Life Among Giants

by Bill Roorbach

This funny, exuberant novel captures the reader with the grand sweep of seven-foot-tall David Lizard Hochmeyer s larger-than-life quest to unravel the mystery surrounding his parents deaths. It s a journey laden with pro football stars, a master chef and his beautiful transvestite lover, a world-famous ballerina and her English rocker husband, and a sister who s as brilliant as she is unstable. A wildly entertaining, plot-twisting novel of murder, seduction, and revenge rich in incident, expansive in character, and lavish in setting "Life Among Giants"is an exhilarating adventure.

Editors pick for Amazon s Best of 2012

"Shelf Awareness"Top Ten Best Fiction of 2012

"Columbus Dispatch" s Top Books of 2012

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Book Club, Coming Of Age, Audiobook, Contemporary, Adult Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 13, 2012

About the author

Bill Roorbach's newest novel is The Remedy For Love, coming October 2014 from Algonquin Books. Life Among Giants, also from Algonquin, is in development for a multi-year series at HBO, and won the 2014 Maine Literary Award in Fiction. Big Bend: Stories has just be re-released by Georgia in its Flannery O'Connor Award series. Temple Stream is soon to be re-released by Down East Books. Bill is also the author of the romantic memoir SUMMERS WITH JULIET, the novel THE SMALLEST COLOR, the essay collection INTO WOODS. The tenth anniversary edition of his craft book, WRITING LIFE STORIES, is used in writing programs around the world. His short fiction has been published in Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, and dozens of other magazines, journals, and websites, and has been featured on NPR's Selected Shorts, and won an O. Henry Prize. He lives in western Maine where he writes full time.

For more information about Bill Roorbach, see www.billroorbach.com, www.lifeamonggiantsthebook.com, and be sure to enjoy his blog and videos at www.billanddavescocktailhour.com. Follow him on Twitter: @​billroorbach.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I continue to be amazed at the books magazine reviewers deem as 'worth my time'. "Life Among Giants" certainly wasn't that. An incredibly weird story about a family who lives across the lake from glamorous millionaires, there was little here I found appealing.

Roorbach doesn't tell the story in a linear fashion but skips around. Sometimes this works, here I just found it confusing and it was hard to keep so many characters straight.

The narrator for this tale is David, an incredibly tall and athletic football star. Through his eyes we meet his parents, his sister, Kate, and a host of other characters. The problem is David doesn't seem to like any of these people or maybe he just focuses on their flaws. Mom is a frigid social climber, Daddy an inept con man, Kate a bipolar nut bag everyone caters to because she's pretty. There's murder and intrigue across the lake but the people there also come off as unlikeable.

David himself is flawed and not in an endearing way. Despite his impressive physique, people walk all over him. He has all the spinal structure of a marshmallow. It doesn't help that, as a teenager, he repeatedly recounts his experiences with masterbation. Who wants to read about that? Later on things get really creepy when he starts sleeping with his therapist. Long passages about cooking and running a restaurant are used to boost the word count.

Freaks and lurid plot lines aren't enough to redeem this book. I'm just glad I got it from the library and didn't waste any money on it.

[Samuel Snoek-Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Roorbach is an artist of the human heart, but as a writer, he is pure craftsman. You can see the workmanship in his prose the way you can see it in good handcrafted furniture. Sure, there are moments in this novel where I caught myself thinking, "Oh, I see what you did there," but I don't think this is a bad thing: indeed, reading this novel is an education in crafting a story.

There are problems, I think. There are times when I felt like the novel was three or four different kinds of story all pieced together like inlay. Or, to abandon the carpentry metaphor for the cooking one Roorbach employs in the novel, there is a fascinating medley of literary flavors here -- mystery, family drama, sports narrative, love story, Gatsby-esque literary fiction (the promotional material sells this last line a little harder than it might deserve, but it's still an apt comparison given the fabulously wealthy and decadent setting at "the High Side," Roobach's version of Gatsby's mansion) -- but the flavors sometimes exist independently of each other, not quite blending into the perfect bite. "Oh, there's the mystery," you might catch yourself thinking in one chunk of text. "Oh, now I can taste the love story."

Still, as a meal, the novel is immensely satisfying, and the characters at play here -- from hyper-literate football hero Lizard (our narrator) to his obsessive bipolar sister to the mysterious and alluring dancer (Sylphide, what a name!) to the delightful if a bit caricatured butler Desmond to the con-man father.... The characters stay with you no matter what you might think of them, so alive they become.

