Glenn Beck: The Next All American Author?

I once heard it say in an American Literature class that America had yet to establish a voice in literature, at least not like Britain had with Shakespeare, Milton, the Bronte sisters, Mary Shelley, Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlow, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carol and Robert Louis Stevenson to name a few.
However, I would disagree with my American Literature professor. I believe that America has established their voice in literature. The American Dream is seen through the work of Thoreau, Hemingway, Emerson, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Twain, and Whitman to name a few.
The question I'm posing is does Beck have the stuff to continue the American voice?
Beck's novel "The Overton Window" he puts in the genre category of a faction, a book that is completely fictional, but based in fact. The book reminded me a lot of Dan Brown's style of writing. Brown, himself uses a lot of fact in history and information about organizations to drive his plot line. Though the question stands, was Beck able to execute Brown's style of writing with a fact based fictional novel? I would say the potential is there. Where Beck fell short is he became too tied up in the fact or his premonition of the future of this country. Beck devoted full lines of dialogue that stretched pages to inform the reader of both history and different economic and philosophical theories. There were a lot of times that myself, as the reader, forgot who was speaking. Particular scenes that come to mind that support this claim are:

• The start of the book when we are introduced to Noah's father and he is selling his pitch to prospective clients. Not only was the character found overtly dramatic, but also extremely long winded. 
• The speeches at the bar, when Beck is introducing the cause of Molly's Patriot group. 
• Noah's explanation of the Overton Window to Molly when they broke into his father's company.

One of the things that I learned in my creative writing classes is that a lot of times dialogue drives the plot. Beck relies heavily on what his characters can explain not only to their fellow characters, but also to the reader in the span of a couple pages. Though I think the potential is there the execution of this concept hasn't been met. Slow down. What is the normal amount of dialogue that is passed between two people in everyday conversation? What is the normal amount of monologue that is passed between newscaster to his/her television viewers? Beck, make the separation between the two and I believe that you will have an even more engaging novel on your hands. 

"The Overton Window" has a lot going on in between its pages, and, almost, like the last Harry Potter novel, I'm not sure all of those were tied up. I understand that Beck was going for a cliff hanger, which was excellently executed, but there is a lot left that isn't explained. Including, but not limited too:

• The prologue. How does this tie into the rest of the novel? Why do we never hear about his man's death again in the novel? Even if it was brought up simply as an accident that this man met his fatal end or the lady on the phone tries to find out the truth about what happens to him. Why is this man and the secret he discovered brought up at all if it isn't clearly defined in the book?
• The book is so concentrated on Noah's relationship with his father and Molly and also with impending demise of Kearns and Danny, that the reader never fully understands the growing tension within the country as far as the heighten terror alert. We can understand it simply through the main characters, but the way it is painted to the reader makes it seem isolated and I have to ask the question, why is the terror alert going up if what we're reading is more behind the scenes?
• Building off of that why do these men want to go through with this bombing if the terror alert is rising? What is driving them? We learn later that it is Noah's father, but even getting a sense from those men that there is a driving purpose behind their mission would make it more believable to the reader. 

I think Beck paints a beautiful and thrilling plot line and he has found himself onto my bookshelf (for whatever that is worth). However, I believe with some worth and flushing out of what he has and in the areas he can improve on, will not only strengthen his style as a writer, but also bring his name from a talk show host to a pretty damn good author. 

Intermission: "Words," a Video Poem

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

Direction this Summer

I am currently trying to determine a focus for this blog now that the class it was created for is over; I got an A for those of you that are concerned with my academic success. I know the primary focus for most of the Spring semester has been poetry and though I'd like to continue down that path, and more than likely I will, I want to deviate from that path a little bit.
My goal for when I graduated college was a pretty simple one, I wanted to read for fun again. Sitting down and reading a novel of my choosing was something I greatly missed during my five years of college. There is something about being engrossed in between the pages of a book, whether it is good or bad (though it is easier when the book is good), that has always been able to settle my nerves.
So, I think for my summer project I am going to do book reviews as the focus of this blog. There will still be updates about poetry and its relationship with the internet, but my prime focus will be my thoughts on my summer reading list. I'll always let you know what I'm reading before hand and give a nice review when I'm done. Currently I am reading Glen Beck's "The Overton Window." I'm about half way through, so hopefully you won't have to wait too long.