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3.12 AVERAGE
3.12 AVERAGE
I really liked this one. Less silly/absurd than a lot of his other stuff I’ve read (which I also enjoyed). I wish I’d learned more about the cause/nature of one character’s behavior, but we don’t always get to know why people do what they do.
Retro-futuristic, satiric, apocalyptic, dystopian pastoral without a meet-cute.
The Blue Streak?
My audio copy was about seven and a half hours long. A dead tree copy would have been a modest 320 pages. The book had a US 2020 copyright.
Note, I listened to this book. At the beginning of the story, I was encouraged to "download the pdf containing the Journeyman's Scrapbook", the interstitial images found in the dead tree and pixelated versions of the story. It was not to be found at the publisher's website.
Jonathan Lethem is an American novelist and non-fiction writer. He has published twelve novels and numerous short works of fiction and non-fiction. The last book I read by the author was [b:Motherless Brooklyn|328854|Motherless Brooklyn|Jonathan Lethem|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348254729l/328854._SY75_.jpg|1971553].
A character-based story with a single POV. I’ll paraphrase the novel, and describe it as a: retro-futuristic, satiric, apocalyptic, dystopian pastoral without a meet-cute. The apocalypse was labeled the story’s eponymous title. The story plays out like a print version of a dystopian, graphic novel singing a nostalgic ode to our comfortable technologic present. It’s chock-full of literary and movie references which made listening to it a Where’s Waldo type treat.
I’ve always enjoyed Lethem’s sly humor. In general, I thought the story was well written. Listening to the story, allowed me to appreciate his use of alliteration and ‘turn-of-a-phrase’. Action sequences were OK. Descriptive prose was good. Dialog was excellent. Several times I laughed-out-loud. This was particularly true with the antagonist’s (Peter Todbaum) dialog, which was just ceaseless mediaphoric (see what I did there?) badinage. I liked that the author slipped in many post-apocalyptic and dystopian literary and film references into the story. Being a fan of these genres, I was gratified to find the only book mentioned, I had not read was [b:Blood Music|340819|Blood Music|Greg Bear|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388694820l/340819._SY75_.jpg|2563510].
Character-wise, I thought the protagonist Alexander “Sandy” Duplessis AKA Journeyman was well wrought, although I thought his larger than life sister (Maddy) to be the real hero. Journeyman's was the single POV. The Todbaum character provided the most enjoyment. He was the embodiment of the Made of Temptation trope, driving his retro-futuristic, atomic-powered car (the Blue Streak) which was itself the embodiment of the Artifact of Doom trope. (The Blue Streak might as well have been the One Ring.) Its the only functioning example of pre-apocalypse technology. It even had a working espresso machine with a seemingly bottomless supply of coffee. Maddy was a Mary Sue, Granola Girl, who felt the Call to Agriculture ahead of The Arrest and saved all by founding the Peninsula's, rural, organic food producing farm/commune.
In general, this was an allegory on being temporally self-reliant was to become better able to care for others. The Biblically inclined might see John 15:1-8 in the story’s Peninsula commune. They were living the ‘Fruitful Life’. Journeyman the Hollywood scriptwriter with no real skillz in the new world order was a counterpoint. The Blue Streak was the Game-Breaker for the self-reliant commune with Todbaum its Final Temptation. That Todbaum was a TV/Film producer in the old world should not be lost on anyone.
Finally, the world building was a mashup of several post-apocalyptic stories. Personally, recognizing the satire the suspension of belief needed to accept The Arrest came easily. It was a peculiar apocalypse. A long time ago I read a similar story involving a slight change in a ‘universal’ constant (like, but not the speed-of-light (c)), and electricity stopped working. In Lethem's Arrest, all tech above a certain level just stopped working sending humanity back into the Dark Ages, but a lot smarter, and with a lot more useful artifacts. Letham’s world building wasn’t perfect, but was ‘good enough’.For example, what powered the winches on Quarry Island?
I also enjoyed the Maine scenes throughout the story. (I happened to have lived in Portland, Maine for awhile.)
This story was terribly entertaining to me. Lethem’s peculiar perspective on the apocalypse was fun. Frankly, I’ve been avoiding Letham’s books since Motherless Brooklyn because they have not really been this much fun. I found myself purposefully ignoring the symbolism to maintain the graphic novel-level of entertainment. Read this for an arch play on post-apocalyptic fantasies with lots of genre pop culture references. Recommended.
Mentioned in this book is the story [b:Earth Abides|93269|Earth Abides|George R. Stewart|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320505234l/93269._SY75_.jpg|1650913], long forgotten, which I heartily recommend to all interested in the post-apocalyptic genre. That book has a lot of similarities with this.
The Blue Streak?
My audio copy was about seven and a half hours long. A dead tree copy would have been a modest 320 pages. The book had a US 2020 copyright.
Note, I listened to this book. At the beginning of the story, I was encouraged to "download the pdf containing the Journeyman's Scrapbook", the interstitial images found in the dead tree and pixelated versions of the story. It was not to be found at the publisher's website.
Jonathan Lethem is an American novelist and non-fiction writer. He has published twelve novels and numerous short works of fiction and non-fiction. The last book I read by the author was [b:Motherless Brooklyn|328854|Motherless Brooklyn|Jonathan Lethem|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348254729l/328854._SY75_.jpg|1971553].
