Smoking Hopes

by Victoria N. Alexander

Alexander, Victoria N., Smoking Hopes

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published October 4, 2010

About the author

Victoria N. Alexander, Ph.D. is a novelist, philosopher of science and co-founder of the Dactyl Foundation in NYC. Her favorite authors are Vladimir Nabokov and Stanislaw Lem, and she lives on a small sheep farm upstate with her husband and son. Alexander's fiction is published by The Permanent Press. Her nonfiction is published by Emergent Publications.

Reviews

[Jennifer Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wandering read, this is a sort of quiet book with a meandering plot, and characters and story to match. There are moments when the characters are vibrant and unique enough that they sort of transcend the story itself, and those are the parts where the writing itself shines--where the book almost devolves into character study or dissection. At others, things are just a bit too easy, too wandering. Only in the end does the plotting seem to pick up and be more focused, but that focus comes with a rushing that takes away a lot of the beauty that the first half of the book found its way toward.

So, I suppose I have to say this was a nice enough escape, and something to wander through on a quiet day, but probably not something that will stick with me. Little things about the book also bothered me--seemingly forgotten details that would have better been mentioned later in the book or remembered, mostly--which made it feel like the book could have used more time and more editing prior to publication.

Probably, this isn't something I'd recommend, though the writing itself makes it easy enough for me to think of trying something more by the same author.

[Patrice Sartor · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. The story revolves around Charlie, an American woman with excessive elective surgery changes working as a hostess in a bar for Japanese businessmen. Charlie is an open, honest narrator, with financial troubles. I thought the writing style was engaging, and kept me reading. At the same time, I could have liked this book a LOT more.

The problems are how the plot meanders. Charlie's ex-husband remains a strong undercurrent throughout, but we never get to meet him. Her financial issues are mentioned, though they kind of end up dangling as loose ends. One character is picked up (Ohno) and then quickly dropped, only to be picked up again. Another character is quickly picked up (Hiro), and then later dropped, only to make a surprise, randomish appearance at the end. Charlie's friendship with Lola seems odd, and I struggle to understand Charlie's motivations for so many actions.

The section when Charlie, Lola and Ohno traveled on the boat really lagged for me. Yet I struggled through it, eager to meet Gottlieb. Bah. I never thought of Charlie as suicidal...until suddenly, she was.

I do like the idea of the initial storyline, and wish that it had remained as the focus of the book. Having Hiro narrate a couple of chapters was especially useful at drawing the reader into that world.

As an aside, I can forgive a couple of typos in a book--I do find them frequently enough. Yet one of my pages had an entire sentence missing. Better editing, please!

Good idea. Good way with words. Poor execution.

[Jekyll · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's interesting that Patrice thought it was disappointing that Gottlieb never shows up. Based on the fact that a version "Waiting for Godot" is included in the story, I thought that Gottlieb (God Love in German) stood for God or romantic love. I also thought that Charlie's death at the end was an accident. What would make the reader think it was suicide? Also I saw a lot of Joycean neologisms but not typos.

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok