The Diviners: A Novel

by Rick Moody

Book Overview

During one month in the autumn of election year 2000, scores of movie-business strivers are focused on one goal: getting a piece of an elusive, but surely huge, television saga, the one that opens... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316085391
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 1.5" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Hilarious and accurate

I almost called it satire, but if you have been anywhere near the film industry, you will realize that it is true. If the people read like caricatures, it is because they are all nuts in a crazy business, clawing their way ahead with their nails and moxie. I think previous reviewers might have been surprised by this book -- it's really nothing like Moody's other books, which had a much more serious tone. It's excellent, including the part in the rehab. Highly recommended.

a simple, lay review of a superb book

My one word to describe THE DIVINERS is "kaleidoscope." THE DIVINERS is kaleidoscopic as Moody takes broken, colorful personalities & reflects them to us, like a mirror in a kaleidoscope, to create a beautiful work of art for our amusement. Yes, amusement. This is a funny book, people. The characters are like bits of colored glass that are moved, changed, transformed throughout the novel to create a satirical masterpiece depicting the comical side of the "posh" film industry. I loved it! Read the other reviews if you wish to know more details about the book. I, however, never read a thorough review before reading a book. I like to approach my books open-mindedly & not influenced by a fallible reviewer.

When the Mood Strikes

The best thing about any Rick Moody novel is you never know what's going to happen next. He's a brilliant and talented writer. The language he uses is not dense, but vividly descriptive, one of the few authors to really care about how he words his adventures and characters. As for his storytelling - it is unpredictable and something different than boring, generic, typical novels like what's being published everyday. He's creative, funny as hell, and constantly pushing the envelope. Either you hate him or love him, but you do know him. This novel was no disappointment to me. I found myself laughing out loud during the funniest moments - as I've done with certain parts in all his other novels.

A unique, satirical masterpiece

Leave it to Moody. The main character of THE DIVINERS isn't even human! The Diviners is a script for a blockbuster saga, broken into thirteen episodes as a made-for-television movie. Set the day after the 2000 elections, THE DIVINERS could be described as Rick Moody's updated take on Dos Passos's MANHATTAN TRANSFER, encompassing new versions of old tales such as "The Tortoise and the Hare," "The Purloined Letter," and even the common college student's writing exercise --- If you saw an envelope on a desk, would you open it? Moody's character, Vic Freese (who might well have appeared in Moody's most popular work, THE ICE STORM), opens the envelope to reveal the script of The Diviners as all of man's history is a quest for survival, a quest for suitable water that could only be found by the magical forked stick in the hands of a diviner or dowser. The higher calling of the quest for truth is clouded when faced with survival itself --- a point Moody wiggles into the narrative of his characters' lives, from the old woman drinking beer on the toilet to the corporate executive faced with the widely discounted Myers-Briggs late 1990s-era personality profile. A shared subconsciousness brought on by acute mental illness, self-destruction, and today's telecommunications saturation causes a groupthink in New York City that ties the many characters of THE DIVINERS together as they take the next broad leap in the history of mankind. Of course, this theme is a lot to take on in a mere 567 pages, but Moody is a postmodernist most of the time, so anything goes. THE DIVINERS is character-driven and satirical, hard-hitting when exposing the phoniness of Hollywood players and how their lies have affected everything from the failure of modern publishing to the failure of politics and government --- a representation without representation, taxation that taxes our minds now that our wallets are empty; the warped American mindset that tolerates and even endorses mediocrity, censorship, prejudice, genocide, Christian fundamentalism, greed, ignorance, and, worst of all, motivational speakers and reality shows. Who's inside the inside? There's Vanessa Meandro, a Krispy Kreme (Earth's lightest, highest-calorie donut) addict and slave driver in charge of Means of Production, the independent film agency fumbling with the script of The Diviners; Annabel Duffy, struggling office assistant and anonymous co-author of The Diviners with drunken, philandering faded action film star Thaddeus Griffin; painter turned bicycle messenger Tyrone Duffy, who may have assaulted a woman with a brick; mad hate crime driver Ramon Martinez; Ranjeet Singh, the Eastern Indian television expert/car service driver who wants to work in production; Mormon millionaire Zimri Enderby; corporate king Jeffrey Meiser, who just might buy The Diviners; accountant Lois DiNunzio who's all mixed up with another accountant who would make Enron look clean; and Laurie Anderson, Donald Trump and Matt Dillon, rea