EAST OF EDEN (John Steinbeck) - March 30/09

Well, that was a bit of an ordeal. East of Eden is certainly very well written and it's incredibly dense and epic, yet the book feels as though it's been expanded out from a normal length to something that's five times longer than necessary. Steinbeck offers up a whole host of side characters and subplots that simply aren't all that interesting, and by the time the book is finished, the reader has forgotten most of them. I'm glad I read it, but I would hardly call it an entertaining read (it felt like work most of the time). **1/2 out of ****

THE MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH (Michael Chabon) - March 23/09

Interesting yet often fatally pretentious, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is essentially Wonder Boys from the perspective of a younger character. It's admittedly interesting the way Chabon turns the central character into a homosexual midway through - we think he'll wind up with Cleveland's girl Jane, but he instead chooses Arthur - but the book is too often bogged down in overly flowery instances of prose. **1/2 out of ****

THE ASSOCIATE (John Grisham) - March 2/09

This is probably the first Gisham book I've read since the year 2000 or so, and it definitely reminded me of why I liked his stuff in the first place. The middle seems to have been padded out with too many superfluous details - ie the minutia of the case, technology stuff, etc - yet it's hard to deny that the whole thing moves like a rocket as it approaches its conclusion. But that conclusion is really bizarre; the central villain, Bennie, gets away and is never heard from again. Our hero, Kyle, heads to his father's firm to become partner, but he might be killed at anytime. It's a strange conclusion that I guess is meant to be more authentic than a typically action-packed finale. Still, it's jarring and I can't help but hope that there'll be a sequel at some point. *** out of ****