is gripping and an excellent piece of documentary work. An excellent case study of the investigation into the Sinaloa cartel.
Average customer rating:
- Good Subject--Not Easy Reading
- Ehhh...
- Always enjoy reading's from "down south"... of Bakersfield !
- Roots of Country Rock
- Not the best
|
Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock
John Einarson
Manufacturer: Cooper Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 History | Subjects | Books | Africa | Americas | Ancient | Arctic & Antarctica | Asia | Australia & Oceania | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | Europe | Gay & Lesbian | Historical Study | Large Print | Middle East | Military | Military Science | Russia | United States | World
General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
History & Criticism | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Bluegrass | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Country | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Rock | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Theory, Composition & Performance | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books | Appreciation | Composition | Conducting | Exercises | Instruction & Study | MIDI, Mixers, etc. | Sheet Music & Scores | Songbooks | Songwriting | Techniques | Theory | Vocal
Similar Items:
-
For What It's Worth: The Story of Buffalo Springfield
-
Pickin' Up the Pieces: The Heart and Soul of Country Rock Pioneer Richie Furay
-
Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of The Byrds' Gene Clark
-
Hotel California: The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends
-
To The Limit: The Untold Story Of The Eagles
ASIN: 0815410654 |
Book Description
The first full history to describe the development of country rock.
Customer Reviews:
Good Subject--Not Easy Reading.......2007-06-20
While it is interesting to read about the roots of country rock, this book leaves a bit to be desired in regards to "structure". The chapters are a bit rambling at times. The publisher would have been advised to insert some page breaks in between subjects.
Ehhh..........2006-11-24
Since I own tons of records by this work's focal artists, I figured I'd get this book. Not the best move, for a bunch of reasons. First off, as one writer referred to, it totally lacks organization. The chapters jump all over the place, making it hard to keep things in mind. Second, why should a work that deals with such lyrical and evocative music be written like a college term paper? Excuse me, Mr. Einarson, you're not proving a thesis, don't be afraid to inject some imagery! The BEST books about musical artists from this period (see Bud Scoppa's Byrds biography NOT Johnny Rogan's, and the wonderful "CSN") are better organized, more pictoral, and livelier! Man, if the times were as dry as Einarson's writing, this genre would never have come about!!!!!
And how anyone could knock the Byrds' "Untitled" album is beyond me....
Always enjoy reading's from "down south"... of Bakersfield ! .......2006-07-28
Fast & Sequre Delviery - Can Only recomend it further !
Roots of Country Rock.......2005-08-09
I strongly recomend this boook, especially for fams of the Byrds, Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Gene Clark, Clarence White, Graham Parsons, or the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Not the best.......2005-03-23
I guess I'm the lone detractor, but this book simply is not as good as it should have been, certainly not for anyone not already closely acquainted with the topic. Major problems: although Einarson sensibly avoids cramming every sentence with dates, he goes to the other extreme and includes so few that it's difficult to keep track of persons, events and band membership. Also, the book lack a chronology/time line; anyone not knowledgeable with the musicians involved will have a tough time remembering how and when a Byrd became a Burrito. Finally, the book has no index, which is just inexcusable. And some less serious problems: although most folks wouldn't call CSN/CSN&Y country rock, all members (except perhaps Graham Nash) certainly played country-influenced rock at some time. But you'd never know that from Desperados; aside from a couple of passing references, there is no discussion of them (while many pages are devoted to Ian and Sylvia/Great Speckled Bird, hailed as significant purveyors of country rock, although their efforts in that arena had virtually no influence in the U.S.) Finally, a good proofreader would have found minor typos such as the insertion of commas in the title of Steve Young's Rock Salt & Nails.
There are lots of interesting facts and comments in the book, but the lack of organization makes this a frustrating read.
Average customer rating:
- Desperate for it to end
- I WANT A MAN JUST LIKE CORD!!!
- fantastic sex but slightly dissapointing
- Love Diana Palmer...