The setting, too, is exquisite: whether you're in the extravagant High Side or dense New York or sweaty, spicy Miami, the world this novel lives in is rich and alive, teeming with history and atmosphere.

Overall, Life Among Giants is a wonderful read, a perfect bridge between easy commercial fiction and quick, smart literature, and I will gladly recommend it to everyone I know.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literary who done it

This is one of the best mysteries I’ve read all year. Roorbach kept me guessing throughout. More importantly he kept me wondering not just who killed but why. The book opens with Lizard’s parents being killed almost at his feet. The story is told through Lizard’s (David) eyes from the murders when he’s 17 through middle age as he and his sister Kate attempt to make sense of their tragedy and to live through and past it. They have many adventures. They’re both athletes. Lizard plays pro football for the Dolphins. Kate is a top seeded tennis player. They’re lives are enmeshed some celebrities whose lives infest theirs with both good and bad results.

Roorbach’s characterizations are deadly on target as is his depiction of the 1970’s. Strangely, after the murders, time becomes almost irrelevant, for Lizard and Kate the murders stay as fresh as they were when they first happened. The horror doesn’t subside. It’s hard to believe that 17 year old Lizard is as mature as he seems even given that the murders cause him to grow up quickly. Also much of the story is told from his adult perspective but it’s still hard to believe someone so young could be so wise. He has his blind spots though. His hormones and heart dictate many of his decisions much to the consternation of his older sister Kate though she doesn’t have much right to complain since she’s caught in the same vortice. At 17 and 19 their reactions are a bit caught in amber, so is their struggle to get on with their lives. There are so many unanswered questions. The court decisions don’t make sense. The pain of their lose keeps them planted in 1970. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder wasn’t recognized and there were few treatments at that time.

I’ve said this is a mystery but that’s not strictly true. There is a central driving mystery but most of all this is a coming of age novel about two talented people and how they learn to love, heal, and find their place in the world. The interplay between appearances and reality and good and evil play a large part too. It’s a touching and insightful story.

This review is based on an e-galley provided by the publisher.

4.5/5 stars

[Bennett Gavrish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grade: C+

L/C Ratio: 70% Literary / 30% Commercial

Thematic Breakdown:
25% - Crime mystery
20% - Family secrets
20% - Tangled love
15% - Culinary arts
10% - Football
5% - Ballet
5% - Connecticut

Addictiveness: High
Movie Potential: 1 Thumb Down
Re-readability: Low


I'm convinced that Life Among Giants was born from four separate book ideas: the professional football player with a dysfunctional family, the world-famous ballerina with a tortured marriage to a rock star, the aspiring chef with a cross-dressing partner, and the failed investor who ends up murdered in the fallout of a financial scandal. All four are intriguing literary concepts, but when Bill Roorbach forces them together, the result is a crowded – although at times brilliant – novel.

Roorbach further complicates the situation for his readers by using a non-linear approach. Life Among Giants tells almost the entire life story of its protagonist, but the author chooses to jump decades into the future or past at seemingly random moments. Although the murder mystery at the core of the book helps to maintain the narrative flow, the payoff in the final chapters is underwhelming. A single conversation between two of the main characters serves as a blatant info dump, and the reader is left wondering why that conversation did not take place years earlier.

Roorbach's superior talent as a wordsmith is on display in Life Among Giants, and he crafts a set of characters who have incredible depth and mesmerizing personalities. His writing style has just the right mix of lyricism and lucidity, but some of his techniques grow tiresome after a while – such as the parenthetical comments with exclamation points (like this one!) that he loves to insert into the middle of his sentences.


Noteworthy Quote:

“Is all written out, you know. Everything is fate. All written out in Heaven, or written out in Hell.”

[Larry H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd rate this 4.5 stars if I could...

They say the course of love never quite runs smoothly. For nearly seven-foot-tall David "Lizard" Hochmeyer, that couldn't be more true. A high school senior with a promising football career ahead of him, his life is thrown off course not only by his love for his neighbor, the famed ballerina Sylphide, but by his parents' mysterious murder, and his strange relationship with his mentally ill sister, Kate.

