Publication Date:May 18, 1998 Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
Customer Reviews:
A fine, gut tale of authentic character and moral struggleJune 5, 2003 Matt Bloom has created not only a tale of moral struggle, but has evoked disturbingly real, multi-faceted characters that draw one in not by contrived heroism or allegory, but by unflinching attention to gut realism. He does not sweeten his characters or scenarios to make them artificially sympathetic, but displays a finely honed sensitivity and courage to face and evoke the emptiness and search for authenticity of his range of characters and experience. This is all accomplished with the skill and depth possessed only by a true writer, one who yearns to and succeeds at creating new and genuine realities.
I not only had the pleasure of watching Matt immerse himself in disparate lifestyles in order to feed his writing over the years, but I boxed more rounds with him than anyone else may boast (he looked for me during a reading when asked about his experience, but didn't see me waving). It is an honor to have seen him turn his cultivated, unpretentious talent, his hours of training and taking (and slipping - he's really good in the ring) punches, and his uncompromised immersion into life, and turn them into literature that is both memorably fine and a pleasure to experience. Highly recommended.
A fresh voice on a familiar themeJanuary 28, 2000 I just can't resist checking out fresh young voices whose books deal with New York City sleaze and whose main characters are named Nick.
Nick is a young bartender in a working class bar in the west 40's. He is a boxer who is training for his big fight. Naturally, the local mob figures want him to throw the fight. His best friend, Jimmy, is a loser who patronizes massage and porn parlors, drinks too much, and always is trying schemes that don't work. The author uses simple words but yet gets into the heart and soul of the characters. I felt their reality as they moved about in their world, breathed the dust on the West Side Highway, smelled the beer in the bar, felt the mugginess of the summer heat wave. More characterization than story, but I still couldn't stop reading. A good first novel and an author to watch. Recommended.
full of heartNovember 21, 1999 This is a strong, compelling first novel written by an author who brings compassion and heart to each of his characters. I recommend it highly.
this writer is the real thingSeptember 14, 1999 I found myself overlooking the rough edges in this book and simply enjoying experience of being held in the hands of a true storyteller. I am not a boxer and don't frequent Hell's Kitchen but after ten pages I was completely invested in the lives of the characters. The author's compassion and heart come through in every scene. Buy this book and enjoy it!
A compelling, strong storyJuly 31, 1998 In Blue Paradise, Matt Bloom creates a vivid landscape of stragglers and ragged souls - but you could never call them losers, for one of Bloom's gifts as a writer is that his characters live within the real world, where hope is always a choice, for those who reach for it.
This novel is full of great characters populating a world the reader can see, hear and almost touch. It's a difficult, painful world - one might even say it's sordid in many ways, but I have to say that the author's sympathy and understanding,not to be confused with sentimentality, for his characters brings a strong sense of realism and complexity to this work.
Of course, it's fundamentally a great story, with a good dose of suspense and an ending that, quite frankly, gives me goosebumps.
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