Chad Coenson's Blog: ADDITIONAL REVIEWS - Posts Tagged "me-and-bobby-mcgee"
Me and Bobby McGee (Review by Gary Sorkin - Pacific Book Review)
http://www.pacificbookreview.com/Me-a...
“Out of the box writing” would best be the genre for Chad Coenson’s creative work titled, Me and Bobby McGee. We all know the song, but Chad Coenson created a witty and wild novel involving booze, women, gambling, kidnapping and yes, sex and violence, plus the daily hangover into a fast moving “guy novel.” He used a cool way with words that only the narration of a man’s inner most thoughts would expose. If this would become a movie, I would envision Chad to cast someone like Uma Thurman as Bobby, the femme fatale as he puts it, with a Mickey Rourke or Bruce Willis (as long as they gave him hair) protagonist, Keesey Chypher. Keesey is an ex-CIA trained assassin turned drunk. The star of the novel is tequila, with the co-star being a beer chaser. Seriously this book is not recommended reading for recovering alcoholics!
If my lead paragraph above is different than most reviews, let me simply say Chad Coenson has rubbed off on me. His writing is only believed after read, as he takes the reader through thought processes far beyond the boundaries of his plot and characters, and into the comedic reflections of our society, “Mars vs. Venus” relationships, and greed. Just when you think the book is about smuggling dope across the Mexican border, you get blind-sided with a twist and turn and off it goes in a new direction. The narration is something of a Guy Noir type of private detective portrayed on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie –Home Companion, mixed of course with 80 proof alcohol and teamed up with a Charlie’s Not-So-Angelic antagonist. At first I wasn’t able to feel sympathetic to Keesey, as he staggered around New Orleans looking for his car, but after he got kicked in the balls three times in two days one has to feel sorry for the guy. This is the type of raw humor embedded in every sentence, a masterpiece of comedic literature. The book is not hard to put down … it’s impossible.
Reading Me and Bobby McGee I became relaxed feeling privileged to be brought into the lives of his characters, as Keesey’s smart witted tongue makes light of even the direst of situations. Bobby plays Keesey like a violin, or rather like a trained rat holding her feminine attractiveness the lure for good behavior. It’s a fantastic dynamic interaction of love and hate, attraction and disappointment – truly memorable. Something I hope to read more of these guys or see them in a movie; should this get adapted for the silver screen. Even the type style of the book’s galley text, for example, has a candid and inviting way about it, mixing some handwritten author’s notes along with an occasional pen & ink illustration by E. Cobb Holzer, bringing an artistic embellishment into the storyline.
Chad W. Coenson’s writing can best be illustrated by this paragraph which I highlighted when reading the book, so as to include an excerpt here in my review. On the risk of being verbose, I shall reprint the entire, unedited paragraph:
“So often in life we come to that obligatory crossroad, the mandatory intersection of all things ambiguous and life altering. Be it the lyrics from your favorite blues song or a mental collision that happens every time you make a choice, we’ve all been to “the crossroads.” Or maybe we haven’t. Maybe the metaphorical crossroad is only a conceivable abomination for those of us who constantly make bad decisions. All my life I’ve been trying to find a place to call home and it finally dawned on me. My address, home sweet home, the place I hang my head because I don’t wear hats, is “the Crossroads.” It’s the place where the sun stops shining just long enough for the devil to get his due. It is truly the lost settlement of indecision, a place devoid of reason, like a giant scale that never lies or tells the truth. And yet, I find solace in this purgatory for consequence, because despite its infinite indifference, the next step is always clearly defined: heaven or hell.”
This book is a surprise from the start. It’s a great book to throw into your carry-on bag and open on a chaise lounge by a swimming pool or to page while waiting in an airport or on a plane. If you have a friend graduating school – get him this for a gift. Besides the engulfing enjoyment, it may steer him away from the swinging door entrance to a sleazy local watering hole, especially if the lure of a woman to beautiful to logically be there is baited inside. In Keesey’s famous words, “Make mine a Jack with a beer chaser."