Lizard spends much of his adult life trying to figure out the truth behind his parents' murder, and the more he finds out, the more confused he becomes. He cannot shake his obsession with Sylphide, the widow of a famed rock singer, and he isn't sure how tied to those events Sylphide and her entourage really are. As she and his high school girlfriend, Emily, drift in and out of his life, he finds that love, truth, and clarity don't necessarily walk hand in hand.

Life Among Giants shifts between Lizard's memories leading up to and following the murder of his parents, and the present. Lizard leads an interesting and rich life, but he can never shake the feelings he had when he was younger, and that fact holds him back but allows him to grow at the same time. Bill Roorbach has created one of the most intriguing main character narrators I've come across in some time. Lizard is wise beyond his years and incredibly perceptive in one minute, and acts the way a typical 17-year-old would one minute later. I love the way he let the story unfold, and while I enjoyed many of the other characters, I found both Sylphide and Emily too much of an enigma to truly understand the way Lizard felt about both of them for the majority of his life. And while Kate's character was hard to pin down and empathize with, I realized after I was done with the book that this is probably the way people feel when dealing with a person suffering from mental illness.

This is a beautifully written, compelling book about love, family, the search for truth, being comfortable in your own skin, and trying to put your demons to rest. While I don't see the Holden Caulfield-esque characteristics some reviewers have identified in Lizard, he is a character worth meeting and spending time with.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe the atmosphere, language, and writing are what compelled to keep me reading this book to its end. Though those usually aren't strong enough pulls for me without a good story or characters I care about, in this case the lush descriptions (especially of food) were worked nonchalantly into the flow of the story yet were amazing. And the overall atmosphere was somewhat ethereal or surreal, yet very real at the same time. That, combined with my slight interest in how the mystery/situation(s) would resolve, kept me reading and mostly enjoying this book.

However, I did think it felt long and slow, took me longer to read than usual, and really didn't seem to have a point. I also didn't really care about the characters, though I was somewhat intrigued by them. In the end, I thought the book as a whole was ok (very well-written but lacking in other ways), but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to many people, just those who enjoy a more literary style.

Again, I find myself wishing for half stars - I'd give this 2.5 if I could (between "ok" and "liked it")..

[Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully written, intricately plotted novel with very fresh characters--from the narrator, a very tall pro football player-turned restaurant owner, to his bipolar sister and pop-philospher husband, to a pair of ballerinas. Sure, there are some far-fetched plot elements, but we know from the beginning that the story is larger than life, and I was happy to go with it. A very rewarding read.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book I have read in as many months that I could categorize as unique, which is a bit of a surprise, given that I average around 70 books a year. It really was different and entertaining as far as I was concerned. In fact, The Goldfinch, which won the Pulitzer in 2014, was not anywhere near as enjoyable as this, I couldn't stand it. Possibly why I am not on a prize-awarding committee...this was a pleasure.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Small spoiler* It took me longer than usual to read this book, especially given than it is a rather short novel. Enjoyed the author's writing in regards to the language he used to describe various topics, specifically the cuisine. Honestly, I thought about dropping the book altogether half way through, but decided to finish it out to see who murdered David and Kate's parents. The story did pick up once you figured out who was involved.

[Tfalcone · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was wanting to like this book, but the whole thing - dancers and rockstars, assassins and so on was just too far from reality . There was not a single likeable character.

[Bob Mustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Charm of Wealth and Fame

I bought this book with fingers crossed. Usually when I buy a book I don’t really know much about or an author I’ve never read, I hedge my bets and buy the e-book version. So buying this one in hardback was an article of faith; this time my crossed fingers boded good fortune.

Roorbach’s book is primarily the story of David “Lizard” Hochmeyer, a football prodigy who as a young boy witnesses his father and mother being shot by a paid assassin. His sister Kate is there, too, and the siblings dwell on this deep into adulthood; indeed until near book’s end. Adding to the story’s complications are Sylphide, a renowned European ballet dancer, and her hangers-on, Kate’s husband Jack, a pair of gay restauranteurs, and of course, David and Kate’s parents.
The father is a rather enigmatic but eminently predictable figure to the end, the mother a histrionic, self-centered person, and the person (persons) who shot the pair are seen to be threatening Sylphide, David, and Kate as well. To say more might put the story at reader’s risk, so I’ll stop the synopsis there.

The writing is the charm of the book, Roorbach’s prose (first-person - David), adding his own apparent gleam to all characters, large and small. This is the strong point of first-person narratives, but Roorbach adds what is clearly his own oomph to both story and characterizations. David is, by book’s midpoint, a famed ex-football player and restauranteur, Sylphide is world famous, and yet, contrary to more cliched prose, are engaging, erring humans, yet with a deep honesty of character.

Roorbach is obviously influenced by the American postmodern fiction I’ve castigated here, but to his credit, he makes it work by creating characters with charm, he keeps his narrator harnessed, and he creates layers and layers of subtlety to both that David Foster Wallace, Michael Chabon, and others, might only dream about. My only complaint is that Roorbach’s skittering back and forth in time isn’t done as skillfully as I’d hoped, and that lack made the author’s fluid prose sometimes seem phlegmatic.

My rating: 17 of 20 stars

[Guinotte Wise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top notch writing! Loved the irony, turns of phrase, clever stuff, wild plot, bits of magic realism here and there. And food enthusiasts will absolutely dig the descriptions of dishes and prep that the restaurant-owner/Miami Dolphin QB/protagonist lovingly puts together. The tension is good, bipolar sister, worthless dad, tennis mom, murder story, sailing bits--this book was worth what I paid for the hardcover (so many aren't). Thoroughly enjoyable. It's not a murder mystery, but there's one in it. And the neighbor thing, the world famous ballerina and her rock star husband...this could be a bit much were it not so beautifully formed and written. Roorbach, yay! "Giants" is inhabited by wonderfully colorful characters--some reviewer said Garp meets Gatsby, or something like that, and how true that is. Wow.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a murder mystery though it doesn't always present itself as such. Once the murder happens, there's a lot of going back and forth in history, some of which works effectively and some of which doesn't. There's a little of everything thrown in here...football, ballet, fine dining, rock 'n roll, money laundering, nefarious characters...basically something for everyone. I found the first part of the book, where the story realy unfolds, to be exciting and well told. The middle of the book is alternately interesting and meandering, giving long passages that really weren't necessary or only mildly related to the story. The final crescendo and wrap up worked but took too long to happen. That said, reading this book on the beach was enjoyable for the most part but I'm not suggesting it to friends.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this is far too convoluted to recommend. Too often in this book this reads like the supercharged fantasy of the author, the first-person account of a 6'8" superman, an Adonis with matchless physical gifts who has a very active life, including being Bob Greise and Dan Marino's backup quarterback with the Miami Dolphins and a wildly successful restauranteur AND, of course, a sex god. The eyes roll once too often at the coincidences heaped upon the reader. One major problem, I think, is that we're shown a world in which our hero is tangled with the fates of a legendary rock star and two legendary dancers, all of whom are tangled in our hero's death somehow. The three female characters, of course, are nuts. It's all too much.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the characters, especially David, who as a teenager seemed like a very authentic character and an honest portrayal of an adolescent male and following their lives but did not really enjoy how much the book skipped around between time periods. It was easy enough to follow but seemed to take away from really getting into the mystery plot of the book. Usually I am dying to find out who did it but one character involved was obvious very early in the book while the other was introduced late and was then obvious which I guess led to being more interested in the why. I think this is the reason it took me longer than usual to read this one. Overall a decent book, it just didn't evoke many emotions for me.

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sort of conflicted about this book, which I thought was beautifully written but strangely plotted. There's a shocking and heartbreaking mystery at the center of the story, if only Roorback got to it. Instead there is a lot of fuss all around it, lead by unconvincing characters. I never bought the lovely dancer Sylphide and her rocker husband. I did believe Lizard, his parents, and the mystery of family. Note that I read this novel in galley form so some changes may be forthcoming.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you get when you combine a work of literature with a mystery novel? You get this book. And it is a gripping entertaining read. If more novels were as well written as this one, I’d actually read more than one or two novels a year. In the meantime, I’ll continue to read a variety of non-fiction.

