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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Unusual and poignant story of life's journeys May 11, 2008
By Lesley West
This is a very unusual book. It is written as a journal, or a diary if you prefer, and it has a "stream of conciousness" style that can be somewhat difficult to get into. However it is worth perservering with, as it is a clever and entertaining novel, with the rather black humour cleverly blended with some very poignant moments.
The central character of the novel, Matt Zander has a near death experience following a bungled attempted robbery of his employer's home. He is not prosecuted for the crime for reasons best explained in the book, and whilst in hospital he befriends another injured soul, with the two of them deciding to leave the bitterness of a Canadian winter for the warmth of eternal summer in Los Angeles. What this book becomes, after the telling of Matt's situation in life and how he came so close to death, is essentially a road trip tale, with Matt relating his "adventures" with Michael along the way.
One of the most entertaining parts of this book are the sidebars that Matt the narrator inserts into his journal as and when he sees fit. I have learned quite a bit about things as diverse as shoppers' habits in supermarkets to the complexities of the hotel arrangements on the Las Vegas Strip. His observations of the different people that he meets along the way are astute and entertaining, as is his explorations of the different emotions and motivations that drive us to do what we all feel we must do.
As I have mentioned, it is a different style of writing, and one which I can honestly say I felt I was struggling with after 70 or so pages, when the novely of "the journal" wore off. However, I perservered and was rewarded with an entertaining read.
Enjoy!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 the journey is more than just it's own reward Jun 16, 2008
By Chess Heart
"paxbear"
Matt Zander. Male, thirties, works at a supermarket for a hateful boss in Toronto. Has a predilection for breaking and entering theft with two of his buddies. He's something of a loser and, at the beginning of "The Matt Zander Journals", is in the St. Michael's Hospital after returning from the dead.
As Matt himself might say, a person cannot go through a near death experience (NDE) without it profoundly changing them in some way, especially after what he's seen and experienced on The Other Side. Loosely told over the course of about 12 days after his NDE in journal/diary form, this book is a chronicle of his experiences.
We first meet Matt as he's lying in bed scribbling notes about his life and what lead him up to his NDE, which, as it turns out, is from a gunshot wound to the chest after a bungled burglary on the house of his boss, the grocery store's owner and manager. He details the euphoria and thrill of breaking and entering so it seems only natural that he and his buddies latch on to the idea of B&E the boss's house as a sort of getting back at all the insults Mr. Belcher throws at him and Eric and James. Sure it's petty and puerile, but after a few descriptions of Belcher and his endless stream of insults towards his employees, the reader begins to side with Matt--he's a likeable guy.
Of course things go horribly wrong and Matt is shot and this is where everything changes and where the story really begins. There's a journey, a tunnel of light, a sort of cave with images of all the things Matt has done wrong and all of the pain and fear he's inflicted on those people he's robbed, which is something he's never bothered to think about, how his actions have changed the lives and even the very souls of other people who weren't all that different from him.
Then, there is Mr. Keller.
Though we never learn much about him or the machinations of the afterlife, Mr. Keller is a sort of servant, or guide. An older gentleman, neatly dressed, it's his purpose to inform Matt that his soul isn't quite done on earth and that there is something it still wishes to accomplish and Matt has the unique opportunity to return to earth and finish that goal. Of course, Mr. Keller isn't able to (or willing to, perhaps) to TELL Matt just what exactly he's supposed to do, which causes a certain amount of frustration to the main character even while he's there in the afterlife. Still, despite doubts, Matt chooses to go back to earth and wakes up in hospital and begins his journal, first writing down everything he remembers about the afterlife and then his adventures as he tries to figure out just what exactly he's back here for.
His roommate in the hospital is a thin, silent, young man named Michael who Matt doesn't even speak to until the day of his discharge and finds that Michael is recovering from a suicide attempt where he slashed his wrists. Though he's nearly monosyllabic, Michael has a dream to leave the hospital and travel to Los Angeles and see the Pacific Ocean. Recently back from the dead, realizing his life is a mess and seeking his purpose, Matt suggests that they travel to LA together; just go ahead and do it, get on a plane and go out there. Maybe even rebuild his (their?) lives. He's got no ties to Toronto and he's got a second chance to live and some sort of mysterious purpose, so why the hell not?
Disaster strikes at 30,000 feet on the plane to L.A. and it lands prematurely in Denver, CO and Matt, terrified of flying to start, decides to drive to LA. Michael reluctantly agrees. This is where the heart of the novel really begins because as they stop in Las Vegas Matt learns a secret about Michael and why he's headed to the ocean and also begins to see the whole of American society as some sort of ramped-up, empty-headed, absurdist wasteland. He watches TV and realizes just how awful and superficial everything is--- a TV commercial for breast augmentation that uses cups that attach to a household vacuum, for example. "C'mon," he says, "after an experience like mine, I'm really startin' to wonder about the human race and our priorities."
He wonders more when he sees the shocking glamour of Las Vegas--- "where did all this water come from? Isn't this a desert?"--- and the vast amounts of money tourists (and himself) pour into this place. We get the feeling that he sees life being wasted in enormous amounts on superficial nonsense, and he begins to slowly lose track of his purpose, the reason he returned to earth.
Michael, for his own part, is perhaps the only friend that Matt has at this point, though the term "friend" might actually be too strong a word---Michael moves slowly, speaks little and is wholly focused on getting to L.A. If there's answers there, if Matt is somehow supposed to fulfill his destiny though Michael, Matt is beginning to feel that coming back to life was a bum deal.
Matt and Michael part company in L.A. and Matt travels down to Hollywood where he discovers it's Mecca of the entertainment world reputation highly tarnished. For awhile he's caught up in the superficial celebrity culture that he mocked not so very long ago and dreams of fame and fortune as a celebrity himself, until a look in the mirror and a rejected credit card purchase makes him realize that such dreams are not likely to come true anytime soon. Shortly afterwards his journal (and hence the novel) come to an end.
"The Matt Zander Journals" is a deeply fascinating and engrossing book, but it is not an easy one. It really does read like a person's journal, with dates and places and a sort of stream-of-consciousness, "lemmie tell you what happened today" sort of feel that takes a few pages to get into. Matt himself constantly says that he's not a writer ("so sue me," he likes to say) and therefore there's some experiences he can't really put into words, though the reader gets a well-crafted picture of what's going on in his head (it's a testament to the author, Mr. Denne, that he can have a non-writer as a 1st person narrator main character and still tell the story so beautifully and with such meaning).
Matt himself is a bit of a mess to start with and gets more so as the novel goes on. I found myself both wishing he'd pull it together, get his priorities straight, get a good job and figure his life out AND also totally understanding the desire to just GO; take a car and max out your credit card and drive with a silent, almost-perfect stranger from Denver to L.A. just *because*. I wanted both for him to sit and seriously meditate on his new purpose in life and to just go where the wind blew him. He may not be motivated or even very smart, but he's an engaging and complicated character nonetheless.
"The Matt Zander Journals" is, to my knowledge, the first novel by Mr. Denne and is an amazing work. It's moving and it's deep and it caused me to examine my own life a little bit, which is perhaps one of the best functions of fiction--not only to entertain the reader, but to get them to go within themselves and examine their own soul a little bit deeper.
Highly, highly recommended.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Dark, with subtle humor Jan 10, 2012
By Jim Evans
I think I understand what the author was going for with this. It's just that it takes a while to get used to the writing...it's written from the character's mind and so because he's a bit rough around the edges, there's all this slang and abbreviation, which was a bit jarring at first but okay to get used to.
Maybe it would've been better to write more formally, but I get what the style was trying, and that it's meant to represent a journal or scribbles on paper, and so that's why there's a lot of writing as though it's being spoken.
But the story is okay, and I enjoyed a lot of the humor...some subtle humor and some quite dark. I could almost picture this being a tv show or movie...the way there's certain scenes, and these things called sidebars, where the character slips away from his train and thought and just ponders an observation he's just made.
No hesitation in recommending this. It's different and quite unique, which is a big plus these days with all the clichéd crap out there. Not perfect, but a solid effort.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Emotionally charged, honest, and darkly humorous. Sep 16, 2008
By Carrina Hanson
Matt Zander seemed to be very unhappy with his life and where he was in it. He was a thirty-something loser who did not have anything to show for his life. Then one night an event occurred and his life completely changed. He finds himself questioning his existence and why he's here. He pairs up a guy named Micheal, a loner who seems to care very little about his own life. Together they go to Los Angeles, where Matt hopes to find his purpose.
A great and unique read, that I enjoyed completely. The story was thought provoking, a little sad, entertaining and humorous. It really touched on the vulnerability of the human condition. I have recommended it to others, and even loaned my book to a co worker.
I would like to see another novel by this writer. His style is fun, yet deep at the same time.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Pleasingly different in style and honesty Sep 10, 2008
By A. Gravelle
"FYTSolo"
I read a lot of books and enjoy many of them, this book being amoungst them. The style chosen by the author was very different to others and it was refreshing. You felt as if you were the main character at times, or could relate to a lot of things that the character was thinking. Once the book had been started, I found it hard to put it back down as the story line kept my interest strong. The book makes you wonder if the author has gone through similar experiences as it seemed so easy to visualise while reading it, as if he had really been there. I look forward to future Matt Zander Journals and/or other books by this author.
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