From Library Journal
Lamott has written before about copingwith death in Hard Laughter , with life in Rosie. But Joe Jones is about nothing else; coping seems to fill the hearts and minds of the characters at Jessie's Cafe, and it certainly dominates their epigrammatic, italic-studded conversation. Not that theirs isn't a lot to cope with. Louise, cook and philosophical earth mother, pines for Joe, the faithless lover she sent away, and he, a hypochondriacal drifter, longs for her. Willie, Jessie's gay grandson, loses a lover to a distant job and his grandmother to heart failure. And those are only their current trials. Lamott's spare prose can sing, but here it too often sounds forced. "Life is hard and then you die," as these characters note more than once, is too trendy and insubstantial a framework for the fine work Lamott can do. Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
From AudioFile
Imagine a café facing a waterfront. Then imagine Jessie and Georgia (who have 160 or so years between them) holding court for the customers at the "regulars'" table. Georgia, the luscious cook, reigns from the kitchen. Willie, Jessie's gay grandson, moons over his new love as he bakes the specialty of the day. Listeners can leave the rest to Barbara Rosenblat, who delights in telling of the lives in these pages. Rosenblat's craft in reading is a security blanket for the listener: You know that every character is true to the author's wishes and that Rosenblat will never let go of the center of each individual. You feel a part of the entire production and carry the joy of having heard it . . . maybe forever. J.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