[Calla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a difficult one for me. I liked the characters and the ending surprised me with how emotional I got, but the journey was long and I struggled to finish. I just couldn't get into the actual story. Four stars because it was good enough for five, but my personal impressions make a three. I'll stick to the middle ground on this.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dysfunctional characters, lots of twists and turns.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was so much I absolutely loved about this book that it was hard to give it a star rating: the book is a murder mystery but Roorbach is a seasoned, sophisticated writer, and I found myself falling in love with the background details of the story and caring less about the whodunit. The larger than life Sylphyde, a prima ballerina whose involvement in the main character's father's murder is suspect throughout the book, is a wonderful character, flawed in the way of the best literary heros, magnetic, mysterious, and playful. Her romantic fantasies with the protagonist are so in character with the world of ballet: midnight runs through the snow, secret messages exchanged through sleigh of hand...terribly fantastical and so very believable. The contrast between the personality of the jock (David, the main character, is an ex MIami Dolphins player turned vegan chef, and his sister, Kate is a competitive tennis player) and the ballerinas, from the diva Sylphide to the more earthly Emily is told with so much care and detail that it's hard not to fall in love. And the best part: the minute, delicious descriptions of the food preparation. Mmmmh. I wanted to cook every time I picked up the book.

But ultimately, the story confused me. I'm not the most careful reader, but I'm not the most careless one either. I couldn't understand the significance of the clues that the characters assigned to some details, I felt lost most of the time by the preponderance of side-characters whom I seldom met on the page, and I found that I didn't care so much or at all about who the killer was. I was more interested in the loneliness of the protagonist and in the struggle of his sister, Kate, who is afflicted with manic depression, to make her relationship survive through it all.

I would definitely recommend a read, if only to treat yourself to Roorbach's fresh, delicate prose. It's like eating a gourmet meal.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard for me to sort out what I think about this book. There's layer upon layer to peel back, so I'll just refer to general things. The characters were magnificent; I'd give them 5 stars.

The prose was decent, a bit stilted at times and written as though it were meant to be read slowly, which is fine (a book needs to inform you as to how it's meant to be read), it just annoyed me because I don't like having to back and reread sentences because the syntax tripped me up--but there are arguments to be made for the narrator's voice, etc. I'd give the prose 3 stars.

The plot has so many things going on it's often difficult to focus. I found myself wondering when the "novel" would begin, and then all of a sudden I was in the midst of it. All I can compare it to is that type of movie (we've all seen them) where you wait for the introductory stuff to be over and then BAM you're halfway through and you realize the whole movie has that tone and it's not bad it's just weird. The very beginning of the story sets it up so that you're looking backward, and the narrator brings something up and says "but more on that later," giving you the feeling that what he's talking about in the beginning may not be the core of the story, but guess what, it is. The book is inextricably a mystery, hidden among other layers so that deciphering the core of the book is kind of a mystery in itself. I'd give the plot and execution a rambling 2 stars.

So, as you can see, this was a puzzling book for me. I loved some aspects and thought others were all right, less than stimulating. On average, I'd say I liked the book, even though it took me longer than expected to read. While reading I found myself engaged by the characters, but when the book was put away I didn't have the insatiable urge to pick it up again. 3 stars, "I liked it."

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The careful reader will want to check out the beautiful drawing on the front of this first edition. An unpublished watercolor and pen and ink drawing, courtesy of the Harvard University Herbaria and Botany Libraries. It, as well as some other clues, will give you insight into, what I must not say. Plus, the title is telling. David, the narrator of this tale, is tall. Very tall. He is a good athlete. So, is his sister Katy. They could be called high school "giants" for their abilities and ambitions. Plus, there is the giant house across the pond. And giant egos and gigantic careers, and excellence in cooking and ballet like no body's business. Names like Sylphide, Etienne, Colodo and Firfisle are scattered throughout this terrific novel full of "oddball attractions", (I quote from the book) and shocking deaths and displaced loyalties. Langor, dolor, odor, and fervor are words I wrote down as I read. And, there is an amazing amount of what I might call kinky sex. But, that's just me. Bill Roorbach's picture on the flyleaf is fun and charming. He has a great mind and his well-crafted writing skill is the least of the many delights of this wildly plotted and intriguing tale.

[Jann Barber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sift together a family consisting of an incredibly tall, athletic son, a lovely younger daughter, a mother who wants to be socially known in the right circles, and a father who is shadier than anyone should be. Mix with a family across the lake made up of a well-known rock star, his wife, a prominent ballerina known throughout the world, and the rocker's son from another liaison who needs a lot of individual care and attention. Stir thoroughly and sprinkle in thugs, murder, mental issues, sex, culinary arts, and the quick passage of decades and you have this book.

