Half Empty

by Tim Hall

Half Empty is a story of romance and its repercussions among hipsters in Brooklyn. A young man named Dennis, newly sober, becomes entangled in two romantic triangles: with the ex-girlfriend who represents his wilder, freer past, and the cool, aloof heiress who represents a comfortable-but more controlled-future.

As the three lovers jockey for power and position, deceiving themselves and each other, Dennis must finally acknowledge the painful truth about his past that he has been running from, forcing him to either confront his demons or allow them to destroy him.

This new, remastered edition restores the original ending of the book with four additional chapters and includes a new introduction by the author.

"Vivid characters" -Kirkus Discoveries

"Hall's writing snaps like a fallen power line." -Zine World

240 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 2004

About the author

Fall 2013--my first mystery, DEAD STOCK, has been published by Cozy Cat Press. Available at Amazon for Kindle or paperback.

Previously, Journalist, independent author and publisher. Two novels, HALF EMPTY and FULL OF IT, and two collections of stories, TRIUMPH OF THE WON'T and ONE DAMN THING AFTER ANOTHER.

My style is something I call Screwball Tragedy, finding the humor in pain and the ambivalence in redemption. Love, lust, and loss; conflict and confusion. Writing and reviews have appeared on Chicago Public Radio and in the Chicago Reader, NY Press, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes Traveler, Time Out Chicago, Sheridan Sun, Texas Pan-American. Member of the Outsider Writers Collective, an international writers' organization with more than 700 members. http://timhallbooks.com

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing I like more than a crisply-written literary novel with carefully-observed details, big themes (man's inhumanity to man, man in search of himself, etc. etc.), and well-deserved skewerings of Williamsburg hipsters and office loonies is a crisply-written literary novel with carefully-observed details, big themes, and well-deserved skewerings of Williamsburg hipsters and office loonies that also contains at least one deeply penetrating anal scene.

Dennis is a Brooklyn computer graphics designer, recently dumped and recently sober. Poking his head out of his solitude and back into substance-free social and sexual intercourse, he finds that things are maybe a little easier and yet more difficult than he found them before. A torrid affair with Laurie, a Village trustafarian, satisfies him sexually (and we get a number of juicy scenes showing us just how much), but he's still hung up on Shauna, his hungry, manipulative ex. Does Dennis now have the upper hand he thinks he has? Are Laurie and Shauna simply the screens onto which he projects his self-loathing? Will Dennis defeat the crazy office lady who randomly sprinkles her conversation with the word "Is"? And will Dennis find a new kind of life with the girl in the office who shares her dirty romance novels with him? All this and more, to be found in this tight little debut novel.

[Ben]

A most excellent read, a love note to love gone wrong, and New York City, though not New York City per se, but Brooklyn, and more specifically what Brooklyn looked like in the not so distant past before it became the Brooklyn that everyone now wants to move to, but can no longer afford.

[Elizabeth Plaid · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Half Empty" doesn't deal with the stereotypical "struggle" of sobriety, such as fighting the urge to relapse. Instead, there's a far more common "struggle" with our protagonist's sobriety: facing reality and figuring out what to do with your life. I've never abused substances, but I have to say I related really well to Dennis. I'm part-way through college after dealing with anxiety attacks for several years now. Just like Dennis, I ask myself, "Now what am I going to do?" While there isn't a huge, perfect resolution at the end of this novel, I have to say that I still felt the right sense of closure and fulfillment when I finished the last page. There are some books whose endings make no sense, others who leave you hanging, and some that just feel right; this is that last example, even though the story is fairly open-ended.

I read a preview on Amazon.com, and I have to say that Tim Hall's style of writing had me hooked. It's sort of a perfect third-person journal entry feeling. There are the vividly described details, the right bits of transition, and the all-too-true-to-life dialogue, even just the internal dialogue. I loved reading Dennis's trains of thought, even when he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by his memories of the past. The chapter-lengths are great for short bursts of reading, if that's your kind of thing, but they are also the kind that makes you want to say, "Oh just one more chapter!"

The book's description here and on the back cover don't really explain the plot, which I think is perfectly fine. With this novel, you need just a tiny bit of the backstory (which is provided), and you're all set to live the events with the characters as they unfold. Just like in our everyday lives, we don't know what's going to happen next, and sometims things don't always go according to plan. We also don't know what happens after the end of the novel, but that's fine. Tim Hall's "Half Empty" is less of a story and more of an excerpt, just another part of the life of Dennis.

Bonus points: My copy that I got from Paperback Swap is signed by the author. I got really lucky getting this copy and even more lucky that I stumbled across this tale.

[Jason Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Halloween and protagonist Dennis Huckle is thirty days sober. Little does he know that he's about to become involved in a love triangle, an interpersonal war at his job, and the ever-present struggle to remain sober. So begins Half Empty, the debut novel from Tim Hall. Similar in many respects to Hall's latest novel Full of It: The Birth, Death, and Life of an Underground Newspaper, his first contains several likeable characters, solid dialogue, and intriguing plots. Yeah, they're perhaps too alike at times, but they also get so much right that it's easy to overlook the blemishes.

[Selvaggina, · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this at Ken Wohlrob's table at a small press fair in NYC a few years back. Looking forward to reading this.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book Club Book 49 - Chosen by Joanne!

This book was written by one of the Book Club girls' brother-in-law but I'm sorry to say I didn't enjoy it!