Thomas said on January 15th, 2011 @1:17 am  

Well, I just finished it. Another great book, if you ask me.

I feel this book really shows how you need to make life suck for your characters to make an interesting story.

There is a minor through-back to Waterways that I also enjoyed very much. I am interested to see if he chooses to run with that. That is, if he continues with this as a series.

I do wish we could have seen one or two more things unfold, but I guess time may show them to us later.

Man, I am trying to talk about it while being vague; I can see why you wanted help with that.

Lovejoy said on January 15th, 2011 @2:48 pm  

@Kazaki
Are you going to find a nice quiet locker room to read the rest of the book?

@Thomas
I’m curious to see how many people get that Waterways reference. And yes, one of the things I’d like to get into with the review is Gold’s use of character conflict.

@Alex Vance
Interesting observation! I’m glad this is sparking discussion already.

Sometimes I hate being such a fast reader. It would feel like cheating to do a full on spoiler-tastic review at this point. Still, there are some interesting not entirely spoiler things I can point out. One interesting thing (remember your SAT prep) Out of Position:Isolation Play :: Volle:Pendant of Fortune. Just the pacing, mind you… Out of Position was spread over a spring, subsequent fall football season, Dev’s rookie pro season, and into his second. Isolation play doesn’t have those big stretches of time, much tighter pacing and action.

I don’t think it’s too big a spoiler to say that there’s a ton of family stuff going on in this book, and since I’m a lot like Lee in that I can’t seem to hold onto or stay close to anyone, some of it did get me a bit verklempt–feeding further into my post FC depression, too.

On the second read through I caught some interesting tidbits I missed the first time around, like the age that Dev’s father started giving him beer.

Maybe a bit borderline, but I did want to point out my favorite line, “Because he hurt you. He hurt you and I’m not big enough to kick the shit out of him.” To me that was the most powerful single line in the book.

I do intend to do a full on review soon, as long as I can squeeze out enough time between my other looming deadlines.

@Pouch – I don’t know about spontaneous, but I do think it’s the most visceral thing I recall him saying. And even with all the sex, and the various ‘I love you’s in the books, this line more than anything told me about Lee’s feelings for Dev. (I guess since you let out who said it to who, I can at least say that much.)

Having just finished Isolation Play, I have mixed feelings.

First, let me say that Kyell Gold’s writing is amazing as always. Pacing, narration, his technique is practically flawless. (And you’d have to be a better person than me to find flaws.) Not to mention his vivid imagery that takes you right through the words on the page almost without seeing them. And my God, can he convey the emotions his characters go through. Not being a writer myself I can’t tell you how he does it, how another person’s prose can feel flat and distant while Mr. Gold’s affects my emotions almost more than reality. But it does.

Which, sadly, is the crux of why I did not enjoy this book. I can’t continue without spoiling somewhat, so anyone who hasn’t read it yet may want to stop here (why are you reading this thread, anyway?). But a vast majority of the story involves both Dev and Lee suffering one seemingly insufferable hardship after another. As an admittedly emotionally susceptible reader, this was hard to deal with. I ended more than one chapter hoping like heck that was the worst, only for the characters’ suffering to multiply on the next page.

Some of the blame is mine for getting too emotionally involved in fiction. Yeah, well, make reality as interesting as fiction and we’ll talk. (I’m kidding.) But I have to ask the question: why was I reading this? I went into it expecting to be entertained, but I’m not entertained by watching people suffer. Not those I care about. And Mr. Gold, bless him, writes such compelling characters I can’t help caring about them. Now I understand and agree with the assertion that a good story needs suffering and conflict; it can’t just be a magical romp of the main characters getting what they want without sacrifice. But, for me at least, the characters suffered so much I thought many times that the ending couldn’t possibly be worth it all.

And sadly, it really wasn’t. After nearly four hundred pages of what was, though sprinkled with humorous and heartwarming moments, primarily the characters suffering one misery after another, the conclusion of the story wraps everything up in–literally–fourteen pages. Though the characters learned and grew throughout the story I felt the ending happened too suddenly, and too completely, to be really believable. For example, although it was explained, I don’t really believe one character’s unwavering rock-solid position could be completely reversed by a single conversation.