I have read books before where events from the past were interspersed with current happenings, but for some reason, the way it was handled in this book irritated me. It made the reading experience bumpy.

I loved the descriptions of Sylphide's magnificent home and would love to roam around in such a place.

In many ways, this book was true to life, because the good guys don't always win, even though we would like them to conquer evil and redeem themselves. Life just doesn't happen that way.

[Rich Fahle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn into the story right away, a combination coming-of-age story about the narrator (the huge former NFL quarterback David "Lizard" Hochmeyer) and murder whodunnit that kept me wondering what happened and to whom exactly all the way until the very last few pages. At the center of the story is a world famous prima ballerina pulling all the strings between the many overlapping storylines and characters. Lizard, the narrator, is a sort of modern day Nick Carraway from the Great Gatsby - pulled into the lavish, mysterious lifestyle of his ballerina muse that lives across the pond from him. Admittedly, It all sounds completely incongruous on its face - until you read it. I'd never read Roorbach before, but he's a fine storyteller, walking the reader through in an orderly fashion, offering just enough detail to keep you reading, just a few pages more. Plus, I have such faith in Algonquin, the publisher of Life Among Giants. They choose carefully, and rarely miss with their writers.

[Snotchocheez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted very much to love Life Among Giants. I'm all about some quirkiness, and Roorbach's style is very reminiscent of John Irving's. There was just something, I dunno, off about the tone of this thing that kept me from embracing it wholesale. It wants to be a funny coming of age story (focusing, primarily, upon the life of "Lizard" Hochmeyer, a-shade-under-7'0" Miami Dolphins star) but the often very funny plot development and rich characterizations run counter to the very unfunny, and very brutal, murders of Lizard's parents at the beginning of the book. Mr. Roorbach is a force to be reckoned with, and I would like to read some of his other works, but this didn't quite work for me.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot going on: murder (and other crimes), mystery, mental illness, revenge, love stories, professional sports, ballet, rock and roll, gangsters, sex, intrigue, family dynamics, foodie stuff, suicide, drugs and much, much more. It's comic at times, heart breaking at others, moving fluidly around different eras of David "Lizard" Hochmeyer's life. It's sometimes confusing (because Lizard is often confused by what is going on around him) but completely absorbing and very difficult to put down. The characters are vivid and real, and I miss them now that I've read the whole thing, though they will live in my memory for a very, very long time.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a number of excellent reviews for Bill Roorbach’s “Life Among Giants: A Novel” and I eagerly looked forward to reading the book. The two main characters are David, known as Lizard, is the young giant and star football player and Lizard’s sister Kate who is a top seeded tennis player. The book opens with their parents being killed almost at their feet and the story is told through Lizard’s eyes as they attempt to make sense of their tragedy and live through and past it.

I found the plot started out fast and furious, slowed down and often repeated itself half way through, and finished with the revealing of family secrets that made me want to cry and laugh at the same time.

[wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of a football player/ restauranteur who was present at the murder of his mother and father when he was young. In a sense it is a mystery in which he attempts to find out who was responsible for their deaths. But, oh is the tale a twisted one to get from point A to point B. We meet all manner of unique characters including his troubled sister, a ballet star, his unusual chef and ultimately the villains of this piece. I guess my only problem with the book was that I not feel any type of connection to the protagonist or any of the other cast which made my somewhat indifferent to the books outcome.

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Personally, I need a book to either- a) provide information I didn't have before- whether it be a history lesson or a life lesson, it doesn't matter -or- b) have a compelling plot and/or characters I care about. Unfortunately, though fairly well written, Life Among Giants provided neither. I didn't care about the characters, including the main character. I didn't find anything truly compelling about the story being wove. When you simply don't care who committed the murders and why, which is the central theme of the book, there isn't much to hold your interest save interesting characters- and I didn't find any here.

Sorry Roorbach.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ½ stars Very entertaining in an over-the-top-all-over-the-place kind of way. The convoluted plot and wild characters reminded me of early John Irving. For a more recent comparison, the zany characters and wildly improbable plot reminded me of Where’d You Go Bernadette? Could be filed under: football, cooking, tennis, rock stars, prima ballerinas, murder, revenge, mental instability, dysfunctional families and mycoloy. Not kidding when I said all over the place.