“Out of the box writing” would best be the genre for Chad Coenson’s creative work titled, Me and Bobby McGee. We all know the song, but Chad Coenson created a witty and wild novel involving booze, women, gambling, kidnapping and yes, sex and violence, plus the daily hangover into a fast moving “guy novel.” He used a cool way with words that only the narration of a man’s inner most thoughts would expose. If this would become a movie, I would envision Chad to cast someone like Uma Thurman as Bobby, the femme fatale as he puts it, with a Mickey Rourke or Bruce Willis (as long as they gave him hair) protagonist, Keesey Chypher. Keesey is an ex-CIA trained assassin turned drunk. The star of the novel is tequila, with the co-star being a beer chaser. Seriously this book is not recommended reading for recovering alcoholics!
If my lead paragraph above is different than most reviews, let me simply say Chad Coenson has rubbed off on me. His writing is only believed after read, as he takes the reader through thought processes far beyond the boundaries of his plot and characters, and into the comedic reflections of our society, “Mars vs. Venus” relationships, and greed. Just when you think the book is about smuggling dope across the Mexican border, you get blind-sided with a twist and turn and off it goes in a new direction. The narration is something of a Guy Noir type of private detective portrayed on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie –Home Companion, mixed of course with 80 proof alcohol and teamed up with a Charlie’s Not-So-Angelic antagonist. At first I wasn’t able to feel sympathetic to Keesey, as he staggered around New Orleans looking for his car, but after he got kicked in the balls three times in two days one has to feel sorry for the guy. This is the type of raw humor embedded in every sentence, a masterpiece of comedic literature. The book is not hard to put down … it’s impossible.
Reading Me and Bobby McGee I became relaxed feeling privileged to be brought into the lives of his characters, as Keesey’s smart witted tongue makes light of even the direst of situations. Bobby plays Keesey like a violin, or rather like a trained rat holding her feminine attractiveness the lure for good behavior. It’s a fantastic dynamic interaction of love and hate, attraction and disappointment – truly memorable. Something I hope to read more of these guys or see them in a movie; should this get adapted for the silver screen. Even the type style of the book’s galley text, for example, has a candid and inviting way about it, mixing some handwritten author’s notes along with an occasional pen & ink illustration by E. Cobb Holzer, bringing an artistic embellishment into the storyline.
Chad W. Coenson’s writing can best be illustrated by this paragraph which I highlighted when reading the book, so as to include an excerpt here in my review. On the risk of being verbose, I shall reprint the entire, unedited paragraph:
“So often in life we come to that obligatory crossroad, the mandatory intersection of all things ambiguous and life altering. Be it the lyrics from your favorite blues song or a mental collision that happens every time you make a choice, we’ve all been to “the crossroads.” Or maybe we haven’t. Maybe the metaphorical crossroad is only a conceivable abomination for those of us who constantly make bad decisions. All my life I’ve been trying to find a place to call home and it finally dawned on me. My address, home sweet home, the place I hang my head because I don’t wear hats, is “the Crossroads.” It’s the place where the sun stops shining just long enough for the devil to get his due. It is truly the lost settlement of indecision, a place devoid of reason, like a giant scale that never lies or tells the truth. And yet, I find solace in this purgatory for consequence, because despite its infinite indifference, the next step is always clearly defined: heaven or hell.”
This book is a surprise from the start. It’s a great book to throw into your carry-on bag and open on a chaise lounge by a swimming pool or to page while waiting in an airport or on a plane. If you have a friend graduating school – get him this for a gift. Besides the engulfing enjoyment, it may steer him away from the swinging door entrance to a sleazy local watering hole, especially if the lure of a woman to beautiful to logically be there is baited inside. In Keesey’s famous words, “Make mine a Jack with a beer chaser."
Book Review: Me and Bobby McGee (by Melissa Brown Levine - Independent Professional Book Reviewers)
http://thereaderslounge.gather.com/vi...
