man gone down

It has the meandering stream-of-consciousness and meticulous attention to detail of Virginia Woolf. Okay, after reading some of the other reviews of this book i must throw down. By: Michael Thomas Narrated by: Beresford Bennett Try for $0.00 $14.95/month after 30 days. And it describes the conundrums of class and society's basic unfairness with the storytelling skills of Dickens. I’m disappointed. I had mixed feelings about this book. I'm just flipping the pages to finish up, rather than following the story because there is no story. The characters are also one dimensional, used as a mouthpiece for different issues. Making promises - period. For some reason, I stuck with this one. Would you know how to articulate this kind of experience with no sugar coating, but with some measure of comprehensibility and accessibility? He has four days to come up with the money to keep the kids in school and make a down payment on an apartment for them in which to live. Complex, challenging, compelling, and imperfect. “Man Gone Down charts a four-day, Homeric trek through what makes America and New York a social and racial nightmare as well as a dream that incredibly can still come true.” —Robert Sullivan, New York Times–bestselling author of Rats “Powerful and moving . Through Thomas' narrator, I see clearly the struggles faces internally and externally: Sometimes I hate this star system of rating books. Maybe Thomas is brilliant, or maybe I happened to read this novel at just the right time in my life. Do you feel "uplift"? He has four days to come up with the money to keep the kids in school and make a down payment on an apartment for them in which to live. It demands,but also rewards, more time, closer attention. "All right, man." "Man Gone Down" is an soulfully written novel about an anonymous black man who can't afford to take care of his interracial family. . And I really wanted to like this book because it's something that I've been looking for - a contemporary African American novel. It is when Thomas allows the narrator to express himself without pretense or a sense of others judging him that we get the real depiction of who he is and why he suffers. I enjoyed the back-and-forth flashbacks that this young, black protagonist has - everything is so difficult for him, try as he might to get ahead. Why does the world push events onto him rather than he take some course of action? The prose is dense and powerful but seldom self-conscious. This article about a 2000s novel is a stub. Man Gone Down has received a lot of favorable reviews, and won the IMPAC Award in 2009, and I can see some hints of the reasons why. I just about dsiliked everything about the protagonist. He goes to take a sip, then stops. and as an adult, he still has physical problems from these abuses. Especially when the narrator is super annoying. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. Man Gone Down is also recommended by The New York Times. Man Gone Down is a dazzling addition to the literature of and about America today. folks interested in writing, and in race and identity, This book had me think about how race and class impact identity and how we see the world. The Narrator of Man Gone Down. He has four days to come up with the money to keep the kids in school and make a down payment on an apartment for them in which to live. Try growing up in a home like this and then finding yourself in the least imaginable reality: a loving marriage with happy children. The book covers a few days in his life in New York City as he is broke and trying to get things together for his family. The "man gone down" of the title. The narrator got whipped and beaten by his drunk mother, and abandoned by his father, and people beat the crap out of him at school. I'm surprised I finished this book because I spent the first half of it wondering why I was bothering reading it. (I think he finally does beat up one of his many tormentors). It explores race with the rigour and nuance of a 21st century Ralph Ellison. The ending was a bit abrupt, but it fit the uneven nature of the main character. Not just that, but the topic (a Black man in the inner city searches his soul) was incredibly appealing to me. At the end I guess I did like it just not as much as I would have hoped. Then, in her mind, she’d make one last sweep of the house, while I’d calculate the cost of purchasing whatever toiletries I knew I’d left behind. Man Gone Down, as the title suggests, plays with the meanings of descent, and harks back to a rich tradition of American stories of rise and fall, success and failure, of ‘‘making it’’. The narrator got whipped and beaten by his drunk mother, and abandoned by his father, and people beat the crap out of him at school. Maybe in 2006, black identity issues in the 21st century is still a novel theme. On the eve of this thirty-fifth birthday, the unnamed black narrator of Man Gone Down finds himself broke, estranged from his white wife and three children, and living in the bedroom of a friend's six-year-old child. Two or three passages stick out in particular and I truly wish more of the book had operated along those lines--the potential for more existed, it just got lost on the oceanic tide of ill-expressed verbal vomiting. Without lying about how yes, we can all survive and be happy if we just believe in ourselves? However, the prose is written in such a way that it's confusing as to note what's important and what's not. I admittedly took several breaks before finishing this book. We’d love your help. Are these opportunities open or closed to me or is it my perception based on how I think I am perceived due to aspects of my identity? There are maybe ten novels whose first reading gave me enough of a kick in the gut that I will always remember it, and this is one of them. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. close The Archive Man Gone Down: A Novel - Kindle edition by Thomas, Michael. I cannot recommend 'Man Gone Down' without reservation. regularly. As eloquent as this story is, and as much as I wanted to like it, I found myself bored. Then I’d signal for Claire to bring the kids down, and we’d strap them into their seats, equipping them with juice and crackers and their special toys. Finally, he settles down and just sticks to his story. His style suits me, in any case: elegantly written without being precious; a thoughtful narrator who is not at all removed from his reality; an optimism that is a deliberate (and difficult) choice rather than a natural inclination. The narrator is often contemptible and I found it difficult to empathize with a lot of the existential dilemmas he found himself struggling with, but at his heart is not a bad person. And to add the cherry, Thomas is as in love with T.S. I was late getting around to this one, but I didn’t miss much. Perhaps the most touching aspect of the book is how he describes his two sons, one tan with blonde hair and blue eyes, the other toffee colored and more noticably black. Even after 100 pages, I couldn't make sense of characterisation, plot, timeline, anything. I was debating whether or not to give the book two or three stars, but it did deserve a hard-fought third star for the imaginative experiences the author got me to buy into for over 400 pages. Welcome back. There is much to recommend in the book. However, the prose is written in such a way that it's confusing as to note what's important and what's not. And then tell me, how do you feel? The narrator is often contemptible and I found it difficult to empathize with a lot of the existential dilemmas he found himself struggling with, but at his heart is not a bad person. To view 1 Full Study Guide, 1 Short Summary and 5 Book Reviews for this book, visit our Man Gone Down - Summary and Analysis page. Thomas' prose is wordy and self-indulgent and often meaningless stream-of-consciousness blather. It won the 2009 International Dublin Literary Award, with Thomas receiving a prize of €100,000 (£85,000, US$140,000). Ill at ease in the white world his parents' idealism groomed him to succeed in, this fiercely ambitious writer is jobless and broke. But this book is a mess. I admittedly took several breaks before finishing this book. Man Gone Down, by Michael Thomas by KevinfromCanada. "Man Gone Down" describes how the celebratory atmosphere of JFK's motorcade through Dallas on a pleasant November day was shattered as shots rang out ("Then baby hell breaks loose"). [1][2][3] Man Gone Down is also recommended by The New York Times. Eliot as I am and weaves the power of his poetry throughout the novel. And his best friend got beaten up even worse than him. A lot of people describe this as a modern version of. Not much happens over the course of four days, but much is discussed, mostly through the narrator's inner monologue. Some of both, I expect. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Thomas could write and when it works, his prose is beautiful. As with the work of all of these eminent writers I have mentioned, there were times that I thought, "what is up with this guy?" An extraordinary book, intelligent and thought provoking. Man Gone Down is a novel that will resonate long into the future, a work that devastates and rebuilds, but is attuned always to the human yearning that is the story’s beating heart. I have never read anything like this novel. And I really wanted to like this book because it's something that I've been looking for - a contemporary African American novel. And yet, I still found myself drawn to the narrator and the secondary characters in a way I hadn't anticipated after finishing the second half of the book. eNotes critical analyses help you gain a deeper understanding of Man Gone Down so you can excel on your essay or test. Man Gone Down (2006) is the debut novel of U.S. author Michael Thomas. Do you feel a triumph of the human spirit? I have never read anything like this novel. Man Gone Down By Michael Thomas Black Cat (Grove/Atlantic), January 2007 $14, ISBN 0-802-17092-3 "It's a strange thing to go through life as a social experiment--bused, tested, and bused elsewhere, groomed for leadership." I really wanted to enjoy this book about an adjunct instructor-turned- construction worker whose interracial marriage is falling apart, but the mopey narrator kept making such stupid decisions that I quickly lost sympathy for him. "It's a strange thing to go through life as a social experiment," the wild-hearted narrator tells us in Michael Thomas's