Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!
Rate this book!
Write a review?
It's funny...I read this book several years ago, then re-read it several weeks ago and didn't get around to writing about it until now. I thought it was going to be one of those books that would be easy for me to put in the "good riddance" pile, but I ended up enjoying it....except, now that a short time has passed, it's already fading to a blur in my memory. The book is about an incredibly beautiful girl named Lena who lives a sheltered life as an orphan on a "farm." She and her brother go to N...
Stupid Goodreads didn't save my review the first time - so here's the retyped version. Btw, has anybody noticed how difficult it is to access one's own reviews in this badly-designed website? I'm tempted to go back to LibraryThing.So, Bogosian is a better writer than I'd thought he was but this book is a light read, I'm getting the sense he didnt push himself harder to go beyond the surface concerns of his characters (which have been taken up by numerous other writers - one of them being the aut...
Engaging read.
I was so excited when this new novel came out and it was just as good as Mall. Plus he changed it up and had a female main character this time and I still felt he was really on point. More drugs and fucked up shit.
The first thing I have to say about Eric Bogosian is he is amazing with words. With that said....this was not a light book. I don't think of the things I read as shallow, or drivel, or meaningless, though I do admit to reading some things merely because I know they'll be fun and aren't all heavy and weighted. But they're still meaningful in their own way. I've only read one book, Kevin Brooks' Lucas, that was so true and well written that part of me wished, when I had done, that I hadn't read it...
Gone. Her face's threadbare version in the hours between morphine...He'd seen her not really recognizing him, not really, when it came down to it, caring who he was. It was disgusting, that pain could do that. God should never have allowed pain with the power to do that. What was the point of it, except to shame and disgust everyone? To make a mockery of love? If that was God, then fuck God, whether there was a reason for it or not. If there was a reason then fuck the reason.Men look for a reaso...
An interested threading of three characters at the beginning of their respective and overlapping downward spirals. The twists are often predictable, but often by design. (The preface describes a character's drug use, so it's not a surprise when she tries drugs later on.) The appeal of this book is it's exploration of the things that can make us insane: drugs, love/lust, as well as mental illness. Do any of these characters find balance again? I'm not telling.
This was the September 2012 book for the Denver/Boulder Oberlin book club.While there is some interesting writing, I found this to be an ugly book, unpleasant to read and with no enlightenment or lesson to make that journey worth it.
This could make a great companion to _Fast Girls_! Bogosian does a great "reveal" about the protagonist. It explains why her life was so horrible in her small town, and why it had the potential to be so great once she hit the big city.
The question for a man is what is the difference between lust and love and when does a man think with his brain and use his brain to also feel love instead of just using his dick? This seems to be the pivotal point in this story for Rick. He is finally able to turn away from his obsession with Reba when he realizes he loves his wife and children and the dissatisfaction he feels toward life is within himself and isn't rooted in them or his relationship with them. He must simply change his attitud...
Gritty, realistic, and also at times very philosophical. My favorite character was Rick, because of the struggle he was going through. He's very human as opposed to Rena, the other protagonist. She is like an angel on earth, untouchable, perfect. Their affair gives them both what they think they need: for him it is another chance at love and passion. For her it is to be loved and comforted for more than just her beauty. I would definitely read more by this author.
Worst book ever. Only reason I finished it was that I had to for my book club. Terrible, terrible and more terrible.
If I had to choose one word to describe "Wasted Beauty," that word would be "schizophrenic." The novel is told from the alternating perspectives of three characters: two erstwhile "lovers" and the brother of one of these lovers, who just so happens to be, wonder of wonders, schizophrenic (maybe - His actual diagnosis is a bit unclear). Within those alternating perspectives, the novel erratically flops from first person, to second person, to third person omniscient, sometimes within the same SENT...
If one were to equate Bogosian's first novel, Mall: A Novel, to his play subUrbia, then one could also draw a similar parallel between 'Wasted Beauty' and his recent play 'Red Angel.' The Jeff of both Mall and subUrbia were two closely related characters, much like the leading men in Wasted Beauty and Red Angel. In print, however, Bogosian is able to delve deeper into the characters' inner thoughts. When reading his work, one can just tell that Bogosian is an actor -- he often follows dialogue d...
With Bogosian, it always seems to be more about the writing itself than ever about the plot. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.