Gates of Eden - Ethan Coen

It has to be said that it is no great surprise that the two other reviews of this book here on dooyoo are varying between really quite good and really poor in their verdicts. For the collection looked at is very similar, with some flashes of really great and witty writing, with a lot that rather disappoints. It is also no great surprise that Ethan Coen managed a book of short stories. Several people have managed to transcend the celebrity book format and written proper literature - Ethan Hawke, Steve Martin (at least twice)... the jury might still be out on Tom Baker, though. Coen and his brother have written several movies, and got Oscar nominations and so ...  Read the complete review

Whilst the Coen brothers' films can, according to your fancy, be praised or damned as a triumph of style over narrative, this small, imperfectly-formed but ultimately entertaining collection of stories from Ethan Coen never overemphasises easy style and never falls into drab dusty throwback storytelling, etch-a-sketch impressionistic artiness or the stoopid balls-for-brains certainty that afflicts the more often-viewed corners of the twisted guggenheim edifice of american literature ( :-/ sorry about that sentence..it was half-price down the local lit-crit superstore on my Ars Longa card...i couldn't resist..it came with free air freshener....) With ...  Read the complete review