- Could have been better...
|
Desperado
Diana Palmer
Manufacturer: Mira
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Romance | Subjects | Books
Palmer, Diana | ( P ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
( P ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
General | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:
-
Lawless
-
Lord of the Desert
-
Renegade (Hqn Books)
-
The Texas Ranger
-
Paper Rose
ASIN: 1551666928 |
Amazon.com
Setting: Texas, Morocco, Amsterdam
Sensuality: 7
Lovely Maggie Barton and hardbitten Cord Romero share a tangled and complicated past. While still a young girl, Maggie fell deeply in love with Cord, but he's become a hard, cynical man who no longer believes in the emotion. When Cord is nearly killed in an assassination attempt, Maggie returns to Texas to care for him, but he spurns her offer of help. It isn't long, however, before their lives are once again inextricably bound as they join forces to bring down a crime cartel that exploits young children. Maggie is a woman with deep secrets, and Cord is a man with a badly scarred heart. Is there any hope that these two wounded people will find a way to heal each other? Perhaps, but first they must survive the threat to their lives as they race across Tangiers and through Amsterdam in a desperate gamble to bring justice to an evil crime lord.
Readers will be delighted to find that Desperado features a hero and heroine first introduced in Palmer's Lord of the Desert. The settings of Texas ranch, Moroccan desert, and Amsterdam canals are well rendered, the suspense plot has some interesting, hair-raising chases, and the romantic interludes carry Palmer's trademark steam heat. --Lois Faye Dyer
Book Description
He is every inch the desperado.
Tough, relentless and a force to be reckoned with, Cord Romero lives for the adrenaline rush that comes with being a mercenary for hire. Risking his neck is all in a day's work.
But this time the job is personal.
Having barely survived a murder attempt, Cord is looking for vengeance. But to get to his target it means joining forces with Maggie Barton.
No longer the impressionable young woman he once knew, Maggie is strong and independent -- and an expert in a profession that places her as Cord's equal. But a tragic secret from Maggie's past threatens her relationship with Cord . . . and makes her a pawn for his deadly enemy.
Forced to trust each other for their very survival, Cord and Maggie embark on a lethal game of cat and mouse that can leave only one winner standing.
Customer Reviews:
Desperate for it to end.......2007-06-26
I recently read two of Diana Palmer's books on vacation, the first books of hers I've read. I don't know if I'm just reading the wrong genre or something, but these were annoying in ways. I thought there were a lot of inconsistencies in the books in terms of the characters' personalities and their words and actions from one page to the next. Additionally, there was a lot of repetition of the characters' thoughts and and the things they said to each other and their personalities and actions are often immature and silly. This book reminded me of the old silent movies where the characters exaggerate everything, lest the readers don't understand what the message is...nothing is subtle or left to the imagination (they speak out loud every thought that comes to them, etc.)
In this book, the macho hero, a Texas rancher/mercenary/cop (WTH?), morphs unexplicably from an ueber alpha male who can't express his feelings and practically rapes a girl during a drunken binge, to the most sensitive, romantic dude on the planet (he decorates a room in his house for someone decked out in "lace"..again, WTH?) and who blathers on about his true feelings and thoughts at all times. Now, I live in Texas and I can tell you right now that you'd have to search far and wide to find a real rancher/cop/mercenary kind of guy who is physiologically able to do that or even willing to do that. It's obvious that Palmer doesn't have a sense of the true essence of a rancher/cowboy, not that they are all alike or just like a particular stereotype, but...well, if you live around them, you know what I mean . There are other books that are better written, true to the personalities of the characters than this one, without the over-the-top plots that resolve themselves in two pages. Linda Lael Miller's recent books do a better job in this area.
