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fflf's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
sausome's review
4.0
An altogether interesting read. I'm having a hard time pinning down my feelings about it as a whole, though. I read the book with the assumption that absurdism played a pretty big part in this post-apocalyptic United States, and I think it greatly helped. I mean, so much of it is absurdist, but not all in a bad way. Sometimes it seemed like the tossing-in of wacky stuff might have taken away from the experience of the book as a cohesive story, but other times, it seemed to fit, like seeing giraffes wandering about with empty saddles after a battle won by the Empire was just how it had to be. I think the cover of this edition fits the book perfectly, in the whole mashing together of all kinds of crazy, and perhaps it was all a dog's dream.
I experienced this book as a Thomas Pynchon work (I've only read "Crying of Lot 49," so, accessible, but batshit crazy) mixed with a really warped kind of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain tossed in. The story centers around the Midwest and traveling up and down the Mississippi River on small river boats, trying to avoid capture by Scythians or Empire soldiers, etc. Both of these aspects felt like good things, I might add. I'm aware that one can read into that as being a criticism, but it felt alright.
Another interesting aspect of the story was the complete lack of explanation for ANYTHING that was happening -- who are the Scythians? Where did they come from? Who is the Empire? What's the deal with this wasp plague? Why does everyone just go with this massive change as if nothing was happening? How does a city become built with 60-story skyscrapers from castle-stone with a system of draw-bridges linking buildings, in less than 6 months? What?!? I actually kind of liked this lack of explanation -- the author obviously had some guts to go at this in this way.
My one complaint ... St. Louis, Missouri should just never be referred to as "Lou". Uggh. I cringed every time I read this as a reference to St. Louis. It seriously felt like an uncool parent trying to use the kids' slang, but totally screwing it up because "Lou" isn't something anyone from St. Louis would say. Just had to say it, being from St. Louis, it's not "Lou", "The Lou", "Louie", "St. Louie" (like in the movie, NO). Thatisall.
Thanks, Mr. DeNiro, for coming into Left Bank Books and giving me a copy to read ... a St. Louis post-apocalyptic book, who'd have thought?!
I experienced this book as a Thomas Pynchon work (I've only read "Crying of Lot 49," so, accessible, but batshit crazy) mixed with a really warped kind of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain tossed in. The story centers around the Midwest and traveling up and down the Mississippi River on small river boats, trying to avoid capture by Scythians or Empire soldiers, etc. Both of these aspects felt like good things, I might add. I'm aware that one can read into that as being a criticism, but it felt alright.
Another interesting aspect of the story was the complete lack of explanation for ANYTHING that was happening -- who are the Scythians? Where did they come from? Who is the Empire? What's the deal with this wasp plague? Why does everyone just go with this massive change as if nothing was happening? How does a city become built with 60-story skyscrapers from castle-stone with a system of draw-bridges linking buildings, in less than 6 months? What?!? I actually kind of liked this lack of explanation -- the author obviously had some guts to go at this in this way.
My one complaint ... St. Louis, Missouri should just never be referred to as "Lou". Uggh. I cringed every time I read this as a reference to St. Louis. It seriously felt like an uncool parent trying to use the kids' slang, but totally screwing it up because "Lou" isn't something anyone from St. Louis would say. Just had to say it, being from St. Louis, it's not "Lou", "The Lou", "Louie", "St. Louie" (like in the movie, NO). Thatisall.
Thanks, Mr. DeNiro, for coming into Left Bank Books and giving me a copy to read ... a St. Louis post-apocalyptic book, who'd have thought?!
sandeestarlite's review
The end of the world as told by a self absorbed teen. She's not sure what quite happened and doesn't seem to care, so there's not much reference for the reader to understand what's going on.
emmymau's review
2.0
This was a strange one. I didn't ever get a sense of *enjoying* it per se, though I was curious as to how things would turn out. So I felt like I was drawn along by this curious journey through a warped world, but I never felt like I was a *part* of the world, I didn't fall into the story. Does that make sense? So it was unique, and it was memorable, but I also never got that delightful, "this is awesome!" feeling from it.
5wamp_creature's review
3.0
I could get used to shorter books like this whose story doesn't cross three generations/continents! This future is crazy, scary, funny. I did lose track of some characters that appeared early and reappeared later. It's a small world with a little too much coincidence. And the ending...
Still I liked it. 3 1/2 stars.
Still I liked it. 3 1/2 stars.
dodie's review
3.0
If you can't buy into the absurd premise, you may not be able to find the real story being told by DeNiro of a middle-class Minnesota family turned post-apocalyptic nomads on the Mississippi. I had to read this in chunks, or it just got to be too much - plague carrying wasps, war-zone tourism, McDonald's and hand-cranked elevators - see what I mean? But I kept going, guessing all the way which way DeNiro would take me next. The writing is terrific and there are many laugh out loud moments in the way current civilization is parodied. A talking dog too, did I mention that?
rosseroo's review
2.0
This debut novel took me months to finish, I kept picking it up reading ten pages, putting it down, and came close to giving up on it multiple times. By the end, I kind of wish I had, because it never really comes together in any meaningful way. The story has all kinds of imaginative elements, but they're jumbled together so incoherently that they lose all meaning.
At its heart, it's kind of a post-apocalyptic river journey (hard not to think of Twain here), as some kind of space-time rift has occurred and the United States has ceased to exist. Instead there seems to be some kind of empire, and there are Goths and Scythians roaming around, concentration camps, slavery, and a mutant plague, and all technology fails to work. The heroine here is Macy, a regular 16-year-old girl from St. Paul, who is heading downriver with her family (college professor father, sick and pregnant mother, older sister, younger brother). Various calamities befall them, they meet strange people, some of whom are helpful, some not. There are family issues. There's a talking dog.
For me, the whole thing was just kind of a mess. Because I couldn't work out the timeline of what had happened (at some points it sounded like society crumbled a few months ago, but in other parts, it had to a have been at least 5-10 years), nor the geography, nor the players involved. And without that grounding, the mission that Macy eventually undertakes has very little meaning. It's hard to tell if the author just had it all clear in his head and couldn't get it on the page, or if it's deliberately confusing. Either way, I never found a way into caring about Macy or any other characters, and so the book didn't work for me.
At its heart, it's kind of a post-apocalyptic river journey (hard not to think of Twain here), as some kind of space-time rift has occurred and the United States has ceased to exist. Instead there seems to be some kind of empire, and there are Goths and Scythians roaming around, concentration camps, slavery, and a mutant plague, and all technology fails to work. The heroine here is Macy, a regular 16-year-old girl from St. Paul, who is heading downriver with her family (college professor father, sick and pregnant mother, older sister, younger brother). Various calamities befall them, they meet strange people, some of whom are helpful, some not. There are family issues. There's a talking dog.
For me, the whole thing was just kind of a mess. Because I couldn't work out the timeline of what had happened (at some points it sounded like society crumbled a few months ago, but in other parts, it had to a have been at least 5-10 years), nor the geography, nor the players involved. And without that grounding, the mission that Macy eventually undertakes has very little meaning. It's hard to tell if the author just had it all clear in his head and couldn't get it on the page, or if it's deliberately confusing. Either way, I never found a way into caring about Macy or any other characters, and so the book didn't work for me.
iamwindomearle's review
3.0
It was a long read but overall worth the time. Macy finds her way through the difficultiesin her life and still manages to be happy; that's a strong character.
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