RAVES FOR DIZZYING HEIGHTS AND HOME POOL

A review of Dizzying Heights by Elizabeth King Humphrey on TheCompulsiveReader.com:

"A fun romp….Ducker has captured an essence of the West and its literature. He captures the zany oil heiress mingling with the street dweller, who borrows great works of literature from the libraries of seasonal residents, [and] is certainly believable in Ducker and, by extension, Aspen’s world."

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Leslie Doran writes in The Denver Post:

"Aspen, well roasted.   Satire is on the menu at Bruce Ducker's restaurant to the rich and famous….Ducker raises the bar on Glamour Gulch in "Dizzying Heights".  [The book] …may just be the novel for a leisurely beach read…. A giant romp in the priveledged playground of the rich and famous."

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The Common Review:

“Dizzying Heights conveys not only the cluelessness of the … ‘elite’ but also the vertigo of Ducker’s narrative style….[The book] hammers away at the lack of ethical concern found in many rich businesses.  The residents…don’t care about making the world a better place—their only concern is perpetuating their extravagance, regardless of the moral implications.  Technological advancement has taken the place of tasteful restoration, and financial security, not intellectual complexity, is the ultimate prize. 

“Although things ultimately come to a happy end, Ducker suggests that the battle against exploitation is far from over.  [The] peaceful mountain utopia has been corrupted, and for Aspen, if not the whole country, there is no going back.  Only those who are willing to start over, to return to a time and place where money matters less than people do, can make it out of these dizzying heights unscathed.”

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Editor's Pick:

            The Denver Post
            The National Examiner
            Bookviews
            BC Books
            Goodreads.com
            Westword
            5280 Magazine

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Corinne Joy Brown in Colorado Expressions, August 2008:

"In Home Pool, his latest release, (a series of fishing-related stories previously published in elite sporting journals) Ducker introduces some of the most memorable situations and characters ever to embrace a rod and reel."

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Corinne Joy Brown in Colorado Expressions, August 2008:

"Dizzying Heights is a brilliant spoof with a cast of hilarious characters inspired by various celebrities, as well as the assorted locals who serve the lives of the very rich and famous. Ducker has captured them all and the beautiful landscape that makes Aspen the Mecca that it is for so many. But beneath the spoof is a larger story about vanity, values, and saving the earth. Classic Ducker -- rich topsoil covering buried treasure." 

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The redoubtable Margaret Maupin writes:

“Aspen is one of those towns where the unbelievable is common and whatever is written about its denizens may seem exaggerated but is probably not. With that in mind Dizzying Heights, takes on this glamorous never-never land and turns it into a comic down and dirty tale of greed run amok. Mortimer Dooberry, sometime New Age author and full-time con-man always in search of a rich mark, corrals a bunch of equally lovable and rich scoundrels into a scheme to finance a computer program that will allow marketeers access to the fantasies their potential customers possess. This all leads to a lot of hilarity as Bruce Ducker skewers not only the rich but also those hustlers who make a very good living picking their deep pockets. This is a funny and instructive story of the meeting of greed and goodness and how sometimes the right guys win."

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Patrick Schabe writes in Pop Matters (May 9, 2008):

Bruce Ducker’s first novel, 1975’s Rule by Proxy, earned him favorable comparison to John Marquand and Louis Auchinchloss, and in the intervening years the Colorado lawyer has produced several short stories and seven novels (including the Pulitzer-nominated Marital Assets). But rather than taut high literature references, while reading his latest, Dizzying Heights, it was impossible to shake the feeling that I was reading Colorado’s answer to Carl Hiaasen. As both a fan of Hiaasen and a long-time resident of Colorado, this didn’t bother me in the slightest….

Ducker truly uses Dizzying Heights to speak to the natural beauty of the mountain setting, even as its corruption is plotted. Runaway development in Colorado is a continuous concern to its residents, even as economic forces seem to push it forward regardless, and this book doesn’t spare on casting developers in a dark and greedy light.  Of course, because Aspen’s elite are interwoven in the town’s life, the two threads weave together and overlap as schemes and plans pile on top of each other.

In all of the satire and gentle comedy, Dizzying Heights works well, staying lighthearted, with just enough plot twists to keep things interesting, and characters unraveling from stereotypes to more sympathetic individuals over the course of the book. But it’s Ducker’s use of language that separates his spin on the well-worn form and makes the book his own. Not only does Ducker display a keen sense of intelligence in breaking down the various structures of business, investment, and law and makes them both real and understandable for the reader, but he displays a far more poetic sense of his setting than most comedic writers. The Colorado Ducker describes is in the details, from understandings of local history to the precise and intricate descriptions of the flora and fauna. Ducker reveals his knowledge of and love for the mountain environment in these meticulously crafted descriptions….

Ducker has already made his mark in Colorado as a local author with national prestige…. With Dizzying Heights, Ducker turns away from some of the more sorrowful themes of his past to have a little fun at money’s expense, and in doing so highlights some of the contradictions of Colorado with a sense of charm and wit…. [The book is] a double-edged sword, exposing the rot and lies while validating the inherent beauty of the place, but that’s what makes it so effective. A return is certainly welcome.

9 of 10 stars

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Patricia Calhoun, in Westword writes (June 1, 2008):

“The cover of Dizzying Heights…shows a lovely chocolate cake—an apt illustration, because this book is a completely delicious, acidic yet sweet romp through Aspen and all the affectations that plague not just that high-priced town, but modern society….The back cover [of] this bright book shows the cake completely devoured—as most readers will do with Dizzying Heights in one sitting.”

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OTHER ARTICLES

Aspen, well roasted: Satire is on the menu at Bruce Ducker's restaurant to the rich and famous - The Denver Post

Aspen: Ducker-style - The Denver Post

Local legal eagle stages sendup - The Denver Post