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m_henchard's review against another edition
2.0
Love Homeland and The Ask, but this one doesn't quite work.
gabie_east's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
This book pissed me off
chillcox15's review against another edition
3.0
Between a three and four star read for me. Hark is Sam Lipsyte working in a very familiar vein, taking aim at American hypocrisies en masse and the deficiencies of American masculinities in specifics. It's almost as if there is an arms race between Lipsyte and Shteyngart to see who can paint men as more pathetic. It's not like we don't deserve it as a gender (as it is), but at a certain point in both of their recent novels, it moves beyond a point of worthy skewering into something more perverse and self-flagellating. I deeply appreciate that Lipsyte doesn't feel the need to sit down and explain everything about the dystopian not-too-far future that the novel is inhabiting. I do think, however, that the target of the satire, a cultish nu-age health-of-body-and-mind movement centered around archery, is a bit more vague than the satire in The Ask.
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
2.0
This book didn't do it for me, had hoped to like it as it's satirical look at gurus and mindfulness but the fun got lost on me. Didn't connect with either the characters or the story.
spudsimple's review against another edition
2.0
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I love the concept of this book (and also the cover art is amazing). Following a "cult" leader and his followers is super up my literary alley. Things just don't come together. It starts off feeling like less of a plot driven novel and more developed on characterization. This general vibe continues, however if you're going to down the characterization route, you've got to commit to make it work. And it didn't work. The characters all had the same neurotic Woody Allen/Larry David vibe and felt like slight iterations of the same person (this is the one that's married, this is the one that's rich, this is the one that's mixed race). And this trope of the endearing self-deprecator who is obliviously sexist is 1). overplayed and 2). no one ever needs it. Which leads me to my second main critique is that somehow, this book feels dated. I feel like I would have loved it in 2004 and then re-read it again now and found it didn't age well. WHICH IS NOT GREAT SINCE THIS BOOK HASN'T EVEN BEEN RELEASED YET.
The story feels like one that's been done over and over and over again using shells of characters we've seen over and over and over again. Wah wah.
I love the concept of this book (and also the cover art is amazing). Following a "cult" leader and his followers is super up my literary alley. Things just don't come together. It starts off feeling like less of a plot driven novel and more developed on characterization. This general vibe continues, however if you're going to down the characterization route, you've got to commit to make it work. And it didn't work. The characters all had the same neurotic Woody Allen/Larry David vibe and felt like slight iterations of the same person (this is the one that's married, this is the one that's rich, this is the one that's mixed race). And this trope of the endearing self-deprecator who is obliviously sexist is 1). overplayed and 2). no one ever needs it. Which leads me to my second main critique is that somehow, this book feels dated. I feel like I would have loved it in 2004 and then re-read it again now and found it didn't age well. WHICH IS NOT GREAT SINCE THIS BOOK HASN'T EVEN BEEN RELEASED YET.
The story feels like one that's been done over and over and over again using shells of characters we've seen over and over and over again. Wah wah.
rocketiza's review against another edition
3.0
Lipstye makes me laugh out loud whenever I read him which makes this worth reading, but it felt like a lot of vignettes he wanted to tie together versus a plotted story.
katewalkley's review against another edition
1.0
I didn’t finish this book. Abandoned it. I don’t mind unlikable characters but I didn’t like or dislike these ones enough to care about what happened to any of them. And there wasn’t a strong enough plot to keep me interested. Sorry, but not for me.
anitaofplaybooktag's review against another edition
3.0
Snarky, irreverent, and absurdist best describes this tale of an unwitting guru, Hark, who becomes known and admired for his meaningless message instructing people to "focus". However, the book really isn't about Hark, but rather about the acolytes that latch onto him and his mental archery methodology. The book's tension mostly comes from the various attempts to monetize and use Hark for profit. But oddly,I found the book to be neither plot driven nor truly character driven, but more of a comedic stand up set in book form. There are elements of plot (mostly in the latter third) and stabs at character development, but what stands out are Lipsyte's skewering of everything from foodies to marriage to therapy to yoga to social justice to technocrats to child rearing to religion; little in today's society goes unscathed. And the characters are weird, but all basically losers or money hungry villians.
There are some truly funny moments in this book, especially in the dialogue. Truth be told, I'm probably not the very best audience for satire (I really couldn't bear The Sellout and that won the Man Booker), but this book amused me in a Monty Pythonesque way. If you like black humor and a sarcastic edge to your entertainments, it is definitely worth giving a try.
There are some truly funny moments in this book, especially in the dialogue. Truth be told, I'm probably not the very best audience for satire (I really couldn't bear The Sellout and that won the Man Booker), but this book amused me in a Monty Pythonesque way. If you like black humor and a sarcastic edge to your entertainments, it is definitely worth giving a try.
dovegloss's review against another edition
3.0
- Enjoyed the way the syntax is rich visually, probably the most distinct writing style I have seen in a long time, and it I am picking it up again for any reasons it would be trying to absorb that syntactic style again. Although I feel like it should be saved for more emotional moment when its going on 100% of the time it can be distracting and tedious.
- The set-up is detailed and extensive almost to the point of meandering, and the descriptions while masterful, is grating on the soul because there is a whole lot of doing...well...nothing.
- The middle to the end picks up (especially when the emotions become fraught, ie. his daughter's ****), although I wish there was more development onto the ending
-Exploration of humanities construction of faith, holiness, and the distortion (and eventual assimilation) of ideology in the face of opposing systems through a satirical vehicle whose characters (imo) are criminally underdeveloped.
- I would like to read more of his works :)
- The set-up is detailed and extensive almost to the point of meandering, and the descriptions while masterful, is grating on the soul because there is a whole lot of doing...well...nothing.
- The middle to the end picks up (especially when the emotions become fraught, ie. his daughter's ****), although I wish there was more development onto the ending
-Exploration of humanities construction of faith, holiness, and the distortion (and eventual assimilation) of ideology in the face of opposing systems through a satirical vehicle whose characters (imo) are criminally underdeveloped.
- I would like to read more of his works :)
patkay85's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0