Letters To Alice King Grossman 9780997670899 Books
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This lyrically written novel gives you Frazier Pickett III--the “slumbering man.” He has taken up looking over the top of fake reading glasses. His dirty little secret he’s desperately myopic, actually preferring not to clearly see what’s going on. Having penned three unpublished manuscripts, the slumbering man hasn’t written anything in over four years, nor has he been to a street protest to push back against endless warring, climate change, economic injustice, or just name any number of movements of which he used to be on the front lines. Margaret, his wife, tunes him out as much over his worsening condition as her angst in not being able to find the courage to pen the novel she dreams of writing. In need of muses, while Margaret distantly awaits him to be hers, the slumbering man falls for the beautiful French contemporary artist Anastasie Moreau. Letters To Alice also tells the story of Katya Ivashov, Boris Pasternak’s young writing protégé, who inspires Pasternak to get his manuscript for Doctor Zhivago smuggled out of Russia for publication in the West, risking their lives. What does this have to do with ending Frazier’s slumber or perpetuating it and, what’s more, who is Alice?
Letters To Alice King Grossman 9780997670899 Books
Brilliant. In a word, my reaction to King Grossman’s novel, ‘Letters to Alice’. It is about artistic endeavor, mostly about writing, and the need for a ‘muse’ to drive inspiration. I am a writer, as Ajax Minor, and had never really thought about the importance of a ‘muse’. I’ve never had one, as far as I know, and have only drawn inspiration from real life. Other artists have heads bursting with ideas, such as Picasso or the Beatles, and may need neither muse nor personal history to motivate. Not being a genius I wouldn’t know. But Grossman’s characters’ search for muses embeds a central question in the book: Is it possible to have more than one muse? And in a practical sense, can a person love more than one other man, or woman. The answer seems to be ‘yes, but not without complications and pain’.The really brilliant aspect of this book is its construction as a novel within a novel. One story is contemporary and concerns a couple, Frazier and Margaret, writers, struggling to improve their art and also their marriage. The other is about, and it appears written by, Margaret’s grandmother, a novelist in Stalinist Russia.
There are not many books written this way. ‘Grapes of Wrath’, ‘War and Peace’, ‘Moby Dick’ and Updike’s ‘Memories of the Ford Administration’ come to mind. It is a real skill to pull this off, but Grossman does! And while the two books within ‘Alice’ are very different in style, the voice of the writer is the same. Deeply involved with his characters.
Collin McCann in ‘Letters to a Young Writer’ claimed that language drives a story. I was skeptical. I don’t view my own writing that way. But ‘Alice’ proves his point. Frazier and Margaret, and especially Frazier, are self absorbed. So there is a lot of self reflection. Thus the prose is dense. It has to be. The only quibble I have is that it could use a bit of thinning. Also, Grossman’s metaphors are terrific and that is a gift. But sometimes the metaphor can distract readers and not allow them to paint the scene in their own minds. That being said it is highly readable.
As for the parallel story, the main character, Katya, is other directed and the prose is cleaner, more economical. And I’ll have to admit to a fascination with Russian and Soviet history, so I was hooked.
Bottom line, buy the book and read the book!
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Tags : Letters To Alice [King Grossman] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. This lyrically written novel gives you Frazier Pickett III--the “slumbering man.” He has taken up looking over the top of fake reading glasses. His dirty little secret: he’s desperately myopic,King Grossman,Letters To Alice,Occupy the Word Publishing,0997670894,Fiction Literary,creative inspiration; muse; Boris Pasternak; Doctor Zhivago; writer's block; social activism
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Letters To Alice King Grossman 9780997670899 Books Reviews
A sweeping and enjoyable read. If you enjoy literary history, matters of justice, mature relationships or just want a beautifully written novel, give "Letters to Alice" a read. The characters are well developed and real and the story is a fine one.
The lives and loves of these characters intertwine in this richly layered novel that delivers a thoroughly delightful surprise of an ending. King Grossman is a poet, with exquisite, evocative language, and Letters To Alice is a rich read that will leave you examining your own soul for greatness.
