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Uncle Max
by Chris Kenry
| List Price: |
$14.00 |
Unavailable for
purchase at this time |
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Paperback
Publisher: Kensington
| Customer Reviews: |
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| A Glorious Madcap Adventure |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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"'Uncle Max' is the story of a gawky adolescent teetering on the edge of homosexuality, who discovers an unlikely hero in his outrageous, irreverent uncle. Together, this daring duo embarks on a glorious madcap adventure that will change young Dillon's life forever."--© zebraz
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| A Wolf In Beach Book Clothing |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Before I begin actually reviewing this book, I have a confession to make. I just finished a search on the rest of Mr. Chris Kenry's work. I would honestly read (With out being paid or commanded by the people that cut my pay check) another of his books. To read a book a few years after it was released, and see that the author hasn't fallen off the face of the earth is exciting. If I enjoyed this book that was written in 2002, imagine how great at his craft he as become in the subsequent years.
"Uncle Max" is a tricky book. Like the guy that says he wants a relationship but is actually only after a one night stand, the book poses to be one thing and actually is another. "Uncle Max" unabashedly bills itself as a comedy. It wants you to believe you're supposed to read it under a glorious beach umbrella while your friends play football on the beach spanning in front of you. It wants you to believe you're supposed to read little paragraphs from it to your friends over lunch so you can all comment on how witty it is. Let remind you that this is what the book WANTS you to believe.
This "fluff" perspective the book has of itself is very limiting. Sure, parts of Dillon's story about the end of his adolescence and his entrance into adulthood are humorous, but not in the casual beach manner the book wants you to think. It's a very black humor, as we are supposed to find most of the humor in his interactions with his alcoholic, newly religious mother and his criminal, pedophile uncle. (Insert laughter here.)
Dillon's life, for a 14 year old, is about on par with the normal dysfunction the average American family seems to attract these days. His mother decides, after two failed marriages and years of massive anger displacement towards Dillon, to "discover" religion and give up alcohol. Just as Dillon is preparing for his baptism and all the religious glory that comes with it, he finds the alcohol his mother left behind. One thing leads to another, and his ever loving mom decides the best thing to do with the problem child is to send him away to a Nazi-err...Church Camp. Enter Uncle Max.
Instead of getting a fairy godmother interjecting and fixing his life, Dillon gets Max. A former drug dealer and convict, Max will seduce anything that gets in his way. Man. Woman. Nephew. Whatever it takes. A real go-getter, it's not long before Max seduces Dillon into a web of crime and deception. In the end, we are left alone with Dillon and a mountain of question marks, BEGGING for a sequel.
Chris Kenry's characters reminded me of Mr. Chuck Palahniuk's characters ("Fight Club," "Invisible Monsters"), and I mean that in the most complimentary way. There was never a moment in all of the character's misadventures where they acknowledged that they were horrible people doing horrible things. Aside from Dillon's 14-year-old flexible sense of right and wrong, none of the supporting cast has a sense of morality. Everyone has their share of flaws, and everyone follows the rules of living in a glass house. No one wants to throw the stone that sends the glass house tumbling down.
So, we have mayhem. Robbery. Incest. Religion. Alcoholism. A virtual how-to guide for shoplifters. Drugs. Divorce. Insurance fraud. A cast of characters that marvel in their wicked smuttiness. Not to mention the coming of age story that glues all these themes together.
Yep, it's clearly the perfect book for your casual day at the beach.
Fortunately for me, morality bores me. I hope the rest of your work mirrors this one Mr. Kenry. If so, you have a fan.
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| SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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A surprisingly interesting read. i was looking for air head read and i got something that was more than just subway material to pass the time. however it was way too short, i demand a sequel, Dil needs to go looking Max! Yes indeed!
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| A Gay Kid & His Psychopath Uncle |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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The basic plot is that of a gangly, nerdy, kid named Dillion in his early teens who fails to fit in anywhere only in part to being gay. The uncle he never knew shows up (on parole which he violates immediately and consistently) and precedes to entrap the kid into all kinds of burglaries and other crimes. The kid winds up falling in love with his Uncle Max. Max is basically a psychopath who uses people. There is a lot of evidence that he cares a lot about the kid, but not a lot of care. There is one scene in which Max molests (statutarily rapes) Dillion and another scene in wich another character confesses to repeated acts of child sexual abuse that the reader ought to be warned about. Kenry's excellent sense of humor makes for great narration and dialouge but there is very little that one could call basic morality let alone justice in the plot.
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| Dark and funny |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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After Can't buy me love this was the second novel by Chris Kenry that I read. It's very well-written, funny but it has some definite dark undercurrents too. And as with the first book, the image on the cover doesn't do this novel justice at all. Can somebody please have a word with the art department at Kensington Publishing so in future this won't happen again? One more negative: the story ends way too soon. So dear, DEAR Mr. Kenry, will you please consider writing a sequel? Maybe call it Max & the City of St. Tropez? ;-))
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