Review: Riveting, funny, touching and romantic
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 21, 2012
Like other reviewers, I was pleasantly surprised to find this jewel among all the Kindle novels that I dump after the first few pages of unbearable prose. Sometimes I hang in there to the very end, thinking the themes (domestic abuse or teen suicide, e.g.) deserve my attention in spite of the bad writing, but then I don't post a review, not wanting to become the Simon of Amazon (that snide, awful American Idol judge).The title of this novel almost kept my from trying it. But from page one, I was caught by a voice and held by it for 350 pages. Toby has that sweet, flawed, vulnerable but messed up tone that makes Jeff Lindsay's "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" so endearing. "Toby Streams the Universe" is visceral, vivid, believable. Drunk on page one. Creeping out the neighbor lady walking her five little dogs. Toby has this "duh!" quality that seems to be the hallmark of a lot of men. All it takes is one woman to assess the situation and point out the obvious fix. Ha ha, love that in this novel, even though I hate the way men are portrayed as such dopes in so many books and movies. This time, it's okay. Clearly, Toby is brilliant, as was (is?) his missing father, the doctor. I can't elaborate or use supporting detail without giving away secrets that unfold gradually, one riveting eoc (end of chapter) after another. I love the way information is doled out a little at a time. It's one of many signs that this novel has passed a writing workshop.Another round of editing would have helped -- but as plot holes go, hey, even my beloved Dexter looks as cratered as the face of the moon. The novel that launched the TV show even opens with a rip-off of an "Oliver" song (moon, glorious moon). So I don't really mind the plot holes or the typos.And I like happy endings, hate tragedies, so I'm glad to offer this one spoiler: no beloved character will be murdered in this story."Toby" reminds me a little of another Kindle novel I recently read, Gail Cleare's "Destined," a novel of the Tarot, in the way *The Universe* can be trusted to deliver good things to those who take a leap of blind faith and go with the flow. So many problems are so quickly and cleanly resolved, and people are just so NICE, if we just give them a chance, and even mean people will either be reformed or just leave us alone, once we master the power of positive expectations. No, Maya Lassiter didn't use those words, and I don't object to New Age positive thinking. I don't mind quick-fix plots,which are discouraged in writing workshops and how-to books. "Toby," though, like Cleare's "Destined," struck a note of nave idealism that left me wondering what planet these writers are from. Really, it's not a bad thing--no worse than the happy endings of the romance genre--but it does leave me thinking I can't give such a novel the same 5 star rating I'd give Rod Usher's "Florid States." Usher's clean, pure prose, his insightful, honest, compelling voice - we need a sixth star to distinguish novels that really transcend the usual offerings, and go really deep into the human psyche. "Toby" is leagues above others in this genre, but minor characters, especially Penelope and company, border on being pure fiction.In conclusion, YES, I would recommend Maya Lassiter's "Toby Streams the Universe" to anyone who enjoys this genre. Die-hard disciples of "literary" wouldn't bother with the genre in the first place, but hey, this novel has substance, not just feel-good fluff and warm fuzzies. I can only digest so much tragedy without needing to escape into a pleasant world like Maya Lassiter's.