Book Review - "nice big american baby"

"nice big american baby" by Judy Budnitz
My grade: B+

My relationship with Judy (yes, I'm on a first-name basis!) is not simple. After reading, and loving, "The Flying Leap", I thought: those are exactly the kind of stories I want to write! And needless to say, Judy became a kind of hero for me, a writer I really looked up to. As often happens in situations like this, though, I'm somewhat disappointed. What I really liked about Judy before is that she took something normal, and slowly went into the absurd with it. And she did it so nonchalantly, that we weren't even sure at what point the change took place. Some of the same can be found in this book, except Judy bypasses the absurd, and goes straight for the abstract. In my opinion, she went one notch too far.

Aside from that, I found the writing too raw in some points. Really, unpardonably raw. My favorite stories, nonetheless, remain the first one, "nice big american baby" and "preparedness". I likewise have to say that Judy has an incredible depth of creativity, and I would definitely read another book of hers, especially short stories.

Book Review

"Flying Leap: Stories" by Judy Budnitz

My grade: A-

This is a compilation of short stories, some of which are absolutely amazing. Budnitz seems to have a fascination with starting with something common and normal, and slowly (or sometimes quickly) warping it into something outrageous. She occasionally touches on something so profound, so fundamental, before leaping away from it, I would really love to read a deeper analysis (from her) on some of these topics. A very good read.

Book Review

"If I Told You Once" by Judy Budnitz

My grade: A

This was really an excellent book, which I can only recommend to everyone. In the beginning, parts of it reminded me of "The Road", due to its gloom and creeping heaviness. At some point, however, it started to bear an uncanny resemblance to "One Hundred Years of Solitude", with its many generations living together, no one ever dying, and the stories repeating themselves. But I mean that in a good way; I'm a fan of Marquez.

It's hard to say what this book is about exactly. It's kind of an immigrant story, but not exactly. It's a story about mothers and daughters, but it's really much more than that. It reads like a fast read, but it's much more profound than that characterization suggests. It made me cry (a lot) and it definitely gave me something (a lot) to think about. Special thanks to Anna for recommending this book.