I WANT A MAN JUST LIKE CORD!!!.......2006-03-27
After reading this book it made me want to move to Texas and find a man just like Cord! The romance and sexuality just thrilled me. I could not finish this book fast enough. I will definitely be reading this again and again. This for me was just like Paper Rose, Once in Paris, Lord of the Desert and Texas Ranger. I can not get enough of these books. They are marvelous! They put the MAN back in ROMANCE!
fantastic sex but slightly dissapointing.......2006-03-12
I have to say that this is NOT one of my favourite diana palmer books. It really fell short on my expectations. Maybe because i was entralled by the story of maggie and cord since "mercenary's woman" and started to fantasise about it. Needless to say, i was gutted. The storyline felt too forced and too unrealistic, combining espionage and romance and along with trauma and past histories. Although DP really delivers in terms of the love making scens. It is hot and steamy but what really turns me off (and i'm sure for other people)is the line "make me pregnant". All in all, this is a GOOD book, just not what i've come to expect from one of my favourite authors.
Love Diana Palmer..........2006-01-28
I love Diana Palmer books, and I loved this book. I just imagined that they were best friends, and not brother and sister of any kind (foster or blood). I loved Maggie, she was so self assured yet deep down the child was still there that went through all the yucky stuff. And Cord was there to help her through it, without judging her. Typical case of 2 stubborn, hard headed people trying to escape the inevitable.
Could have been better..........2006-01-12
this is the second Diana Palmer book that I've read and I don't believe that I'll buy anymore of her books. The blackmailer threating to give Maggie's secret to the news was a stupid thing to put in the book. No news agency would have used the materials, child pornography is illegal.
Amazon.com
Just what is corkscrewing? Major Helen "Prissy" Prescott should know, because she's the one who supposedly invented this infamous sexual act. Helen, who's been mistaken for a notorious Mexican desperado's girlfriend, has a lot on her mind, and figuring out how to corkscrew is the least of her worries. She has been transported back in time to California during the gold rush with Rafael Santiago, the most infuriating, yet sexiest scoundrel the National Guard has ever known. Helen wants Rafe to know that she's in charge, but Rafe's too macho to let a woman boss him around, especially a woman who looks like a Vargas painting come to life and who is far too distracting to take seriously.
Customer Reviews:
Can't go wrong with Sandra Hill.......2007-02-22
I really enjoyed this book. It is a time travel book in which both the hero and heroine go back in time. It was a lot of fun.
Wild Ride.......2006-03-28
Rafe weekend soldier and Helen, his commanding officer, are transported to the early west after a mishap in skydiving exercises. They are quickly mistaken for a Mexican outlaw and his girlfriend and narrowly escape being hanged. Helen, is a no nonsense modern woman who although is secretly attracted to Rafe, resents him for his womanizing ways. Rafe, a lowest of the low, has even had a vasectomy so he cannot father children. OF course, he finds out later on that that little operation didn't time travel with him. Fun and wild, even though he's a pig, you can't help but root for him seducing uptight Helen. Of course, this is fiction and fantasy and everything works out in the end.
Could've been better..........2005-02-24
As much as I enjoyed the premise-- two Army officers get thrown back in time to the California Gold Rush by a mysertious training accident-- I would have liked to see more. Helen and Rafe have some history (they attended college together at a military institution) that I found more intriguing than the history they were living. Both Helen and Rafe are marginalized figures in their chosen professions, Rafe because of his race and Helen because of her gender. I think this could have been explored much further. Instead this book was a romance novel, first and foremost. Character development, exploration of important themes, and a realistic portrayal of the circumstances all took a back seat to the superficial sexual attraction and predictable plot of heroine and hero hooking up and getting it on. Maybe the genre is making strides by portraying an "interracial" relationship like this, but I'd like to see less stereotyping and sanitization. Romance novels don't have to be mindless fluff.
That said, the mindless fluff was good for what it was. The dialogue was engaging, the characters likable, and the setting interesting. All in all, a quick read worth my time but not full cover price.
SHE'S THE BEST!!!.......2004-10-19
SANDRA HILL IS THE BEST!! THIS BOOK WAS FUNNY ENTERTAINING AND UNPREDICTABLE -- LIKE ALL HER BOOKS........I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!!
Horrible!.......2004-05-26
I ordered this book based on customer reviews. I wish I could ask the author to reimburse me for my money spent and the time I wasted trying to push through three quarters of this book. I kept waiting and waiting for these characters to emerge. I felt nothing for them. Their silly bantering grew tired after the first few chapters. I thought once the story went along that I would actually learn to enjoy them. I think the author relied only on dialogue to tell the story. I ended up tossing it aside and pulling out a great author who always delivers, Lisa Kleypas.
