Ben NadlerCritiques

A delightful celebration of Jewish delicatessens in an accessible comics format, full of history and humor, and guaranteed to make you hungry.

Absolutely adorable. Love the retelling, especially with the Princess presented as something more than just the prize to be won.

Heretics! by Steven Nadler and Ben Nadler covers some of the history of modern Western philosophy beginning with Galileo and cleverly linking up philosophers and interweaving them until it finishes with Newton. I liked how the book flowed chronologically so that you can easily see how one philosopher influenced another. Philosophy is a heavy topic and I did slow down from time to time in order to understand some of this, but the author is very good at introducing the subject in small doses with simple, not too detailed drwings so that it isn't too difficult to follow. A good basic introduction to these philosophers and their beliefs.

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. A number of similarities between this book and my family life, (including my living in New Jersey as a child, getting into punk rock & atheism as a teenager, as well as my father's military service and California linguist school training) made the novel highly appealing. The house shows, trainhoppers, dumpstering, and late night adventures all sounded right. The struggling against conformist religious pressures sounded right. The joining the military to escape a tough situation sounded right. But then things started getting silly and over the top... Snorting coke off a peacenik foreigner's breasts and getting arrested/thrown out of the military? Freeloading with some random veteran he hitchhiked with while he was a fugitive? The conversion to Christianity, the subway hunt, the missionary work, the spy games? It was all just too much nonsense after a fairly strong and realistic start. Wish it could've stayed on track.½

Description:

A modern day coming-of-age story detailing the life and decisions of Sammy Harvitz; a dissatisfied teen on a voyage of self discovery, who doesn't really know what he's looking for, or what he wants in life. His attempts at finding himself lead to many strange places, including the punk-rock scene, the army, prison, and the streets; and the decisions he's faced with - good or bad - ultimately lead him to unexpected conclusions about himself and his generation.

Review:

At first glance, I wondered what the title, Harvitz, As to War, alluded to, as well as why the cover had a "home-made" permanent marker and duct-tape theme going on., but I liked the overall cover presentation. After reading, I realized that the "war" was inside Sammy and that the cover was the perfect representation of his mentality: imperfect, young, and unsettled - a modern wanderer. It took me about 75 pages to actually get into the book and get a hint as to what was going on. This was partially because Sammy's logic was so strange, and because there were a few sections that felt "clunky" and had to be reread, but after the lull, I really started to enjoy reading about Sammy's trials and tribulations, no matter how ridiculous, painful, or depressing. Sammy was really easy to sympathize with, but I felt that his overall character was a bit lacking, I never got a clear picture of him or his personality because he seemed to make random decisions and was a complete follower throughout the book; always making changes based on the opinions/styles of others. I think that it would have been easier to understand him if I had known "when" certain events were happening; there was no real way to plot out a timeline for his character, so I had no idea if months or years had passed throughout the story. The plot-line was confusing at times, but still entertaining, although the ending was very abrupt and left me wanting for some sort of conclusion never written. The author page photo kind of reminded me of Sammy, which was a really cool idea - intended or not, but I think a readers discussion or guide would have been useful too. Overall, Ben Nadler's first novel is definitely worth the read, and I am interested in reading other books he pens, especially if there is some sort of continuance. Recommended for teens and adults looking for an interesting coming-of-age story where change doesn't always come easy.

Rating: Bounty's Out (3.5/5)

*** I received this book from the author, (LibraryThing Early Reviewers) in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.½

Sammy Harvitz is fighting his own war trying to figure out his purpose is in the world. It's an interesting coming of age story. I just have not been able to finish it yet but will try again because I am determined to see how it ends.

Needed to think about this one before reviewing it.
Start with a positive. An easy read and a fair first novel for the author. Nadler has a unflourished style.
The title is an enigma. Is there a symbolism or reference there that I missed? The protagonist, Sammy, is not some one easy to sympathize with. His experiences are rather pedestrian in today's world, but I did not find any way to related to or care about him. His emotions were flat. Was it an attempt to portray some one with Aspergers?
The story itself ends so abruptly the reader is really left with no conclusion. There's not even enough given for the reader to really draw a conculsion for himself.
Perhaps the author bit off more than he could chew by trying to make this an example of post-modern liteature, or even the next wave yet to be named (but believed by some critics to have a start in the US after the events of 9-11).

I had a very difficult time getting into this book. The first hundred pages or so were like wading through mud. After struggling through those, I was pleasantly surprised at how engaged I was with Sammy's character. You begin to thoroughly care for his well-being and hope for a good life for him, despite his seemingly endless stream of bad decisions. This was not my usual fare, but by the end of the story I was astounded at how raw it felt. I felt "kicked in the gut" so-to-speak. The ending, while completely unexpected, was the most perfect end I could have come up with.

