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Really enjoyed the meta-ness of talking about the process of writing and selling a book within the book itself.
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Last Resort by Andrew Lipstein is a novel about the ownership and misappropriation of ideas and stories.
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Interesting Premise..
A book within a book in this tale of a budding author whose goals are about to become reality. Caleb wants every editor to get hold of his new book. What he doesn’t want is it to fall into the hands of Avi. But, what happens when it does? An interesting premise and an entertaining read although Caleb is unlikeable and ultimately whines through the narrative and the fun dwindles.
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Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this very good debut novel. Great writing and well developed characters make this a good read, even if Caleb is very unlikeable as a person. A great premise very well executed. I’d recommend as a good read.
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Engaging, well-written, fast-paced; Lipstein's meta-novel is the ideal read during one's commute to work.
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A brilliant book all about choices…Caleb Horowitz is twenty-seven, and his wildest dreams are about to come true. His manuscript has caught the attention of the literary agent, who offers him fame, fortune and a taste of the literary life. He can't wait for his book to be shopped around to every editor in New York, except one: Avi Dietsch, a college rival and the novel's 'inspiration.'
When Avi gets his hands on the manuscript, he sees nothing but theft - and opportunity. And so Caleb is forced to make a Faustian bargain, one that tests his theories of success, ambition and the limits of art.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Last Resort is another meta novel (a book within a book), this time about Caleb Horowitz, a 30 ish year old who is struggling to write his first novel when an encounter with an old college friend Avi gives him inspiration. The only problem is that it is Avi’s story he takes, turning a real life foursome in the Greek Islands into a novel (also called Last Resort) that publishers are clamouring for.
The plagiarism angle has been compared to The Plot, which I have on Kindle but haven’t read yet, albeit that this is a more character-driven, literary narrative as opposed to a thriller. It contains some suspense but not really enough to call it a pageturner.
Caleb is not a particularly nice person. He has very questionable ethics and judgment, but he manages to justify the dubious decisions he makes on grounds that allow the reader to bear with him, up to a point. The writing is lovely, though I found the female characters a little flimsy, without any defining characteristics. I think I might have preferred to read the meta Last Resort, as opposed to this real life one!
If you like character-driven books with a New York angle and you don’t mind a fairly obnoxious male protagonist, then this might be worth a whirl. A decent debut, nicely written, but not hugely memorable. Not my pick of this week’s releases. 3/5 ⭐️
Many thanks to the author, the publishers @orionbooks @wnbooks for the opportunity to read an ARC via @netgalley. As always, this is an honest review.*
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This book was really well written with an engaging and compelling plot and well developed characters. i think this book had such an intriguing premise and I was gripped right from the start, I really enjoyed it.
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This was a joy to read. Lipstein’s writing is so engaging, I felt like I was really there watching all the events pan out. Caleb was such an unlikeable character that I came to love him for exactly that reason. It was his flaws more than anything that made him feel so real. The plot was non-stop suspense, I read this book in less than a day as I just couldn’t put it down.
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A really well written book. With really good characters and a good plot. It took me a little while to get into it but after that I enjoyed it.
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Caleb Horowitz is trying and failing to write a publishable first novel when he meets up with old college friend Avi Dietsch. Avi tells him a true story about a dying woman that somehow inspires Caleb to write well when inventing things was only leading him into dead ends. When he's finished the manuscript, he grabs the attention of a 'big shot' literary agent who plans to sell the book for a lot of money. Unfortunately, Avi gets wind of what Caleb's done, and demands that Caleb recompense him for the use of 'his' story - even though it actually belongs to neither of them.
Last Resort, Andrew Lipstein's debut novel, feels like a more literary and more satisfying version of Jean Hanff Korelitz's The Plot (with some weird echoes of Lee Cole's Groundskeeping). Unlike Korelitz, Lipstein doesn't try to convince us that the story Caleb 'steals' is especially brilliant or unusual - the success of his novel is partly what he does with that story and partly the buzz that builds around the book because of the circumstances of its creation. It's an interesting reworking of 'write what you know', positioning Caleb as a writer who has to work from real life, but not his own life. And although Caleb is ultimately a bit of a douche, Lipstein gets us to root for him - I think partly because Avi's initial accusation is pretty ludicrous, although Caleb ends up doing things that are just as bad as he seeks his revenge. And even though Caleb makes a lot of stupid decisions throughout the course of the novel, I always understood why he made them.
Lipstein keeps the reader guessing, as well, developing the plot in such a way that we feel surprised but not cheated about what happens next. This makes Last Resort totally gripping, as Lipstein manages to throw in one of these twists every time the pacing starts to slow and we feel like the consequences of Caleb's original decision are fully played out. Yet because of the characterisation of Caleb, these twists feel earnt - they proceed from what we already know about the character and the way that he operates. And while I imagine some readers will find Caleb so unsympathetic that they can't get on with this novel, this wasn't my experience at all. Instead I identified with him much more than I felt I should given his general idiocy. A final fun fact: Lipstein actually wrote the version of 'Last Resort' that Caleb writes, but couldn't get it published. What a great way to make use of an abandoned novel.
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The synopsis drew me in with this book, I liked the idea of a backstage pass into the publishing world, after reading The Plot which has a similar plot I was interested to see if I would this as much.
Sadly I did not. The first few chapters I couldn’t put down but as it went it I got bored, I felt it took a lot of time to get to anywhere and even then I felt it went nowhere and certainly not fast.
I found the lead character of Caleb to be a bit “poor me” as I such I didn’t warm to him which in turn put off reading about him and in turn the book.
The writer is clearly gifted the idea/plot of the book is great concept but it lacks the execution and follow though, leaving it a bit hollow without much to say. Dare I say it almost a bit bland.
I found some of the plod arches a bit too convenient which for me came across a bit silly and lazy of author, the book was smartly written despite being bland but this “by pure chance” bits made it read more like YA novel.
The humour of lack of was also an issue for me though as British perhaps the American humour went over me.
I felt that the book cover and name didn’t match the novel at all.
I really wanted to love this book but sadly it wasn’t for me, I give it 2.5 stars as I still like the idea of the plot and the writing style was good. I am sure folk will love this book, folk maybe smarter than me but it’s not for me.
Thanks to Netgally for giving me this copy to review, and also to Orion Books
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I have to say, first and foremost, that I am not a massive fan of novels all about people who write novels. However I am now willing to rethink my position after reading this excellent debut novel.
Many reviews have likened this book to The Plot in that they both deal with the topic of plagiarism. Is an idea, a thought by one person, taken and made into a novel by another really plagiarism? Who is the real author of the story? These are the questions which are asked here.
Caleb is an aspiring novelist who takes his friend, Ari's, story of a foursome and makes it into a novel. When the manuscript is picked up by a publisher, it then creates a difficult set of questions focused on who is the real owner of the story, the person with the original idea, or the person who took the idea and made it into what it has become? Is any story truly original?
The writing here was fantastic as were the characters, including the incredibly unlikeable protagonist, Caleb.
Definitely an author I will look out for in the future and thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.