Book Description
For caricature carvers the greatest challenges and the greatest rewards come from carving the head and face. This is where the personality of the figure resides. The exaggerated nose, the enlarged ears, the toothy or toothless grin...they all combine to give the figure a story we can understand at a glance. In this new book, Tom Wolfe concentrates on the caricature head by carving busts. About 8 inches tall, these carvings give plenty of room for detail, and allow the carver to explore new ways of giving expression to their work. One figure is carved step-by-step, with clear color photographs illustrating each technique. They carry the reader from laying the pattern on the blank to the final painting. Also included are patterns for 15 other figures, including military, western, and Victorian characters, and a full color gallery of 23 finished busts, each shown from four angles. This is an important guide for caricature carvers, and will lead to hours of learning and pleasure., 295 color photos, 16 patterns, 8 1/2" x 11"
Book Description
Araminta Winthrop dreads her wedding night. Then a band of black-clad desperadoes bursts into her wedding reception and the green-eyed beauty finds herself captive of her husband=s bitter enemy. But the darkly handsome Rigo del Castillo heats her blood like no other man: The notorious bandolero has awakened a passion within her. Soon Araminta finds herself aching for Rigo's sweet kisses and yearning for his tender caresses. For when the brazen outlaw steals her from her life, he carves out a future filled with love for them to share.
Customer Reviews:
Same ol' same ol'.......2000-10-27
1. The setting and theme is very hackneyed by now. The same ol' Texas and some cute Mexican guy coming along to seduce a white American. Not that there's anything wrong. As a proud Californian, I definitely prefer this setting to the Regency stuff, where everyone is obssessed with "Lord" and "Sir" and...etc...
2. What's with the "gringa" stuff. So much racial distinction is made. Why is the girl Araminta always referred as white? Her lover Rigo always calls her "gringa", meaning white girl. Furthermore, I resent how Araminta is declared as an American just because she is white. Anyone can be an American, America is a country of all countries.
HOWEVER
1. The author...well, reading this, I could surmise the writer was an excellent student in high school who got As on every essay she wrote. I see a lot of hard work in the prose. Nothing is rushed and everything is sifficiently expanded.
2. This books tries very hard to be worthwhile. There's effort in the attempts of stream of consciousness style and the very well sufficient descriptions.
3. Finally, if your fantasy is to be with a really audacious and seductive man who can overpower in physical strength who's also possessive and wants to possess your heart and soul completely, well, this might be perfect for you.
a reader.......2000-03-23
Those of you who will read this, I just want to let you know that the new book called Desperado by Rebecca B. is the same as this one. It is a wonderful story of a woman with untold strengh. She leaves her home of New York to come to Texas and live with her senile old grandfather, where she meets her grandfather's godson Judd whose parents may have been married, but he was just a bastard. She also meets Judd's and Gramp's enemy, Rigo. Rigo is kind of the answer to Araminta's prayers. I say that because he kind of rescues her from Judd, but the reason he did it is not so noble. He is a little too commanding for my tastes, but he is perfect for her.
