Art in America: A Novel

Be ready to settle in and watch a master juggler at work Art In America has storyline after storyline after storyline As you read, you can feel the storylines starting to cross and converge, until the author manages to pull them all together at a completely satisfying end.I don t think it s possible for McLarty to write simple I picture him at his desk with five different computer screens The screen in the middle the overall story The two to either side the storylines McLarty s sweeping gaze dra [...]

Very entertaining Steven Kearney has written thousands of pages of poetry, short stories and some of the longest novels in the history of the form None of them were published So, when the small town of Creede, CO asks him to write a play for their historical society s extravaganza, he moves from New York to Colorado.Unfortunately, his arrival coincides with regional political environmental upheaval and while he struggles with his own doubts about his artistic abilities, he meets a woman he falls [...]

I love Ron McLarty, and I enjoyed this book, but as some other reviewers mentioned, the amount of profanity was, I thought, excessive, and I was getting VERY tired of one particular character the dead one to the point that several times I really wanted to just stop listening I listened to the audio book version It made me feel very frustrated.Ron McLarty does a great job of reading his own work, and I love the every man characters that he creates I just think this one went a little too far overb [...]

I was all over the place with this book At first I didn t like it, then I did, and then I didn t again If nothing else, my experience tells me Art in America is too long.McLarty proved himself to be a capable writer and storyteller Somehow, I felt like his plot was part of his shortcomings He had events which worked well together to tell a story, but they felt bulky and on the frontline of the novel To use a sports analogy, I like a game where the refs remain in the background and let the athlet [...]

I had listened to two audioooks by this author and really liked both The author narrated the books himself, and I thought he had a very pleasing voice and reading style I had wondered if that made me enjoy the books than if I had read them myself After reading this book for myself, I can say that I still really enjoyed it, even if it might have been slightly enjoyable having the author read it to me.The book starts with the quirky lead character, un produced playwrite Stephen Kearney, living i [...]

Art in America carried a few too many pastel colors for me I read the Memory of Running or rather listened to it via audio books and fell in love with it I purchased Art in America because I wanted to read by this author to see if his same creative writing style remained but it fell a bit short for me Art in America is story of Steven Kearney who is an overweight man who doubts his abilities, talents and self worth hmmm, sounds like Memory of Running He takes on a momentous job of writing and d [...]

The Memory of Running and Traveller were two books I embraced and even bought for others to read I thought that McClarty s fine characterizations and easy going style of prose made for wonderful reading But I am sorry to say this book was a chaotic mess, filled with too many sub plots, half developed characters and a terf war going on that I found just too hard to follow I dould not keep the characters straight, and quite honestly after reading 174 pages had so little interest in the plot, that [...]

I thoroughly enjoyed this new book by Ron McLarty He creates wonderful characters, and in the end we rejoice in their triumphs Artists and sheriffs, environmentalists and landowners, strong women and young punks, and in the middle of them all is playwright Steven Kearney, a stranger to this town whose work brings everyone together in a colossal outdoor theatre event I definitely recommend it My favorite quote What is it, Steven Kearney wondered as they crawled under the covers, that ladles such [...]

What a story What a writer What an odd title for a book about a failed New York author playwright transplanted to Colorado in the midst of a range war Although I understand the significance of the title to a story about a playwright, a muralist, a director and some 70 actors performing an epic about the founding of a small town, it does not come close to encompassing the sprawling and hilarious nature of the story Among those we meet are Sheriff Petey Myers, formerly of the Boston PD, who conver [...]

I started this book once before and put in down because of the great amount of swearing This time I stuck with it and got pass to find a sweet and funny sentimental story The nominal hero is a writer who hasn t never been published who is hired by the Historical Society of a small town out Westto write and produce a play presenting the town s history But several characters, among them the Sherrif and a Rancher, are fully developedand their story line was as important to me as that of the writer [...]

Wanted to like this COMPLETELY unpublished wannabe authour he s so wrapped up in his work he dosn t notice the furniture s missing his girlfriend is leaving him suddenly has a dream job fall into his lap write a history play for a small Western town s anniversary Only problem the town s filled with gun toting nuts and hippies, and is on the verge of civil warI just didn t find the characters or story really interesting McLarty draws very good portraits of these people He s brave enough to make t [...]

What a fun book Ron McLarty is a clever guy and a great narrator Having read another of his books, I looked forward to this audio version he narrates himself which is always enjoyable.A charming group of characters brought together into a beautiful tapestry or should I say mural Quirky Yes, but so what We all know at least two of these people probably , if we are honest I really like how McLarty brought them all together in a situation that could actually happen Thinking about the story still gi [...]

This book is unusual The characters are unusual, the plot is unusual, the setting is unusual Sometimes that s good and sometimes that s bad There are so many characters in this book it is a little difficult to keep them straight at first, but once they settle into their roles it s not as bad I started out really liking the book, and then it started to drag, but then it picked up in the last 100 pages or so To me, the supporting characters in the book are much interesting than the main character [...]

Steve Kearney is not a success in the traditional sense of the word He has written many plays and books and poetry but nothing has been published His live in girlfriend moved out and cleaned out his bank account too, so he is staying with a friend, a long term friend who loves theater and happens to be lesbian.Then out of the blue, Steve gets an invitation to be playwright in residence in Creede, Colorado and write a play about the history of the town The local fine historical society hopes that [...]

Sections of this book were thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking Its goal seemed to be to look at how art in different forms can influence the average american or reflect the average american s experience While reading the less dynamic portions of the novel, it s difficult not to imagine how much developed some of the characters and stories may be in the author s mind than how they appeared on the pages of his book He obviously loves these characters, and it appeared that he wanted to incl [...]

I REALLY like Ron McLarty s work This story is truly amazing A struggling writer finally gets a break, to write a pageant play to help a mining town in Colorado celebrate its history and diversity, but it requires his leaving the homeless existence that has devolved to him in New York City The characters are all interestingly portrayed, the dialog is always unfailingly human, and McLarty is not a ham fisted plot manipulator by any means This book is even better than his first The Memory of Runni [...]

Sometimes I get the feeling that an author really enjoys the world he created, and wants to keep hanging out in it This was one of those times The book has a lot of secondary characters and subplots, but while all of them are lively, I started to feel like some were a littledulgent Like maybe they should have been cut Didn t stop me loving the whole book, though The story is basically a comedy, with fistfights, cowboys, mid life crises, spiritual crises, land use battles, courtroom theatrics, wo [...]

I loved this story, but I had a lot of problems with the execution of the book McLarty had a habit bad In my opinion yes and I hate this when any author does it of having a running conversation but giving not attribution to which character is speaking Maybe it s just me but I have a hard time with that Not to mention a main character the sherrif who was always talking to his dead partner and giving way to much backstory on incidental characters I just think the story would have moved smoothly w [...]

omg i loved this it s funny, sprawling but not too big 322pp , There s anodd huge collection of characters are so well drawn that you visualize all of them easily Old ladies, college girls, a tiny skinny old man in his 90s, a 48 year old man protag who writes writes writes Takes place mostly in Colorado I would love to see a movie of it, with Philip Seymour Hoffmann, Isabella Rossellini, and if we could go back in time that funny little old lady from golden girls It s a great readke a relative o [...]

A big romp of a book galloping from NYC, a place where Steven Kearney fails every day in every little thing to Creede, Colorado, a place where he succeeds most days in most things He falls in love, he writes a play All the marriages are good ones The bad guys are really stupid and bad.The play at the end, surely the most organized, easily produced, and meaningfully wonderful local production I have ever heard of, represents what I imagine RM wants the book to be, a transcendent experience that b [...]

McLarty s stories are amazing He doesn t fall back and reuse the stuff he wrote last time He doesn t bore you with technical acronyms or minute details for filler or to prove he knows his subject.What he does is flesh out real characters in stories that almost have to be true although they er not As far as I know He is at his best in this story of an artist loose in the middle of America The supporting characters and subplots are told so well McLarty is not trendy I believe we ll be reading his [...]

My third McLarty book WOW I would caution those who cannot go to sleep without knowing what happens in a story, to start reading this early in the morning McLarty once again takes someone from the East Coast out west He weaves a magnificent story with the Rockies as a backdrop His rescue of the lead character is magnificent How can a hero still be a hero with all of their mental handicaps Read the book to find that answer This book is definitely in my top ten reads The title is deceiving McLarty [...]

A wonderful, fun to read story that begins in New York City and moves to Creed Colorado The tale surrounds Steven in his late 40s writes plays, essays, novels and has never been published He supports him self in construction His work comes to the attention of the historical society of Creed and they offer him a salary and a room to write a play about their town When he gets there, all hell breaks out not from anything he has done He finds love, purpose and lots of adventure in southern Colorado [...]

A middle aged failed writer has hit bottom Serendipitously, he gets a letter from someone in a small Colorado town who wants him to write and produce a pageant for an upcoming civic celebration to smooth over area conflicts over land rights Having nothing better to do, he takes the job The reader expects him and everyone else to be caricatures and stereotypes, but they are not The writer finds confidence, acceptance, and love, the townspeople are sincere and kind, and the only caricatures are th [...]

Art in America by Ron McLarty follows unpublished author, Steven Kearney, from New York City to the wild West when he is hired by the Creed, Colorado, Historical Society to write a play celebrating the town s history Meanwhile, a land rights dispute erupts, pitting cowboys against libertarians and bringing out the worst behavior, as well as the comic aspects, in both groups Another former Easterner, Sheriff Petey Myers, has to keep the peace off stage, while Stephen and friends struggle to balan [...]

Perhaps that he is a college contemporary at Rhode Island College or simply that his sense of humor is a bit off the wall as is the case with many of us herein RI, but I find his books to be extremely humorous and entertaining This unlike his other two works is not based in Rhode Island, but very entertaining Some of his characters can be a bit absurd but if you think hard enough you know someone not too dissimilar.I like his work and I think it is worth the read Not an overwhelming read, quick [...]

This book peeks inside the mind of the individual that travels in a pack and questions what happens when one attempts to think for themselves as opposed to allowing themselves to be sucked into the groupthink It is a wonderful adventure watching the characters fall into the role of their lives which are both private and public the use of a civic play was a wonderful vehicle to use to arrive there Laugh out loud funny, especially the river rafting episode

A very different sort of story, which takes a would be writer from NY and transplants him to the West to write for a community theater event His own story weaves into the political plot happening in town and the history he is reselling in the play It s very interesting, but not at all a page turner The writing is casual and there are a few too many characters I ve read two other books by this author, this was my least favorite.

This was recommended to me, and I didn t think I would like it It begins in New York with typical arty characters acting shallow and self absorbed, but as the story moved to the West and the characters developed, I began to see the humor and the warmth of the work Give this one a chance it s completely worth it

So, mostly I gave this 5 stars because it was set in fictional but real if you ve ever been there Creede, Colorado, where I ve been going since I was a kid with my family The story was great too though The characters were so real and funny I especially loved all the cowboys They were hilarious