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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I mean, this is just good ol' fashioned pomo fun.
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Well it's not as good as Mumbo Jumbo. Fair enough, considering this one was written first (and I probably didn't catch all the western meta references, seeing as I'm not 75 years old).
Still pretty funny, and it really showcases Reed's great prose style...as well as his penchant for very weird sexual politics.
Still pretty funny, and it really showcases Reed's great prose style...as well as his penchant for very weird sexual politics.
This one sort of went over my head, and I felt that I just wasn’t getting a lot of the satire and cleverness from it, when I felt like I did more from the other two books that I’ve read by Reed - feel like I need to read this again in a few years!
I lived with Ishmael Reed in an artist colony. He's a very cool man, but kind of scared the hell out of me. His knowledge of jazz was pretty freaking impressive. The book was wild, funny, and fiercely written. I had fun with it.
Read again over the Christmas break. Just because I love it.
No idea what to think of this. There’s so much going on.
"I just married her cause I read in the Psychiatric Journal that evil can be passed on through the chromosomes so I decided to have some kids."
My first time reading Reed in a spanky new edition put out as part of the Dalkey Archive Essentials series (so new the edition isn't yet an option on GR). I daresay I enjoyed Julian Lucas's introduction more than I did the book itself (he likens Reed's "trolling" of the Western and white American culture with Little Nas X's "Old Town Road" and country western music, as well as tying together all the wonderful influences and references Reed employs throughout the novel). I don't think I have anything revelatory to say, so I'll keep it short:
- Strengths: Playful, bitingly satiric, experimental, funny, ridiculous, outlandish and memorable characters, historically/politically relevant
- Weaknesses: Plot/storyline (it works against the wonderful energy of the characters and the humor), borderline misogynistic (hard to say since Reed skewers everyone/everything, but still felt like the ladies were extra-one-dimensional; Lucas reminds the reader that "Satirists, like deities, risk taking on the flaws of their vessels."), meandering
For my next Reed, I plan to tackle [b:Mumbo Jumbo|761156|Mumbo Jumbo|Ishmael Reed|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348245753l/761156._SY75_.jpg|18658].
My first time reading Reed in a spanky new edition put out as part of the Dalkey Archive Essentials series (so new the edition isn't yet an option on GR). I daresay I enjoyed Julian Lucas's introduction more than I did the book itself (he likens Reed's "trolling" of the Western and white American culture with Little Nas X's "Old Town Road" and country western music, as well as tying together all the wonderful influences and references Reed employs throughout the novel). I don't think I have anything revelatory to say, so I'll keep it short:
- Strengths: Playful, bitingly satiric, experimental, funny, ridiculous, outlandish and memorable characters, historically/politically relevant
- Weaknesses: Plot/storyline (it works against the wonderful energy of the characters and the humor), borderline misogynistic (hard to say since Reed skewers everyone/everything, but still felt like the ladies were extra-one-dimensional; Lucas reminds the reader that "Satirists, like deities, risk taking on the flaws of their vessels."), meandering
For my next Reed, I plan to tackle [b:Mumbo Jumbo|761156|Mumbo Jumbo|Ishmael Reed|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348245753l/761156._SY75_.jpg|18658].
