Men in Black

After reading Men In Black I started wondering why more writers couldn't write like Scott Spencer. Spencer is so vivid in his details and writes so comfortably, it's a pleasure to read. Men in Black is an extremely enjoyable look into self identity and what happens when we are truly forced to deal with who we are. After reading Men In Black I picked up Spencer's Endless Love which is equally as well written.

Wrenching and oh so funny --maybe the funniest book I've read in five years. Spencer is a national treasure and this is one of his best. If you're interested in love, lying,families, culture, and, yes, sex, this book will have you in its grip.

The preceeding reviews have done enough to describe the plot and development of the book, so I will simply say I enjoyed reading it greatly. Spencer does a fine job exploring the characters and their emotional development. Recommended for any reader of modern fiction.

Roger McDonald writes about Scott Spencer in the Melbourne "Age", 1995"The reason I like Scott Spencer's writing is that it takes me by the nape of the neck and flings me into a world where what happens on the page is as real, as vivid, and as unpredictable as life itself. Years ago Endless Love was his big success, and it still reads brilliantly. Men In Black (Knopf, 1995) is un-put-downable. It is one of those books that as a writer I would have liked to write myself: funny, moving, poetic, and fast-paced. The dialogue is so truthful that it hurts to read it. The depictions of family life and married love would be unbearable if they weren't so truthful and wise. The narrator of Men In Black is an American writer who publishes serious fiction with low sales. His publisher is on his back. He has to produce commissioned non-fiction to keep going. Among his trivia titles are "Travelling With Your Pet", and a book about flying saucers he can hardly remember cobbling together, "Men In Black". The title refers to an urban myth about aliens who pass for humans. They wear summer clothes in winter, winter clothes in summer, and have peculiarly elongated thumbs. In fact, whatever the writer dreams up he slaps onto the page, and in the middle of a family crisis (teenage runaway son, exasperated wife) the book becomes a overnight cult classic. There's a call from his publisher. The author goes on tour across the US impersonating himself. All hell breaks loose. Spencer gives us razor-sharp satire on talkback radio hosts and author-promotion tours, but adds something more. He is a writer with a big heart and a sharp tongue, and the passionate combination of the two is irresistible.Look in vain for Scott Spencer's novels in Australian bookshops. We get container loads of mediocre American books and why he hasn't been picked up beats me. He's stunning."Roger McDonald is the author of six novels, the latest two being The Slap (Picador, Australia) and Mr Darwin's Shooter (Knopf, Australia, and Anchor, UK. in September 1998). He lives in Sydney.

Spencer reveals the primordial madness and primative compulsions that drive the rich and famous, poor and anonymous, young and old. He does it with integrity, sincerity, and humor. The anguish and foolishness of his characters are handled with a tender, loving hand. Men in Black draws you into a circle of failing marriages, talk-show hosts, UFOs, pseudonyms and private detectives that circumscribes contemporary America. The ambivalence of human emotions is brilliantly exposed yet,somehow, Spencer makes you feel all right to be part of this humanity.