In Me and Bobby MeGee, author Chad Coenson threads some of the elements of the Kris Kristofferson song of the same name into an outlandish tale of a former assassin who finds himself in many incredible situations. The story opens in New Orleans the day after Fat Tuesday. Ex-CIA agent Keesey Cypher is on a search for his car after a night indulging in spirits and one of the friendly female ambassadors of the Big Easy. While Keesey doesn’t find his car, he effortlessly discovers trouble that lands him on a trip more bizarre then any of his infamous drinking binges.
This book evolves over multiple storylines that are stitched together by the presence of Keesey and Bobby McGee, a beautiful, combative hired gun with a flair for writing up business contracts and targeting Keesey’s manhood with her foot. She escorts him part of the way to Mexico where Keesey delivers goods to her boss’ contact; later they become lovers. After successfully delivering the surprising and disturbing merchandise, Keesey joins the organization that “harvests” the special product and quickly ascends to the position of top representative of international sales. Keesey’s subsequent fall from grace is as dramatic as his rise.
Keesey is a snarky, alcoholic with an overactive imagination and a dark, testosterone saturated sense of humor. He makes you laugh out loud, nod in agreement with one of several philosophical monologues he delivers on human behavior, and then question his sanity when he goes on one of his misanthropic rants.
Coenson has created a memorable character whose vices, talents, intellect, and unexpected idiocy make him likable in one scene and despicable in the very next. Although many of Keesey’s solo theatrical offerings interrupt the flow of this creative and challenging piece, more often than not his prolonged tangents resemble standup comedy complete with adoring fans and moody hecklers.
Me and Bobby McGee is a funny, adventurous, provocative tale that readers will find completely astonishing and utterly entertaining.
Melissa Brown Levine
for
Independent Professional Book Reviewers
www.bookreviewers.org
In Me and Bobby MeGee, author Chad Coenson threads some of the elements of the Kris Kristofferson song of the same name into an outlandish tale of a former assassin who finds himself in many incredible situations. The story opens in New Orleans the day after Fat Tuesday. Ex-CIA agent Keesey Cypher is on a search for his car after a night indulging in spirits and one of the friendly female ambassadors of the Big Easy. While Keesey doesn’t find his car, he effortlessly discovers trouble that lands him on a trip more bizarre then any of his infamous drinking binges.
This book evolves over multiple storylines that are stitched together by the presence of Keesey and Bobby McGee, a beautiful, combative hired gun with a flair for writing up business contracts and targeting Keesey’s manhood with her foot. She escorts him part of the way to Mexico where Keesey delivers goods to her boss’ contact; later they become lovers. After successfully delivering the surprising and disturbing merchandise, Keesey joins the organization that “harvests” the special product and quickly ascends to the position of top representative of international sales. Keesey’s subsequent fall from grace is as dramatic as his rise.
Keesey is a snarky, alcoholic with an overactive imagination and a dark, testosterone saturated sense of humor. He makes you laugh out loud, nod in agreement with one of several philosophical monologues he delivers on human behavior, and then question his sanity when he goes on one of his misanthropic rants.
Coenson has created a memorable character whose vices, talents, intellect, and unexpected idiocy make him likable in one scene and despicable in the very next. Although many of Keesey’s solo theatrical offerings interrupt the flow of this creative and challenging piece, more often than not his prolonged tangents resemble standup comedy complete with adoring fans and moody hecklers.
Me and Bobby McGee is a funny, adventurous, provocative tale that readers will find completely astonishing and utterly entertaining.
Melissa Brown Levine
for
Independent Professional Book Reviewers
www.bookreviewers.org
INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER BOOK AWARD
Me and Bobby McGee - SILVER MEDAL
Best Regional Fiction in the West-Pacifc (CA, OR, WA, AK, HI)
2011 INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER BOOK AWARDS
Check out the link for further details and the full list of award winning titles:
http://www.independentpublisher.com/a...
Best Regional Fiction in the West-Pacifc (CA, OR, WA, AK, HI)
2011 INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER BOOK AWARDS
Check out the link for further details and the full list of award winning titles:
http://www.independentpublisher.com/a...
ADDITIONAL REVIEWS
This blog contains additonal reviews for the novel Me and Bobby McGee that were not posted to Goodreads. Links to the original reviews are in the text as well.
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