Honeymooners: A Cautionary Tale

2/28 Book Review:

"Kinder's rambunctious saga of the booze-fueled lives of two emerging writers in the 1970s is noteworthy more as a literary event than as a work of fiction. The central character, Ralph Crawford, appears to be based on Raymond Carver, and his brawling best friend, Jim Stark, seems to be Kinder himself, who was in turn purported to be one of the models for the college professor in Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys. Thus, this book, in the making for more than 25 years, is the real-life equivalent of the long-awaited magnum opus over which Chabon's professor agonized....Kinder does generate considerable sympathy for his characters as they rehash the multiple betrayals of their youth. Anyone interested in contemporary fiction will want a voyeuristic peek at this take on how one famous writer may have lived in the freewheeling '70s, but in the end, the novel reminds us that while some drunks may be geniuses early in the day, they all act much the same after the tenth drink."

-Booklist