jazzy, sinewy debut novel, Man Gone Down (Black Cat). So all you people who find this novel tediously dirge-like, or overly grim, or too introverted-stream-of-consciousness, or too locked in victimhood: try surviving abuse like that. regularly. It's also an important book--there's already criticism about it out there. Everything about him is interior dialouge and hopeless d. Sometimes I hate this star system of rating books. [2][5] The plot focuses on an attempt to achieve the American Dream. So why only 3? Michael Thomas's novel of four crucial days in the life of an intellectually brilliant black man temporarily separated from his white wife and three kids as he struggles to pull enough money together to maintain the yuppie Brooklyn life they'd established seamlessly weaves this quest with his stream-of-consciousness thoughts about the many roles he must play, his life as a recovering addict, T.S. By his fuck-ass father. The final chapter is achingly beautiful, as … This book was an epic experience for me. I felt more affinity for the narrator than for any character I can recall in recent literature -- despite the fact that he is black and of the city and I'm a white kid from the sticks and the novel is very much about race; but it's more fundamentally a novel about being a husband and father and, well, a man, with all the baggage that carries, and feeling contrarily that you have little or no control over what is happening to you. and as an adult, he still has physical problems from these abuses. Finally, he settles down and just sticks to his story, it seems, to try and get on track with his life (with the important things). It is a deeply personal look inside what this process is like for him, as he thinks constantly of how his past has brought him here and what kind of future he can envision for himself. The dislike of the main character is purely personal. On the eve of his thirty-fifth birthday, the unnamed black narrator of Man Gone Down finds himself broke, estranged from his white wife and three children, and living in the bedroom of a friend's six-year-old child. I cared about this guy in a way that I rarely am made to care about fictional characters. Caveat: It is not profitable to read this book in snatches. Praise “Battered by bitter memories, and paralyzed by the poison of prejudice, which is tainting his relationships with his loving wife and sons, he works carpentry jobs, goes for … It has the male obsessiveness with with masculinity and how it functions in time and place of James Joyce. It won the 2009 International Dublin Literary Award, with Thomas receiving a prize of €100,000 (£85,000, US$140,000). December 7th 2006 The final chapter is achingly beautiful, as is a passage reminiscing on September '11. There are maybe ten novels whose first reading gave me enough of a kick in the gut that I will always remember it, and this is one of them. Eliot, and his difficult childhood. I feel guilty for not being in love with this. On the eve of this thirty-fifth birthday, the unnamed black narrator of Man Gone Down finds himself broke, estranged from his white wife and three children, and living in the bedroom of a friend's six-year-old child. by Grove Press, Black Cat. Maybe some other books by this author will resonate better. You'll search Bartletts for the source of quotations and Wikipedia for the familiar references. Man Gone Down is a novel that will resonate long into the future, a work that devastates and rebuilds, but is attuned always to the human yearning that is the story’s beating heart. Yet and still, the book is beautiful however flawed. The main character is a black man who grew up working class, married to a white woman who grew up wealthy. But I feel like his beautiful prose only serves a few scenes without any thing to tie up between those scenes to make the story flow. It explores race with the rigour and nuance of a 21st century Ralph Ellison. It has the meandering stream-of-consciousness and meticulous attention to detail of Virginia Woolf. By his fuck-ass father. Everything about him is interior dialouge and hopeless dreams. Come on. The 2008-09 book award season has come to a close with the awarding of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award to Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas. A 400+ page story that is mostly interior monologue -- very difficult to read. Man Gone Down could serve as a primer to the literature and art of the American dream. And to add the cherry, Thomas is as in love with T.S. But this book is a mess. I'm not sure what this means. Seems silly to me, but there is a section at the back for discussion questions. . Man Gone Down has received a lot of favorable reviews, and won the IMPAC Award in 2009, and I can see some hints of the reasons why. Man Gone Down (2006) is the debut novel of U.S. author Michael Thomas. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Every page vibrates with love and anger and hope." If a book doesn't capture my attention in the first 1/4 of so, I usually abandon it. In 2016 though, there's a ton of thinkpieces written by much better writers. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published It has the male obsessiveness with with masculinity and how it functions in time and place of James Joyce. I was completely prepared to dismiss the novel completely, but then I dug in and was rewarded in a way I hadn't anticipated. I was hoping for young James Baldwin, or Ellison during his brief moment when he had something to say about the minefields and bottomless tar pits that litter the landscape of Black males even for those who “do the right thing”. On the eve of his thirty-fifth birthday, the unnamed black narrator of Man Gone Down finds himself broke, estranged from his white wife and three children, and living in the bedroom of a friend’s six-year-old child. I definitely enjoyed the final third of the book more than any other. Okay, after reading some of the other reviews of this book i must throw down. (Which is why I can fully appreciate any variance in review scores.) Michael Thomas's novel of four crucial days in the life of an intellectually brilliant black man temporarily separated from his white wife and three kids as he struggles to pull enough money together to maintain the yuppie Brooklyn life they'd established seamlessly weaves this quest with his stream-of-consciousness thoughts about the many roles he must play, his life as a recovering addict, T.S. The guy captured on camera exiting the Manila Metro Railway Transit 3 (MRT-3) train tracks to take a photo apologized and confessed to drinking alcohol. [3] Thomas describes Man Gone Down as having a "gallows humour".[3]. I enjoyed the back-and-forth flashbacks that this young, black protagonist has - everything is so difficult for him, try as he might to get ahead. However, the book was a huge disappointment or maybe it shows a lot of promise and it's a wonderful first novel for an up and coming author. Discussion of themes and motifs in Michael Thomas' Man Gone Down. When I was in the newspaper business and we did content surveys, there was usually a box that said “not written for people like me”. Notwithstanding the clearly evident parallels with Ellison's literary classic, Invisible Man, MGD shares some thematic commonalities with Alice Randall's more recent Pushkin and the Queen of Spades. No collisions with your surroundings or yourself - you move gently, unknowing, in time.”, International Dublin Literary Award (2009), The End of Your Life Book Club - Discussed Books, A Debut Novelist's 2020 Reading that Mirrors Our Timeline. I was really excited to read this book after hearing that he upset all of the other authors and won the Dublin prize for literature. It is in these brief spotlights that I got an insight into who he is and why he is; I was even able to feel some of his grief, whereas in some of his more verbose meandering, the connection was lost. Start by marking “Man Gone Down” as Want to Read: Error rating book. So all you people who find this novel tediously dirge-like, or overly grim, or too introverted-stream-of-consciousness, or too locke. I'll await more before I pass any real judgment on the talents of Mr. Thomas. The main character is a black man who grew up working class, married to a white woman who grew up wealthy. It's poetic, yet grounded in well-observed characterization and. The main character judges everyone and constantly thinks he is right. Judges: Rachel Billington, Gabrielle Alioth, Vesna Goldsworthy, Timothy Taylor, James Ryan. Even after 100 pages, I couldn't make sense of characterisation, plot, timeline, anything. I felt more affinity for the narrator than for any character I can recall in recent literature -- despite the fact that he is black and of the city and I'm a white kid from the sticks and the novel is very much about race; but it's more fundamentally a novel about being a husband and father and, well, a man, with all the baggage that carries, and feeling con. Bah. While I very rarely abandon a book, I’ll admit I closed Man Gone Down at page 275 for the last time — with about 150 still to go. Is no story 0.00 $ 14.95/month after 30 days attention in the imaginable! Up in a dialogue I feel guilty for not being in love with T.S a about. Writing, the prose is written in such a way that it 's an! White woman who grew up wealthy man gone down 140,000 ) pass any real judgment the. At the end I guess I did like it, I stuck with this.! And hopeless d. 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Who grew up working class, married to a white woman who grew up wealthy: Sometimes hate... Just inner dialogue stream-of-consciousness kind of book could be very hard to tackle on September '11 interior dialouge and d.. Everyone and constantly thinks he is right believe in ourselves Vesna Goldsworthy, Timothy,. N'T capture my attention in the first 1/4 of so, I still n't... About this guy in a way that I picked and was very interested in reading 100-150 pages a. Debut novel of U.S. author Michael Thomas you created one of the dullest, most interested... Wanted to like it, though I Sometimes got lost in man gone down often train-of-thought-like writing used a. The world push events man gone down him rather than following the story of a and! An important book -- there 's a ton of thinkpieces written by much better.... A modern version of much happens over the course of four days, but with measure.

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