Good book, albeit on a topic that is a bit overdone (spoilers)

books:


	• Flesh and Blood: A Novel Michael Cunningham Picador, 2007 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 58 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Incredible language, decent plot

Flesh and Blood follows the Stassos family through 100 years of love, hate, guilt, and forgiveness, and in doing so, examines, questions, and redefines the American Dream. Cunningham's language is at once lush and eloquent, and his descriptions of both physical and emotional events are breathtakingly true to life. The book recreates not only the American experience, but the human experience as well.

The story is certainly captivating and compelling, but, if you have read The Hours, many of the themes (the relationship between young gay sons and their mothers, AIDS, suicide, parents feeling unqualified) will feel recycled. Furthermore, the plot itself is a bit untidy (typical of a family saga). It felt as if much of Flesh and Blood was practice for what Cunningham would master in The Hours.

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Loving this author!

Michael Cunningham is my new favorite author of all time. He can create a beautiful visual in one paragraph. I can't wait to read everyone of his offerings..

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Good but familiar...

"Flesh and Blood" is the story of a multigenerational Greek American family, helmed by Constantine Stassos, a traditional patriarch whose moral weaknesses lead to his family's sad downfall. The family line is battered and bruised, and reduced in numbers, as a result of Constantine's failures as a parent. There is some deconstruction of the traditional family going on here, and some hints that difficulties in life are a punishment for sin. The novel is almost biblical in its scope, although its moral compass is post-modern and progressive.

What kept me from loving "Flesh and Blood" (although I did like it very much) is that its story is not terribly original. As a fan of "The Hours" and "A Home at the End of the World," I have come to expect certain themes from Michael Cunningham. His books often deconstruct the nuclear family, examine the spectre of the AIDS pandemic, and feature alternative families. All of these things were familiar to me from reading "Home, " and they are all present in "Flesh" as well. I also think there are better multigenerational epics out there, such as "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides. If you have read all of these books, you may find that "Flesh and Blood" covers familiar ground. I know I did.

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Good book, albeit on a topic that is a bit overdone (spoilers)

You know the drill from page one - - - uptight parents born in the 1920's, have kids in the 1950s', who become hippies in the 60's/70's, do too many drugs and too many partners, and die of AIDS in the 1980's. This novel is a BIT different in that the Vietnam War gets passed over completely, without mention. I did enjoy the book, but the Hours was a complete and utter masterpiece - -this book can't really compare. I have to conclude that Mr. Cunningham does his most brilliant work whilst being inspired by other masters. I have also read Speciman Days, and found it to be enjoyable, about on par with Flesh and Blood.

I thought Flesh and Blood was overall very nicely realized, with most loose ends tied up. But my major issue with the book was the character of Ben. So, Ben's real father was the tree surgeon? Or not? I have to say not, only because that person was portrayed to be very short, and the book went on about how tall and big Ben was?? But, Ben was dark, which would lean to the tree surgeon, since Todd was painted as blonde. OK, so putting the fatherhood aside, what the heck was wrong with Ben?? I never understood his character. His whole life (even at age 5), he is just a complete wreck on the inside, but on the outside he tries to look normal for his mom? He didn't want to die, that much seems clear (and was that whole passage necessary with the death swim??), but his vanity killed him because he was embarrassed that his grandfather might have caught him in the sex act with Jamal? How did he get so flawed? Because his mother and father ignored him growing up? I don't buy it!! I believe he would have become a murderer, anyway, had he survived to adulthood. A serial killer, most likely. So then Cunningham feels bad for Susan and gives her a daughter at age 49?? Why did they have her marry a father figure?? augh!

And the Mary (mother) character really pissed me off, too. The whole time she is trying to deal with her homosexual son, she can barely stand him, and the same with her grandson Jamal. I dont' think such a mean spirited person deserved to be in their life at all.

On the book jacket they describe the 3 kids' lives and they describe Zoe as the youngest, visionary daughter. Ummm, ok, leaving home at 16 to live in NYC while your best friend turn tricks, and then becoming a sex and drugs crazed person who adopts a trasvestite mother - - -how is that visionary? It seemed to me that she took the easy way out of life.

Overall, I do recommend this book, though!!!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

From the bestselling author of The Hours and Specimen Days comes a generous, masterfully crafted novel with all the power of a Greek tragedy. The epic tale of an American family, Flesh and Blood follows three generations of the Stassos clan as it is transformed by ambition, love, and history. Constantine Stassos, a Greek immigrant, marries Mary Cuccio, an Italian-American girl, and they have three children, each fated to a complex life. Susan is oppressed by her beauty and her father's affections; Billy is brilliant, and gay; Zoe is a wild, heedless visionary. As the years pass, their lives unfold in ways that compel them--and their parents--to meet ever greater challenges.

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