All said, I find that I read novels mainly because I cannot resist stories, well-told stories. Letters to Alice delivers big on this count, serving up to the reader an artfully concocted and thoroughly bewitching brew. Indeed the author, King Grossman, seems to have found that elusive sweet spot of literary pharmacology - a story both fast acting and long lasting - instantly enjoyable as a page turner, yet with powerful thematic and artistic currents that continue to upwell through the mind long after you've put his book down.
Katya's Russia of the turbulent Stalin era. Frazier's America of the present turbid times. The author creates two worlds, populated by a splendid cast of characters, in which preconceptions, beliefs, and ideas are tested and stressed, some to the point of breaking. A battle of ideas underlies the conflicts arising between and within his characters. Whether or not you agree with the outcome of any particular battle, you cannot help but be deeply interested in the treatment of the questions, which strike into matters of universal human concern. Life passion. Love. Creativity and inspiration. Dreams. Responsibility and duty. Self-maiming pain avoidance. Defining success. One's attitude toward risk in life. To list just some.
Structurally, Grossman achieves a very satisfying interweave between these two worlds, treating Katya's Russia and Frazier's America in alternating chapter clusters. Pay special attention to the recurrence of themes and ideas in the interweave, and how each world informs your reading of the other.
Letters to Alice is an excellent novel. And King Grossman is a master storyteller who has that special gift of infecting readers with his own feelings. I await his next offering with great anticipation.
This is an important novel to read and examine. It delves deeply into a challenge we all face living into our authenticity in a world designed to strangle creativity and individuality. Grossman's "slumbering man" is a sympathetic character, at times heroic, but most often a human capable of a wide range of emotions and outcomes, and for the length of the novel, a man battling to live out those emotions and face the outcomes with lenses in focus. A young and energetic Soviet woman, Katya, breathes life into the story with her journey through Stalin's crackdown and the second World War, daring to live a life of meaning through her art and a movement that put many in the Gulag, or worse. Twain was once quoted, "History never repeats itself, but it rhymes", and I think Letters To Alice clearly demonstrates this in a meaningful way that opens the reader up to self examination and, hopefully, discovery.
Brilliant. In a word, my reaction to King Grossman’s novel, ‘Letters to Alice’. It is about artistic endeavor, mostly about writing, and the need for a ‘muse’ to drive inspiration. I am a writer, as Ajax Minor, and had never really thought about the importance of a ‘muse’. I’ve never had one, as far as I know, and have only drawn inspiration from real life. Other artists have heads bursting with ideas, such as Picasso or the Beatles, and may need neither muse nor personal history to motivate. Not being a genius I wouldn’t know. But Grossman’s characters’ search for muses embeds a central question in the book Is it possible to have more than one muse? And in a practical sense, can a person love more than one other man, or woman. The answer seems to be ‘yes, but not without complications and pain’.
The really brilliant aspect of this book is its construction as a novel within a novel. One story is contemporary and concerns a couple, Frazier and Margaret, writers, struggling to improve their art and also their marriage. The other is about, and it appears written by, Margaret’s grandmother, a novelist in Stalinist Russia.
There are not many books written this way. ‘Grapes of Wrath’, ‘War and Peace’, ‘Moby Dick’ and Updike’s ‘Memories of the Ford Administration’ come to mind. It is a real skill to pull this off, but Grossman does! And while the two books within ‘Alice’ are very different in style, the voice of the writer is the same. Deeply involved with his characters.
Collin McCann in ‘Letters to a Young Writer’ claimed that language drives a story. I was skeptical. I don’t view my own writing that way. But ‘Alice’ proves his point. Frazier and Margaret, and especially Frazier, are self absorbed. So there is a lot of self reflection. Thus the prose is dense. It has to be. The only quibble I have is that it could use a bit of thinning. Also, Grossman’s metaphors are terrific and that is a gift. But sometimes the metaphor can distract readers and not allow them to paint the scene in their own minds. That being said it is highly readable.
As for the parallel story, the main character, Katya, is other directed and the prose is cleaner, more economical. And I’ll have to admit to a fascination with Russian and Soviet history, so I was hooked.
Bottom line, buy the book and read the book!
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