Short, sharp shocks
Date of Review:
Nov.22.2011
Source:
The New York Observer
Lou Beach is best known as an illustrator and album-cover designer. But his ability to capture complex scenes in just a few strokes makes his first book of fiction a keeper.
“The stories you are about to encounter were written as status updates on a large social networking site,” Beach writes in his author’s note. “These updates were limited to 420 characters, including letters, spaces, and punctuation.” Hence the book’s title (420 Characters), and its primary virtue: Every story here is sharpened to a point. Best of all, you can read lots of them online, free of charge, on the book’s website; it, too, is a model of economy.
Link to Full Review:
...theatrical, instantly recognizable and slide off the tongue with the cacophony of a Tom Waits riff. Don't miss the bonus section on the author's website, where celebrity narrators Ian McShane, Dave Alvin and Jeff Bridges lend their unique cadences to Beach's miniature snapshots. An adroit experiment that marries linguistic restraint to literary cool.”
—Kirkus Reviews
About Lou
A self taught artist/illustrator now a self taught writer. Early years spent alternately freezing and sweating in Rochester, NY until the 60's led him to California where he has resided ever since, happily married, with two grown children, a dog, a cat, and a...