I have read a lot of mixed reviews on this book, but I must say that for the most part I loved it. It was the first book by Moody I have ever read, and I was stunned and enchanted by his consistent use of original descriptives and emotional tension.As someone who has recently dealt with a huge loss in my life I related somewhat to the protagonist, Hex, a man in his late thirties who hasn't done much with his life and is called home to care for his very sick mother. Moody captures the mood (no pu...

Difficult to get into, but well worth continuing with this heartfelt mother and son who are at the end of their tether. Brilliant!

I must be a total loser but when I read this about eight years ago I really loved the opening bit with the whosoever washes their ill mother in the bathtub stuff and thereafter was into it. I don't hate Moody as much as the rest of the world, maybe . . .

Purple America by Rick Moody was a novel that enraged me. He's been compared to one of my favorites, John Cheever, by many well-meaning critics, but rather than a young writer taking some cues from Cheever's careful and lightly applied poetry and sentiment as regards infidelity, alcoholism, insanity and lurking bi-sexuality, Moody is as effusive as busted water main. All of the previously described elements are there, but without Cheever's wit, irony or craft. None of his grace, either. Moody is...

very interseting book, although faded at the end. Very pretty but sometimes overwhelming writing, and a great character study.

Rick Moody, Purple America (Back Bay Books, 1997)When Rick Moody released The Ice Storm a few years back, he was heralded as the next big thing in the publishing business. Then Ang Lee got ahold of it and made it into a box-office flop that garnered critical acclaim from here to tomorrow, and is widely considered one of the finest films of the nineties that no one actually saw.Moody's followup is Purple America, and it's horrible. Unreadably thick prose with no letup. Where most trade paperbacks...

When Rick Moody is good, I don't grudge him that. Unfortunately, in this book, he is not good. At all. His usual forte is writing unsympathetic characters in a manner that holds a reader's interest despite themselves, but he doesn't pull it off here. Instead it's just creepy, and not in a can't look away from the car accident awesome way like Ice Storm... just kinda sad and gross in a way that makes you feel as bad for the person who wrote the book as the incredibly unsympathetic characters.

When the nuclear family goes nuclear. Very different from Moody’s earlier publications, though containing a similar proportion of humour to grimness. Ulysseslike in the stylistic shifts of his characters’ internal monologues and their peregrinations through and around East Lyme, Connecticut.

One of the best written books I've ever read. Not easy to read due to vocabulary and the most interesting way of phrasing that author uses. This book is for those who like to think while they read.-Joe-

One of my favorite opening chapters of a novel.

Moody also wrote The Ice storm. Like The Ice Storm- Purple America takes place in Southern CT along the shore- in the Old Saybrook- Madison- Niantic- sort of area. Every time I'm driving the Merritt Parkway around the Norwalk area- I think of The Ice Storm (I've only seen the movie). I didn't completely get Purple America. The writing was intelligent and fluid. It moved me right along. The characters are nicely developed (for me- anyway). But they're dark- flawed. Uncomfortably flawed. The story...

One of the books that I read in high school that made me want to become a writer.

Clearly, Rick Moody is a talented writer. At times he shows tremendous insight, and expands writing techniques to illuminate the mood of his novels. He has a unique point of view, loves language has and definately has earned a place in the list of significant authors of his time. That is why i was left frustrated after completeing Purple America.From the beginning of Purple America you see parallels and common themes from his other work "Garden State" Too similar at points. Some characters seem

(4.2/5.0) Rick Moody invented 90's hyper realism. Give the man some credit. The detail here, the precision of observation and the generosity of description are just incredible. Slog through the first few chapters (If thee...blah, blah, prize pandering bullshit, blah), and then you'll discover his strongest prose.

never read a book so keen on dramatic scenes, what's more describing these scenes from usually more than one perspective while keeping a fantastically detailed third person going that fills in gaps, excellent if occasionally over the top, too detailed in places on mundane not all too pertinent things, find myself getting more and more ornery about narratives trying to concern me with the travails of the well-to-do, i mean i know they can suffer too but mostly i just thought ol hex or dex (never

The theme of this novel is caring for a sick and elderly parent. Moody has not done as many novels lately but I think this was in the prime of his career and fits nicely in his oeuvre. There is some zaniness in it but also a lot of emotion. It's pretty mainstream, and I thought it would make a very good movie. Surprised that it hasn't materialized but I guess there is less of a market for films based on these types of books, that have a realist edge and are essentially character-driven. http://f...

It's July so I am starting on my "book sale" books, which are always an interesting mix. The summer book sales are full classics as well as the bestsellers and critics picks from approx 10-20 years ago. Many don't age well; some are surprisingly on point to the current state of the world: Purple America is a bit of both. Two stars because I can't really recommend, but not a total loss. The book has many narrators and sometimes it comes together, but mostly not. Nuclear power is bad and families

Purple America is a dense treatise on wasted potential and dysfunctional relationships. Tragic at times, but punctuated with darkly comedic moments, fans of the films of Darren Aronofsky or the Coen brothers could find much to appreciate.There's a profound absurdity to the life of Dexter "Hex" Raitliffe. The curse of his mother's projections has dominated his life since the death of his father, Allen, so many years ago. That curse has weighed upon him for three decades - he is an ineffective pub...

Gosh this book was beautiful. If you want a book to inspire you to be a writer, read this one.It starts with an homage to language. The son, Hex, helps his sick mother from the bath and the writer, the genius Rick Moody, shows us this struggle by repeating a carefully constructed syntax. The book is sophisticated, weaving narrations of an exploding power plant with the explosions of a sick mother yearning to die, in some sense both the mother and the power plant are needing to drift out to sea.

If Truman Capote and Denis Johnson had come together to write a novel, and a well-meaning but artless editor had come through to attempt to mesh their styles in a way that dulled down both and elevated the characters nobody could particularly like... this might be the result.It's well-written and carefully put together, but I can't actually say that I enjoyed it. So, no, I wouldn't recommend it.