Average customer rating:
- Truth Masquerading as Absurdity
- Baring All in Barntrosna
- A Desperate World Indeed
- Entertaining but mired in excessive language
- mucho disappointment
|
Mondo Desperado: A Serial Novel
Patrick Mccabe
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Contemporary | British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
McCabe, Patrick | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0060194618 |
Amazon.com
You may not have heard of Phildy Hackball, but thanks to Patrick McCabe--and, we're told, to "an ingenue of an English publisher who had never been in Ireland before"--you're about to get your chance. Hackball is the putative author of Mondo Desperado, a collection of short stories that explore the underbelly of provincial Barntrosna. And what an underbelly it is! McCabe's mouthpiece delivers all the graphic details on Declan Coyningham, the holiest boy in town by far, who seems headed for a life in the church until the locals decide that his inflated prospects need further inflating (literally). Then there's Cora Bunyan, the narrator's wife, who's been enjoying one too many Hot Nights at the Go-Go Lounge. And let us not overlook a cameo by the actual Bruce Lee, who importunes Hackball to be his ghost writer. Some would have it that the kung fu maestro is just a waiter from the Red Lotus Temple restaurant in Mullingar, but the narrator is nonetheless determined to maintain the highest literary standards:
I wish my story to be as near perfect as possible. To outline and candidly delineate not just the background to my years of friendship with Bruce Lee but that of the martial arts as we have come to know them--the heists, the head-busting she-wolves, the drug lords, the torn trousers, the pieces of other films that get stuck in by accident. And until I have that story told to my satisfaction, I see no point in concerning myself unduly as to whether I receive the occasional letter from a publisher or not.
McCabe's follow-up to Breakfast on Pluto (which made the Booker Prize shortlist) confirms him as one of Ireland's most distinctive and inimitable voices. The stories in Mondo Desperado seem to emanate from some parallel universe, but with their diseased take on national stereotypes, they provide an incisive, viciously cruel commentary on some of Ireland's most sacred cows. And in the end, Phildy Hackball is a wonderfully naive drinking companion, forever leading us up the wrong alleyway. Each time you think you're safely at home, another satiric grenade goes off in your face. Read, laugh, and be afraid. --Alan Stewart
Book Description
Patrick McCabe has long been recognized as a writer of rare talent and unique voice, whose vision of the world is so distinctive that "McCabesque" has become an adjective with multiple meanings, including "exquisitely, beautifully, mad in the head!"
He was a Booker Prize finalist for The Butcher Boy, which won the Irish Times Aer Lingus/Irish Literature Prize for Fiction and was made into a motion picture directed by Neil Jordan and cowritten by McCabe and Jordan. He was again a Booker Prize finalist for Breakfast on Pluto, which won the Spirit of Life Arts/Sunday Independent Irish Literature Award and was a number one international bestseller.
McCabe has been described as "the lodestone of new Irish fiction" (Wall Street Journal), "a dark. genius of incongruity and the grotesque" (Sunday Observer) and "one of Ireland's finest living writers" (New York Times Book Review).
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune commented on McCabe's "remarkable...ability to induce compassion for the unlikeliest people," and in Mondo Desperado: A Serial Novel, that ability and the full range of his "grotesque genius" (Marie Claire) combine to produce a brilliant, macabre' dementedly funny and surreally imagined fiction of intertwined narratives set in a small Irish town. McCabe himself has described Mondo Desperado as being "like Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio--on drugs."
In his mondo tales of the insular town of Barntrosna, McCabe assembles a distinctly Irish crew of odd and unusual inhabitants who live on and regularly cross, often unconsciously, the border between fantasy and reality. In "Hot Nights at the Go-Go Lounge," Larry Bunyan is certain his demure wife is secretly out at night with deadbeat swingers, shooting drugs and having wild sex, while in "I Ordained the Devil," the Bishop of Barntrosna confesses that his ordination of Father Packie Cooley was really an ordination of His Satanic Majesty.
Another Barntrosna resident, Dr. John Joe Parkes, discovers "The Valley of the Flying Jennets," the secret place in the mountains created by his Dr. Frankenstein--type medical ancestor where his horrible, mutated genetic failures live. In the concluding "Forbidden Love of Noreen Tiernan," Noreen escapes Barntrosna, goes to London for nursing school, finds a lesbian lover, and teams up with her to rob and terrorize London until her mother, boyfriend and parish priest bring Noreen back home.
With sly wit, characteristic, brilliant blending of sadness and humor and macabre genius, Mondo Desperado is a wonderfully imagined work of fiction--McCabe's most dazzling yet--from a truly original literary talent.