I enjoyed this book despite the slow start and the lost ending. It was an interesting read once you got about a third of the way in. Sammy's life and choices draw you in and I found myself cheering for him and hoping he would find his way. In the end I would recommend this book to others with a warning that it is slow to get started. Mr. Nadler is obviously a talented author and I will look for his books in the future.½

I'm kind of in the middle with this book. It's definitely an easy read and held my attention throughout. There were some moments that the writing seemed to be a bit choppy, especially in the beginning. I do think it got much better as it went along. I got into a flow and finished the book rather quickly.
As for the story, it was pretty engaging throughout. There were some little details of Sammy's every day life that could have been left out without it affecting the story that I don't think were necessary. Sammy's transformation to Christianity, for some reason I can't pinpoint, was not entirely convincing to me. Maybe he just didn't seem like the type that would find Jesus. Maybe it was absolute, blind devotion that didn't seem likely.
I would agree with other reviewers regarding time lapses. It would have been easier to follow certain points had we known how much time had elapsed. It seemed at some points it was probably years and others it was months but you can't entirely tell. A little more mention of timelines throughout the book would have helped.
I too had to reread the last couple pages to make sure I didn't miss something. It's an ending that leaves you somewhat hanging.
I also echo the sentiment about putting the authors picture at the end. I kept imagining him as Sammy.
Overall, it's a good book but not great. I would recommend the read. The author has some obvious talent that will likely get better, and it's definitely an impressive first novel.

The Early Reviewer blurb about this book really caught my attention - punk rock, Judaism, baptism by fire? Yes, please. I did enjoy my reading of this one for the most part, and I'm impressed that this is a first book by an MFA student.

The content was pretty engaging, although I did get irritated every so often at how frequently Sammy gets himself into less-than-ideal situations. But isn't that the way our lives go, after all? As soon as something is together, something else falls apart.

As far as pacing goes, in retrospect I feel like I could've used less depth or detail in Sammy's punk rock phase, because it outweighed the other areas of his life in a slightly confusing way. In trying to keep up with how long episodes lasted and what Sammy's age at a given time was, I struggled a little. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy the sections about Sammy's time at Fort Pacino; rather, I found them more engaging than some of the other parts, which influenced the pacing for me.

Sammy is a relatively sympathetic character. I would have liked to have known more about Denise, and of course I am troubled by the story of Chagger.

However, what troubled me most was the ending. I felt like I had missed something. I re-read it multiple times, and although I appreciate the idea that it wasn't tied up cleanly with a lovely bow on top (which wouldn't have fit with Sammy's story), I definitely do not feel like I understood what was happening. Perhaps I understood the significance on some deeper level, but I felt a bit like saying, "Huh?" when I got to the last sentence.

Every once in a while, there were stylistic choices that I didn't like - ways of phrasing, word choices, etc. I was jarred out of my reading a handful of times by the way the words were put down on paper. In a way, it felt like those sections were "trying too hard" to be esoteric or stylized or... something. But it wasn't too frequent, and I was able to move past those instances.

Even now, a few days from finishing the book, I keep coming back to the title. I am consistently associating it with "marching as to war" from "Onward, Christian soldiers." I hope that's a correct association. I'm still dwelling on what the connection means for me as a reader, though.

Overall, this was an interesting, engaging read. I read it fairly quickly, and there were times I didn't want to stop reading. I would count that as a success if I were a first-time author.

This particular Early Reviewer Book was an interesting read. I was sucked in immediately and pulled along at a fairly fast pace. I empathized with Sammy, the main character, who struggles through his young life without a whole lot of guidance. I was disappointed by the ending, but after pondering it for a while I came to understand it. Nice job, Mr. Nadler! I would recommend this book to others.

For some reason, I couldn't put this book down; I stayed up way past my bedtime and had it read in three days. For a first book, Nadler has done a great job. He takes a boring, everyday human being and tells a compelling narrative about his life. Sammy isn't special and never thinks he is, which is depressing but encouraging to the reader in that we're not reading about some hot shot, just some guy trying to make it. Nadler uses a memoir-esk style, which helps the book along but subjects the reader to a little bit of jumping; there were quite a few times where I wanted explanations, clarifications or simply transition sentences (as someone who enjoys copy-editing, I would have LOVED to work on this book with Nadler, it's an editors dream.) Timelines were also an issue for me because sometimes a day would take a paragraph or pages to play out. However, when its written this way, it makes sense that this would be the case because if I was telling a story about myself, I know I would leave parts out. Also, the style helps the reader to see Sammy's personality, as the 'add-on thoughts' were humorous and, at times, deep (though at other times were a bit cliche.) This style of writing also helps to draw in readers to an otherwise boring story, we're compelled to read because it 'feels' real. At first, I was disappointed with the ending; I felt that it left me hanging. When I woke up this morning and reflected, though, I have decided that I am now content; the story couldn't last forever and Nadler did a great job making the ending "punk-rock," and that's how Sammy would have wanted it. Worth a read, though (and I hope I don't sound closed minded) I probably could have done with out the railroad/train car scene with Cicada. Also, in case the publisher is reading this, it would have been better for me to have the authors picture and bio at the end of the book, as there were times that I associated his picture with Sammy and may have made an initial judgement about the book that I regret.½