I adore most of Kyell Gold’s writing not only for the fantastic characters, imagery, and storytelling, but for the fact that events flow naturally, as though the story documents things that really happened (or could have happened). But with Isolation Play, as with Out of Position, the story felt more manufactured to me, moving less smoothly toward a predetermined conclusion instead of unfolding organically. Was it a gripping story? Absolutely. The fact I’m posting this review at 3:30 AM speaks to that. But will I read it again? Given how much of the book left me tensed and even upset, for a conclusion that didn’t feel worth it, probably not. Characters need to suffer, yes, but a story needs to offer enough enjoyment for the readers to make it worthwhile. Someone could give you a blow-by-blow account of the removal of their diseased wisdom teeth, but while at the end they were better off than they started, it’s not necessarily a tale you want to hear.

Unless, I suppose, it involved a gay fox and tiger.

@Dimitri V @Lovejoy

I do see the issues here. While there are a lot of huge up and downs, this time around a lot of the character conflict really isn’t so much between Dev and Lee when you look at it. There are moments here and there, but the bigger issue is actually with the external characters.

Quite frankly I didn’t think of this as really that happy of an ending… I don’t want to go too terribly far into it in case any silly fur is still reading and hasn’t finished yet (Really? Why?) but this ending is like the stalemate that ended WWI. Both sides realized that they couldn’t go on destroying themselves and each other, but they really didn’t resolve anything. There are still several closets worth of shoes to drop here.

And Dimitri, you’ve hit on the very reason that I was upset by the very idea of a sequel. I knew that things would not go well–could not go well and have a novel. In the end it didn’t get as bad as I feared (what, is this only the second-ok third novel where no one died?) but it didn’t have the same kind of high points, either. I didn’t know there’d be two more sequels, but I figured that this isn’t really the end. It’s something of the middle. Not that I find that particularly reassuring. Then again, while it might not be a place to revisit often, ‘upset’ is certainly a valid emotional place to take your reader. For example, I still haven’t been able to go back to re-read Kevin Frane’s Thousand Leaves. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it at least once.

The amount of pain the characters went through kind of reminded me of Oceans from Waterways. Isolation play was just longer and more drawn out. I agree that the ending wasn’t as long as I thought it should have been. After such an emotionally exhausting novel I was hoping for something a bit more satisfying.

The only other criticism I have (and this is probably just me) is some parts of the dialogue, mostly during Dev’s parts. The exchanges he has with his teammates feel forced and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the things they said. There was another scene in the middle of the novel between Lee and Gerrard’s son. The conversation that took place felt extremely awkward and drawn out. Of course, there was an important point made during that exchange, but, on a whole, it felt unrealistic. These are just minor complaints that probably don’t even matter. I loved the rest of the dialogue, especially the parts between Dev and Lee.

Overall, I really liked the book. I guess I was kind of expecting an extension of Out of Position, but Isolation Play is a very different novel then its predecessor. Knowing that there will be more to this story makes me feel better about the rushed ending. Now I am impatiently waiting for the third.

@Buck T

Though Dev and Lee have issues between them, you’re right about much of the conflict coming from external characters. When I talk about those characters changing suddenly at the end of the story, it’s because their motivations and actions don’t seem consistent with their earlier selves. And that, unfortunately, keeps the end from being as convincingly tied up for me as it’s supposed to be.

I do think, however, that the ending is intended to be a happy one. What was revealed as the big conflict is resolved (if not very believably), everyone seems happy with everyone else, and their futures are looking up.

You’re absolutely correct that making one’s readers upset is a valid thing for a writer to do. If they can do that, it means they’ve written their characters well enough to make readers care about them. I haven’t read Thousand Leaves so I can’t compare it to Isolation Play, but the pain I experienced reading the latter felt so unnecessary; it was like watching a friend get beat up on a mall surveillance tape. Even if they recovered okay, I wouldn’t want to watch that happen to them.

… I should probably re-read the book before I analyze it too much further, in case I missed something that binds everything together and I look a fool for not having seen it.

You, sir, have a very good insight into how Isolation Play went for me. I was in something like shock for a few parts and had to re-read several paragraphs when I realized I hadn’t taken in a word of them. Reading the book again will doubtless allow more to sink in, but will experiencing everything again be worth it? And if I do… can I have a cup of hot chocolate and a hug?