Attain Loafing By La Brea Picturized By Michael Hughes Delivered In Leaflet

not even a comment on my review, how tacky, You see that I reviewed a book so you spammed me The story takes much too long to get started, Until it does, there can be no connection for the reader with events that occur early in the book these events seem aimed at chronicling the L, A. lifestyle, already familiar to many and not all that engaging for a lot of us, The writing is not bad and in the future an effort to start the story at the beginning or at least near the beginning, e, g. Man stalks serial killer and ensuring ALL ensuing events advance the story will help, Quite possibly the worst book I've ever read, Eighty percent of this drivel describes the Los Angles
freeway, And I did read it front to back after being warned by Goodreads reviewers, Not quite a two star, but almost, Book feels like the author is telling the reader about a dream he had last night and all the characters are one dimensional, hard to get into or care about.
This is to be expected in a dream retelling and why my advice is to save such dreams for your therapist, Part way through the book, I felt I was being punked and watched for how long I could stay with the book, Finished! And I have to say, I wonder what that says about me, Could have started my new Jack Reacher book sooner, but, . . I cannot believe this author is still spamming away all over Goodreads we got it, you have no shame or selfrespect, now STOP SPAMMING UNDER MY REVIEWS!!!! I asked him to do thattimes by now, and he just does not care.
Boring story poorly written. Seriously this was a slog to get through,

If you follow the reviews of this and the author's other "works'" on Goodreads or Amazon, it is pretty clear the positive reviews are from shill accounts run by the author.
Note he has hundreds of complaints against him for spammy marketing and fake account posts, Not only is he a dull writer, he's even a bad marketer, Interesting California style tale

This is Michael Hughes initial offering and it has much to offer, It is quirky and compelling, I will look for other titles by this talented scribe, The author commented on a review I wrote, suggesting if I liked that book I should read his, I did so.

Apparently, I now see he does this to a lot of people, spamming suggestions to read his book, He has given a lot of thought and energy to selfpromotion, Would that he put some time into studying plot construction, writing believable dialogue, considering character development or even reviewing some basic grammar, This book is, sadly, an example of the level that literature can drop to when left to selfpublication on the internet, A boring story, that goes nowhere, with undeveloped characters having repetitive, dull conversations, Lots of descriptions of different routes to take through LA traffic and how bad each experience was, as well as boring summaries as if from a daily journal of someone who goes to Starbucks, sits on a bench by the La Brea tar pits, and then swims naked in the pool at a glamorous mansion he is housesitting for a rich uncle.
He also spends a lot of time bemoaning his lot in life while not attempting to try to do or learn anything, Sadly, my summary made it sound more interesting than the book actually did, Lots of random, meaningless details that do not contribute to mood, ambiance, or plot,


In many cases like this I would recommend a writing workshop but for this one, I am reminded of what a music teacher told me many years ago after I demonstrated my passioned attempt to perform on the flute: "better for you just to go back to playing the piano" he said, shaking his head, sadly.
Well, better for this author to try singing, or tap dancing, or painting watercolors, because this writing gig is just not going to work out for him, Almost as boring as the spammer writer,

Throw it into the tar pits, Fun I have to preface this review with the note that the author sent me a free copy in exchange for the review, And I really love when that happens, But I really hate when I have to give a low rating both because when I get new authors and new work I am an optimist and hope it is going to be fabulous and I can brag that I helped "discover" someone and well, because I am afraid that everytime this happens it is less and less likely that I'll get any more free books.
Sigh.

And so, the bias OF COURSE is always towards loving free books, But, alas. I just can't.

Hughes tries hard and I think his message here is that life is mundane, I imagine that he was trying to write some modern day Ulyssess set in soCal, but instead the book just comes off as really, really boring, I mean really. This is kind of a daily journal for a guy who has no life, He is asomething house sitting for his aunt and uncle and not doing much else except going out for Starbucks,

It is not a character piece in that there is no growth or change it is not a plot piece in that nothing happens even the most exciting part of the story.
. the murderer. . is not really a mystery, but more of a passive side development and it was not a twist or surprising, I think most of the actual text in fact, was describing the traffic pattern, alternate routes, and map of the greater LA area, Seriously, the largest part of this book was driving,

In fact, one of the chapters that had the most potential for being an actual character development or relationship describing or having some deeper meaning was mostly traffic: the chapter for Arman's funeral.
Seriously/s of the chapter was describing the route down and the route back home, The actual funeral was less than/of the chapter,

Overall I just didn't see the point, The writing is not fabulous although there were moments when I could see Hughes trying to be wise, the development is non existent, and the whole thing was just boring as hell.
The literary equivalent of the "Me, an intellectual:" meme, What I love about Michael Hughes' writing, is it's like a reduction or deconstruction is that the correct word For at a restaurant when they sort of take a dish and present its core components, artfully, with showmanship and pizzazz of the most interesting portions of what makes so many famed Californian authors great, but for most intents and purposes removes the artifice and sensationalism sort of cluttering so many conventional plotlines and interfering with their authenticity and veracity of the storytelling.


There is plenty of reasonable excitement in Loafing By La Brea, but where it truly shines is in the minutia, those quiet subtle moments many authors will slapdashedly excise, frustratingly omit in service of Plot and Saving the Cat, but where great writers have a capability to truly capture valuable peeks into experiences

insufficiently detailed, historically.


Granting us perspective into these subtleties is Hughes' greatest talent, and he is a genius at memorializing such picturesque life slices,

And while certain simpering philistines might prefer a car chase or gun battle were more frequently ensuing, I'll submit those snapshots of singular, meticulously captured experience are on par and not dissimilar from the most striking sequences of Thompson, or Cain, or Ellis, or Tolstoy for that matter.


To be present enough to truly depict a time and place, along with its curious inhabitants, is a weighty task, and Michael Hughes has an impressive knack for it.
I lived in the described area of Los Angeles around the time this was released, don't any longer and have not for many years, so upon reading was immediately amazed at just how this novel brought me right back there, how the author superbly captured the prevailing character and tone of its scene and those familiar stock characters which inhabit it.


I edit a small literary journal and became familiar with the Loafing by La Brea's author when we published a short story of his "Shattered", also excellent, free to read online incidentally! and have since been greatly enjoying his lengthier works.
If you appreciated this I highly encourage you to pick up Pumpkin Farmer which has a similar tone and setting, if somewhat darker vibes kind of in the same vein as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Looking forward to reading Inland Intrigue next!,