Praise for Thy Neighbor Thy Neighbor is a book that you will tear through in a few days and chew on for a long time thereafter. It's a heady and wonderful read." —Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story “One of our smartest and most original journalists has changed hats, and the new one fits her perfectly. A raging, jolting, arrestingly hard-edged novel of paranoia and revenge in the suburbs, Thy Neighbor crackles with ferocious energy and virtuosic phrasemaking. If you go for noir, prepare to be plunged into the desperate darkness of a world full of lost souls and lost hope—but keep one eye peeled for the glimmer of light at the far end of the tunnel.” —Terry Teachout
In Vincent’s disappointing fiction debut, narrator Nick, equally misanthropic and self-hating, drinks all night and feels sorry for himself all day (“Depressed? Destroyed? Crushed beneath the boot heel of fate? Why, yes. I suppose so”)—not without cause, perhaps, considering the horrific family crime that derailed his comfortable suburban existence more than a decade ago. He continues to reside in the home in which the crime happened, and to distract himself from his misery, he enlists a cable TV installer to plant hidden recording equipment in his ill-behaved neighbors’ bedrooms, bathrooms, and anywhere else that might provide a chance for Nick to see something awful (which, of course, he does). When Nick, desperate to get out of his own head, befriends his one decent neighbor, Mrs. Bloom, a widow with no family who suffered a tragedy years ago, he discovers the heartbreaking event that links her life and his. But what part in all this does the dangerously unhappy family next door play? We’ll have to wait and see. Vincent’s prose is choppy and overwrought, the characters for the most part unpleasant. This is a disappointing foray into psychological fiction from a journalist known for the high-concept nonfiction books Self-Made Man and Voluntary Madness. (Aug.)
This first novel by the author of nonfiction works Self-Made Man and Voluntary Madness is an absorbing psychological mystery about Nick Walsh, a thirtysomething resident of a Midwestern suburb who lost both his parents in a mysterious murder-suicide more than a decade ago. He is still wallowing in self-pity and inertia, drinking himself daily into oblivion, hanging out at a singles bar with his rich and seedy friend Dave, and carrying on an affair with a woman named Monica, about whom he knows nothing. Out of boredom, Nick begins to spy on his neighbors, planting electronic devices in their houses and viewing them on a computer in his basement, witnessing, among other things, disintegrating marriages and nightmarish parental discipline. Mysterious notes begin appearing in his house, followed up by an anonymous contact on Facebook from someone who wants to talk about his past. Nick begins to piece together clues provided by his nameless correspondent and discovers that his aloof lawyer father and his mother, a bored housewife with a Ph.D. in English literature, were hiding more than just their disdain for suburban Midwestern life. VERDICT The author has constructed an involving if occasionally overwrought story. The depiction of depraved excesses, along with some of the neighbors' more bizarre behavior, provides a vivid and warped background as the novel delves into the characters' motivations and emotions with empathy and acuity. [See Prepub Alert, 2/5/12.]—Jim Coan, SUNY Coll. at Oneonta
Edoardo Ballerini perfectly captures the patronizing, pretentious, angry, disdainful, egotistical, and vainglorious Nick Walsh, a complicated 34-year-old drunk and loser. When his parents died in a murder/suicide, he was catapulted into a life of excess that has culminated in spying on his neighbors, all of whom are just about as damaged as he is. Ballerini's dark, authoritative performance features crisp intonation and considerable acting skills. However, the story is a fatuous display of crude language, expansive vocabulary, and tedious litany of haughty views on a multitude of subjects—all wrapped in a story line that is disturbing, with characters even a mother couldn’t love. An exceptional narration. A.C.P. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
SEPTEMBER 2012 - AudioFile
Edoardo Ballerini perfectly captures the patronizing, pretentious, angry, disdainful, egotistical, and vainglorious Nick Walsh, a complicated 34-year-old drunk and loser. When his parents died in a murder/suicide, he was catapulted into a life of excess that has culminated in spying on his neighbors, all of whom are just about as damaged as he is. Ballerini's dark, authoritative performance features crisp intonation and considerable acting skills. However, the story is a fatuous display of crude language, expansive vocabulary, and tedious litany of haughty views on a multitude of subjects—all wrapped in a story line that is disturbing, with characters even a mother couldn’t love. An exceptional narration. A.C.P. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
SEPTEMBER 2012 - AudioFile
