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kirstiecat's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted to like this one more, mainly because it garnered a favorable review from Douglas Coupland and, although I found the writing at times quite clever and engaging, the plot really isn't all there and though it succeeds in being partly a fantasy world of the protagonist's delusions of an entire secret underwater civilization that he finds in hotel pools and partly a minor statement about the ideas Americans currently have about terrorists, it's a little half baked and not all there. It works as a creative light and entertaining read but the ideas are not substantiated enough and after awhile, it seems like the kind of novel I'd forget about easily.
I do like the comic book angle in some of the chapters, though, and the writing style is quirky in a good way..so I bet I might like another novel of his that he put more time and thought into.
Still, there are quite a few great passages....some quotes:
pg. 50 "Conviction. Such a funny two faced word. The minute I started having them, they wanted to give me one."
pg 52 "Entering a hotel room is like walking into a civilized world that was there before human occupation."
pg. 54 "Morning came like sharks."
pg. 182 "...he looks at her with profound anxiety. His thoughts reach her in tangles."
I do like the comic book angle in some of the chapters, though, and the writing style is quirky in a good way..so I bet I might like another novel of his that he put more time and thought into.
Still, there are quite a few great passages....some quotes:
pg. 50 "Conviction. Such a funny two faced word. The minute I started having them, they wanted to give me one."
pg 52 "Entering a hotel room is like walking into a civilized world that was there before human occupation."
pg. 54 "Morning came like sharks."
pg. 182 "...he looks at her with profound anxiety. His thoughts reach her in tangles."
dbiello's review
4.0
why would humans be hairless except for an interlude back in the seas? o might queen o of nautika teach us of your matrilineal ways... full disclosure: mr. rotter is a friend of mine but i swear the book is good.
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