Customer Reviews:
Truth Masquerading as Absurdity.......2002-05-12
I love Patrick McCabe's books. I really thought "The Butcher Boy," "Breakfast on Pluto," and "The Dead School" were exceptional so I knew I would love "Mondo Desperado" as well and I was right. This collection of stories is as wacky as they come (maybe even as wacky as "Breakfast on Pluto") but they are terrific and McCabe's alter ego, Phildy Hackball, is a character you won't soon forget.
Even Pat Cork's opening "Appreciation" of Phildy's decision to cast the citizens of Barntrosna as characters in a low-budget, B-movie (reminiscent of those the boys used to sneak out of school to see) is hilarious. And the citizens of Barntrosna don't let Phildy down. Time and again, they prove themselves more than worthy of any B-moviemaker's attention.
There is nothing quite as shocking in "Mondo Desperado" as the heinous crimes that took place in McCabe's masterpiece, "The Butcher Boy" and the citizens of Barntrosna aren't quite as off-the-wall hysterical as Patrick Braden, star of "Breakfast on Pluto," but "Mondo Desperado" does prove time and time again just how desperate the world really is.
There is the priest who believes he has ordained Satan himself, the Barntrosna girl who finds lesbian love in London and most of all, there is Larry Bunyan, the protagonist of "Hot Nights at the Go-Go Lounge." Larry, for reasons both he and I don't quite understand, believes his rather frumpy wife, Cora, is having more than one affair behind his back. Larry is overcome with disbelief, but still, he says, he really has to hand it to Cora, for who would have believed it.
What McCabe's characters share in common, and the thread that ties these stories together, is the pathetic quality of their ludicrous plights. Plights they have, for the most part, created themselves. We don't want to be like them, but we can't help but see little bits and pieces of ourselves in them and it makes us laugh or cry...depending on good a sense of humor one has.
I don't think "Mondo Desperado" is quite Patrick McCabe at his finest. I think you need "The Butcher Boy" or "Breakfast on Pluto" for that, but "Mondo Desperado" comes very close. It's satiric, it's wacky, it's ludicrous, it's truth masquerading as absurdity. If you haven't yet read Patrick McCabe, "Mondo Desperado" might be a great place to start.
Baring All in Barntrosna.......2001-07-09
From behind the shield of his narrative's narrator, Phildy Hackball, Patrick McCabe hazards forth once again to peel away the myths we'd still like to believe about Ireland and about human beings. It's the sort of expose he's done before, masterfully, in the Butcher Boy and again in The Dead School. Unfortunately, for this reader, Mondo Desperado lacks the narrative focus, depth of insight, and most importantly, any shred of sympathy for the human curiosities on display. By telling his tales through an eccentric narrator, McCabe allows his own eccentric voice too much free rein. The lack of discipline is telling: the verbal riffs are not as sharp, the flashes of embarassing insight not so difficult to ignore. Ultimately the humour, black as ever with McCabe, fails to be funny because the pillory is overcrowded. Barntrosna becomes little more than a roadside attraction; the serial of stories a sort of "Failte Isteach" in a funhouse mirror. I failed to find the fun though.
A Desperate World Indeed.......2000-12-04
Irish writer, Patrick McCabe seems to be someone whose work you either love or hate with no in between. Anyone who has enjoyed his other books, such as The Butcher Boy, Breakfast on Pluto or The Dead School, is going to love Mondo Desperado. The uninitiated are going to be in for a surprise with McCabe's highly distinctive voice and style. It is black comedy with a capital "B," but it is black comedy of the highest order. In Mondo Desperado, McCabe builds on his earlier themes of life in the rural Irish borderlands. This book, set in the fictional town of Barntrosna, is the perfect vehicle for McCabe to showcase his ironic observations of the modern-day world.
The narrator of Mondo Desperado, which is structured like a series of short stories, is Phildy Hackball who takes us on a tour of Barntrosna. Although Phildy describes his major interests as being the cinema and drinking with his friends, his real passion lies in writing weird and wonderful stories based on his own unique observations of the residents of Barntrosna. With Hackball as narrator, McCabe allows himself carte blanche to let his absurdly comic imagination run wild. The results are dark, surreal, hilarious and outrageous. The tone of Mondo Desperado is in perfect keeping with its absurd subject matter. Hackball is a narrator who is never afraid of taking the liberty of using ten adjectives to describe something when one would have done very nicely. He gives us a view of life that is nothing less than a surrealistic riot, a panoply of color and activity concealed beneath the facade of the average Irish town.
