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Exit A
A Novel
by Anthony Swofford
FILM:
In his follow-up to "Jarhead," Swofford describes a youth spent on a U.S. air base in Japan and the gritty neon streets just outside it, where the Japanese underworld lurks and a rebellious young girl finds herself in great danger.
Scribner, 304 pages
01/09/2007
$25.00
ISBN: 074327038X
Fiction
General Literature & Fiction
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
Daily Telegraph Mark Sanderson
[Swofford’s] exploration of the military mind, and the minefields of parenthood and wedlock, suggest that emotional battlegrounds will prove fertile fictional territory after this accomplished and moving debut.
Kirkus Reviews
A well-rounded tale, even if it ends on a sentimental note that will surprise readers of Swofford's tough-as-nails memoir. [15 Oct 2006, p.1043]
Los Angeles Times Art Winslow
Swofford has a great eye for detail and cultural kitsch, which imbues Exit A with a lot of incidental humor despite its weightier themes.
San Francisco Chronicle Andrea Hoag
Far from falling short of devotees' high expectations, Exit A ultimately proves that there is a lot to love about Swofford's first expedition into the realm of fiction.
The Guardian Steven Poole
[Swofford’s] first novel...draws on a military background - not in the fashion of a Tom Clancy, all ingratiating acronyms and hardware porn, but for much more interesting and humane purposes.
Publishers Weekly
The ending is much too neat to be truly compelling. [2 Oct 2006, p.37]
Daily Telegraph Sam Leith
[Exit A is] a readable enough yarn, but it doesn't really engage. Its characters don't really live. At root, Exit A is a romantic potboiler dressed up as a literary meditation on love, families and masculinity.
The Independent David Mattin
Exit A lacks ["Jarhead’s"] wonderful truthfulness; this novel is the work of a writer not yet on terms with the strange craft of telling truth via artifice.
Sydney Morning Herald Ed Wright
Exit A never really rises above mediocrity and if it hadn't been written off the back of Jarhead, it's hard to imagine it being published at all.
Washington Post Kim Ponders
Toward the end, the obstacles Swofford presents for [the main character] seem drawn out merely for the purpose of delaying the inevitable ending. The fallout is a painfully one-dimensional love story, which is a shame because Swofford is capable of doing more.
The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Christy Ann Conlin
Ripe with missed opportunity and unexplored terrain.
The Independent Victoria James
Swofford can do so much better than this unconvincing tale of reconciliation and promised redemption. In Exit A, his imagery can be fresh and creative, his descriptions of military life ring true. Yet both the story and characters feel generic. Blokes may empathise with Swofford's hapless hero (or wish they could), but this reader was left hurrying toward exit A, B or any other.
Booklist Keir Graff
Swofford is much better at rendering unfamiliar worlds (military bases, criminal life) than familiar ones (college campuses, relationships). [1 Aug 2006, p.8]
The New York Times Book Review William Vollmann
Exit A deserves no acclaim because it doesn’t convey life vividly or believably. It analyzes nothing. Whatever distinctions and connections it makes remain superficial at best. Swofford’s ability to create character is vastly inferior to his capacity to describe reality as he himself experienced it.
Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling
Swofford's writing here is just not very good.
 The average user rating for this book is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
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