Reviews

Angels, by Denis Johnson

alienor's review against another edition

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3.0

[b:Angels|9903|Angels|Denis Johnson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408924943l/9903._SY75_.jpg|2280133] makes for a vivid reading experience, the kidnapping kind - Terrible people are swarming and their rotted hands are seizing your heart in a cold, sharp squeeze. You've never liked any of them but you're pulled into their personal train wreck until the ends - plural - free you, gasping. It feels very much like a nightmare. But you don't forget.

TW - graphic rape, drug use, racist and homophobic slurs, racist rhetoric, suicidal ideation, graphic violence

daisylyons99's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

blob's review against another edition

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slow-paced

1.0

drbird's review against another edition

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4.0

This is the kind of book Charles Bukowski wished he could write but never had the sentence-level talent to pull off. At least, that's what I thought when I was about half way through. Then this book takes a sudden turn into insanity. Which is both good and bad. In the final third of the book, Johnson conducts a frantic dismantling of his characters -- Jamie loses her mind; Bill loses his freedom. But it's done in such a way that they are parallel sufferers. In fact, I'd argue the book approaches commenting on the way men and women living on the fringe suffer. And while the conclusion is not cynical, it does seem to linger on the experience of Bill and his brothers moreso than Jamie, despite the fact that Jamie's journey is, in my view, the more compelling one.

Worth reading if you like reading about life on the fringe -- expect drugs, miserable sex, and the easy mistakes of violent crime. Also, Denis Johnson writes some damn fine sentences.

kestetz's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

nadia_g's review

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5.0

"But that was just a story, something that people will tell themselves, something to pass the time it takes for the violence inside a man to wear him away, or to be consumed itself, depending on who is the candle and who is the light."

msjoanna's review against another edition

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5.0

This book does down-and-out no-good characters like few authors can manage. The prose just pops off the page and sparkles with realism, depression, and loneliness in a way that's both gut-wrenching and impossible to put down. Not for the faint of heart, this book describes the lives of drugged-out characters on the edges of society in gritty detail with no happy endings to be found. Yet, somehow, I still cared about these unlikeable and basically lousy characters. An impressive first novel by this author; I'll definitely look for his other work. Copies of this book are hard to come by, but worth tracking down if you can.

spenser22's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

chiyeunglau's review against another edition

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5.0

I never knew I could tear up and sympathize with a murderer, but I did.

Denis Johnson makes us love these imperfect and awful people and I can't help but open my heart to them.

One of my favorite quotes from the novel:

"When he was dry, he believed it was alcohol he needed, but when he had a few drinks in him, he knew it was something else, possibly a woman; and when he had it all -- cash, booze, and a wife -- he couldn't be distracted from the great emptiness that was always falling through him and never hit the ground."

jonathangolding_books's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0