It is this very absurdity of the mundane and the ordinary that gives McCabe his unique vision of the world and sets his work apart from that of other writers. Although the events described in Mondo Desperado are surrealistic in the extreme, each one is firmly rooted in reality. We begin by identifying with the characters so completely and then McCabe, in his genius, takes them to the blackest reaches of their soul and inflicts upon them the most terrible and bizarre of circumstances. These stories of a stifling, oppressive society, of overbearing mothers and hard drinking fathers, of hormonally-crazed young people driven slightly insane are, frighteningly, only a small step away from the world in which each of us lives our day-to-day life.
This is McCabe's unique talent and it is a talent he has developed to the fullest. He can make us laugh out loud and, at the same time, make us take a serious look at our prejudices, our stereotypes, our beliefs, our lives. Mondo Desperado is a book that deserves to be read by lovers of black comedy, lovers of good literature and anyone with an interest in modern-day rural Ireland. It is a wild roller coaster ride to the very edge of consciousness through a desperate world, indeed.
Entertaining but mired in excessive language.......2000-10-17
I like quirky characters, odd scenarios and clever plot twists, which is what is contained in Mondo Desperado, but the language employed in the book takes away from the story. McCabe has a cast of oddballs with unusual stories. However, I fond myself re-reading sentences frequently because of his tangents and run-ons. While I can appreciate the conversational manner of characters, I found the style to be overkill that took away from my reading.
On the plus side, the stories were funny and unexpected. None were predictable and many were downright outrageous. I especially liked the last (and longest) of the stories which involved a beautiful and selfless young nurse-in-training who becomes an outlaw submissive lesbian.
McCabe has a fine imagination that incorporates some of the underbelly of society with a lightheartedness that not many authors can do. He is reminiscent of Vonnegut in his ability to create entertaining, unusual stories, but Vonnegut reads effortlessly, which, unfortunately, isn't the case with this book.
Three stars, but streamlined language would have made it four.
mucho disappointment.......2000-08-17
this is so bad compared to the butcher boy. he did write well up til now, even though it got weaker as he went along. i wish we had the old pat mccabe, the one that could write and tell stories but instead we get a poor attempt of impressing us with language that fails. this book has the feeling of revenge without reason.
Product Description
He was wanted by the law throughout the state of Texas - but the love of one special woman was the daring desperado's greatest danger...
Books:
- Devils on the Deep Blue Sea : The Dreams, Schemes and Showdowns That Built America's Cruise-Ship Empires
- Diary Sentimental Journey
- Driven To Distraction : Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood
- Enhancing Trader Performance: Proven Strategies From the Cutting Edge of Trading Psychology (Wiley Trading)
- Every Storm (Contemporary Romance)
- Feels Like Family (Sweet Magnolias)
- For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women
- Forever After
- Gabe (Buckhorn Brothers, Book 3)
- Garrett Files(Sweet Silver Blues/ Bitter Gold Hearts/ Cold Copper Tears)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- 2,286 Traditional Stencil Designs
- The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World
- Gas Phase Tropospheric Chemistry of Organic Compounds
- Options Trading: The Hidden Reality
- How to Start a Faux Painting or Mural Business: A Guide to Making Money in the Decorative Arts
- Soil Science & Management
- Sleeping Through the Night...and Other Lies: The Mysteries, Marvels, and Mayhem in the First Three Y
- Knotwork And Spirals: A Celtic Art Workbook
- Graphic Design Basics, Revised Printing
- Kitchener: Architect of Victory, Artisan of Peace
Deep Cover: The Inside Story of How DEA Infighting, Incompetence and Subterfuge Lost Us the Biggest Battle of the Drug War
Drug Lord: The Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin : A True Story
Kings of Cocaine
Drug Wars - The Camarena Story
Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires
