Customer Reviews
A delicious feast of fun! 
2008-09-25
Art in America: A Novel
McLarty is a marvelous writer. I fell in love with Memory of Running and then happily devoured his next book, Traveler. Two great and compelling stories wonderfully crafted and in a genre/class of their own. Couldn't wait to read Art in America expecting more of the same as apparently did the other reviewers here. But this latest book is nothing like the first two which was a dissapointment for some. I, on the other hand, love this new adventure McLarty takes us on. Whereas his first two books were like fine dining with an orderly first course, second course and so on, Art in America is like a fantastic all-you-can-eat buffet with plenty of rich and hearty characters and sub-plots to feast on from crusty old rancher, Ticky Lettgo holding on to the traditions of the Old West and Steven Kearney, the stimied, prolific author of scores of never-to-be-published works who leaves the demoralizing crush of New York City to hopefully re-arouse his muse way out West in the tiny Colorado town of Creedemore to the transplanted former Boston cop turned western sheriff, Petey Myers, and the dangerous and sinister environmental terrorists he must confront. There is a lot to chew on in this book. It is laugh out loud funny, touching, suspenseful, and poignant. It was not what I expected, but it ended up being a delicious stew that I enjoyed every minute of. So what if it isn't the same as his first two books?! A great storyteller like McLarty should be allowed to serve us up whatever he concocts. I, for one, am hungry and ready for whatever his next menu item shall be.
Its easy for readers to get caught up in Art In America 2008-09-11
Steven Kearney is a plump, forty-something part-time playwright who, despite having written pages and pages of material, has yet to have anything produced or published. After his girlfriend dumps him for another man, and taking construction jobs to make ends meet, he moves in with his best friend, Roarke, a lesbian theater director desperate for inspiration just like he is. Seemingly out of nowhere comes an offer to be the playwright-in-residence in the small town of Creedemore, Colorado. With this honor comes the responsibility of writing a play to memorialize the town and its history. Kearney quickly accepts the position, thinking that this could be the job that gets those creative juices flowing. Colorado, here he comes!
Kearney lands in Creedemore, right in the center of a bitter land dispute that has locals pitted against one another. In an effort to take advantage of the breathtaking natural bounty around him, Mountain Man Red Fields has cleverly started his own whitewater rafting business. But old Ticky Lettgo has taken issue with the rafts floating through his land, although Mountain Man contends that no one owns the water. Ticky decides to make his point the best way he knows how --- with his shotgun --- and gets a little too close for the tourists' comfort, not to mention safety.
Amiable Sheriff Petey Meyers, a transplant from the Boston Police Department, is brought in to handle matters. Meyers is trying to adapt to life in Colorado but just can't seem to put his Beantown days behind him. His constant referrals (and sometimes flat-out conversations) to his slain partner lay bare just how his heart is not really in this job. He arrests Ticky, which kicks off a firestorm of media with everyone taking a very vocal side. Soon it doesn't seem to be about a dispute over land, but more a clash of the old chaffing against the new. After his arrest and his subsequent trial, Tick's ninety-something wife, Minnie, stops speaking and takes to her bed, with only the medal of her deceased Marine son to comfort her.
Meanwhile, Kearney is struggling to get a handle on the job at hand. How can you commemorate a town when it's not your own? Luckily, he meets muralist Mollie Dowse, who has been commissioned to paint a mural for the town celebration. Mollie, with her quick wit and survivor instinct (she's bravely going through a strong course of chemotherapy after suffering from breast cancer), quickly becomes Kearney's muse, and the two set out to inspire each other.
Ron McLarty has been known as a very prolific character actor for years. He first came to people's attention as a gifted novelist with his debut, THE MEMORY OF RUNNING. In this, his third outing, McLarty has all the requisite charm and colorful characters, but at times, the sheer number of individuals and situations seems to take away from the main narrative. Although it lacks the clear vision of his two earlier novels, ART IN AMERICA does display McLarty's talent as an author, which manages to shine clearly through the haze, as readers get caught up in the story unfolding before them.
--- Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller
Art In America: A Novel is a joyful, wild, and extremely funny 
2008-09-10
I stumbled upon this novel first by being attracted by the title, then by being attracted by an author who was a veteran character actor with a background in theatre, and finally by thumbing through the beginning and seeing the hilarious list of the selected unpublished and unproduced (and overwritten) novels, poems, and plays of the novel's writer hero Steven Kearney. I simply could not put this hilarious book with all the zany characters and plots down. It is fun to laugh out loud. The novel itself could have been an early Sam Shepard play done Off Off Broadway in a basement of church on skid row with an audience of nine including friends and relatives. As crazy as each of the characters are sketched, and as looney as each of the plot twists are, I came to love each and everyone of them. There is a remarkable sense of poignancy here too. And it has moments where it is downright touching. If you an theatre artist in America and have a case of the blues, this just may pull you out of it. If anyone has access to Ron McLarty, tell him we want a sequel.
Too many balls in the air... 
2008-09-08
I really hoped to like this novel, because I like McLarty's previous work, but this was a total trainwreck. At once, the novel tries to be a satire, love story, political thriller, and comment on the relevance of art...in America. But none of these parts add up to a suitable whole. The book careens back and forth between McLarty's overload of caricatures, cliches, plotlines and downright sillinesses. And by the end, you're so glad it's over, you don't even stop to think critically about what the point of any of it was. If you read and enjoyed "The Memory of Running" as I did, let that be your memory of McLarty's art...in America. Avoid this one!
Give Me More 2008-09-02
Ron McLarty proves over and over that he can tell a story. I was captured from the beginning and did not want to put the book down. I hope he is writing more, because I am waiting for his next book. This is a must read.
A Trip to Avoid 
2008-08-20
A funny and heartwarming novel about a down-on-his-luck writer who finally finds success and love Steven Kearney is a bumbling, overweight writer who has produced thousands of pages of novels, plays, and poems—not a single one of which has ever been published. After being thrown out of his Manhattan apartment, Kearney is offered a position as playwright-in-residence for three months at the Creedemore Historical Society in Colorado, who want him to write and direct a historical play about the town. When Kearney arrives, all hell breaks loose. A dispute between an elderly landowner, Ticky Lettgo, and a young man named Red Fields escalates into a battle that pits local ranchers against a fringe anti-property group. Town sheriff Petey Meyers, still haunted by the death of his police partner, tries to keep the peace. As the national media descends on the town, the most extreme member of the activist group initiates a diabolical plan that could sabotage everything.
Amid all the tumult, Kearney pens a play that brilliantly captures the history of the town. In the process, he realizes he’s too old to keep beating up on himself and finds lasting love. With its lively characters and spellbinding pace, Ron McLarty’s new novel is sure to please.
some great moments, but not up to traveler 2008-07-24
One of my fondest memories of McLarty's excellent novel Traveler was Riley's work in New York as a bartender and actor. The description of Riley acting in obscure plays before audiences that usually numbered in the low single digits in a theater that seated 12-15 people was a real delight. Being a patron of the arts, a performer of the arts, and an artist took on a whole new meaning. You wonder--does this subculture really exist in New York? Is McLarty exaggerating for dramatic (you'll pardon the pun) effect? So after the first dozen or so pages of Art in America I thought that McLarty would be expanding on that memorable part of Traveler.
Steven Kearney is a writer--novels, plays, musicals--but not a successful one. The prologue lists "selected works"(all unpublished): 10 works that run to well over 17000 pages, for an average length of 1700+ pages, and if you omit the two "short" works of only 822 and 231 pages, the remaining 8 works average over 2000 pages. Typical of these is "The Barrelli Retrospective Works", 1930 pages: "A failed Rhode Island artist looks back over his long career as oil painter/short-order cook at Manny's Big Eats in Cranston". It's a great prologue! After reading it I sent (through Amazon) 4 copies to friends and family--perhaps prematurely. Kearney soon leaves New York for Creede (called Creedmore for some reason in the novel) Colorado, where he's been commissioned to write a play. So the rest of the novel mostly takes place in the greater Creede area.
Creede should certainly be a culture shock for a New Yorker. McLarty introduces a lot of characters, almost all of whom seem rather, well, eccentric. There's Sheriff Petey Myers, a New England transplant, who talks a lot to his deceased partner, the very rich Ticky Lettgo, entrepreneur Red Fields, and these seem quite normal compared to many others. There is a lot going on--almost too much going on--and it gets a bit confusing at times. Traveler was a much tighter novel--focussed, carefully-drawn. You were pulled into the mysteries and the decades-old questions and uncertainties. Art in America has a wonderful core to it, and some pruning of distractions might have been beneficial: leaving out the radicals, the bomb-throwers, and the like and concentrating on how Kearney adjusts would have worked well. Creede is a fascinating place--narrow streets, towering canyon walls, precariously-situated mine entrances, and the memories of Soapy Smith who went on to notoriety and death in Skagway and the town's motto "It's day all day in the daytime and there is no night in Creede". Art in America captures some of this flavor, but there are too many other things happening. Traveler took a part-time actor back to his roots in Rhode Island--a rediscovery. Kearney's roots are not in Creede, but the voyage and the effect on his character in many ways match those in Traveler.