A character-based story with a single POV. I’ll paraphrase the novel, and describe it as a: retro-futuristic, satiric, apocalyptic, dystopian pastoral without a meet-cute. The apocalypse was labeled the story’s eponymous title. The story plays out like a print version of a dystopian, graphic novel singing a nostalgic ode to our comfortable technologic present. It’s chock-full of literary and movie references which made listening to it a Where’s Waldo type treat.
I’ve always enjoyed Lethem’s sly humor. In general, I thought the story was well written. Listening to the story, allowed me to appreciate his use of alliteration and ‘turn-of-a-phrase’. Action sequences were OK. Descriptive prose was good. Dialog was excellent. Several times I laughed-out-loud. This was particularly true with the antagonist’s (Peter Todbaum) dialog, which was just ceaseless mediaphoric (see what I did there?) badinage. I liked that the author slipped in many post-apocalyptic and dystopian literary and film references into the story. Being a fan of these genres, I was gratified to find the only book mentioned, I had not read was [b:Blood Music|340819|Blood Music|Greg Bear|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388694820l/340819._SY75_.jpg|2563510].
Character-wise, I thought the protagonist Alexander “Sandy” Duplessis AKA Journeyman was well wrought, although I thought his larger than life sister (Maddy) to be the real hero. Journeyman's was the single POV. The Todbaum character provided the most enjoyment. He was the embodiment of the Made of Temptation trope, driving his retro-futuristic, atomic-powered car (the Blue Streak) which was itself the embodiment of the Artifact of Doom trope. (The Blue Streak might as well have been the One Ring.) Its the only functioning example of pre-apocalypse technology. It even had a working espresso machine with a seemingly bottomless supply of coffee. Maddy was a Mary Sue, Granola Girl, who felt the Call to Agriculture ahead of The Arrest and saved all by founding the Peninsula's, rural, organic food producing farm/commune.
In general, this was an allegory on being temporally self-reliant was to become better able to care for others. The Biblically inclined might see John 15:1-8 in the story’s Peninsula commune. They were living the ‘Fruitful Life’. Journeyman the Hollywood scriptwriter with no real skillz in the new world order was a counterpoint. The Blue Streak was the Game-Breaker for the self-reliant commune with Todbaum its Final Temptation. That Todbaum was a TV/Film producer in the old world should not be lost on anyone.
Finally, the world building was a mashup of several post-apocalyptic stories. Personally, recognizing the satire the suspension of belief needed to accept The Arrest came easily. It was a peculiar apocalypse. A long time ago I read a similar story involving a slight change in a ‘universal’ constant (like, but not the speed-of-light (c)), and electricity stopped working. In Lethem's Arrest, all tech above a certain level just stopped working sending humanity back into the Dark Ages, but a lot smarter, and with a lot more useful artifacts. Letham’s world building wasn’t perfect, but was ‘good enough’.
I also enjoyed the Maine scenes throughout the story. (I happened to have lived in Portland, Maine for awhile.)
This story was terribly entertaining to me. Lethem’s peculiar perspective on the apocalypse was fun. Frankly, I’ve been avoiding Letham’s books since Motherless Brooklyn because they have not really been this much fun. I found myself purposefully ignoring the symbolism to maintain the graphic novel-level of entertainment. Read this for an arch play on post-apocalyptic fantasies with lots of genre pop culture references. Recommended.
Mentioned in this book is the story [b:Earth Abides|93269|Earth Abides|George R. Stewart|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320505234l/93269._SY75_.jpg|1650913], long forgotten, which I heartily recommend to all interested in the post-apocalyptic genre. That book has a lot of similarities with this.
Uninterested in the plot, and the mystery of whatever The Arrest is
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a kinda fun read because the characters were engaging (as you’d hope from such a dialogue heavy story), but it’s not really that substantive. It seemed very much a self insert type of story where the author references a lot of their favorite media just to do so without it meaningfully furthering the story and the real action of the story comes in only the very last chapters. A lot of build up for very little pay off in my personal opinion (especially for an apocalyptic sci-fi). They had a chance to explore a lot of heavy topics and set the stage to do so just to end up not doing so. The ending left me pretty disappointed. I did admire how the author inserted photos from pop culture that looked like the imagery he was trying to convey, it added a little color to what was a generally bland non-descriptive book and fit the theme of the story well. I also like the concept of Hollywood types in dystopia, but feel it could have been done much better. Lots of missed potential here.
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It took some time to get into. There's a lot left unsaid. It was difficult to see where it was all going which was cool. I feel like Journeymans lack of curiosity and lack of connection with people really drove the mystery. We knew as much as him and he knew nothing. Ever. Atall. So annoyingly in the dark. I didn't like any of the characters. Maybe Eke, who I initially didn't like.
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m getting a little tired of post-apocalyptic novels, but this one is strong, if not outstanding, mostly due to the compelling villain-of-sorts, Peter Todbaum, and his alternately cartoonish and nightmarish vehicle/alter-ego, the Blue Streak — the ultimate survival machine, a kind of widescreen Cybertruck, which predated its counterpart by four years.
I enjoyed the book’s depiction of the peaceful Maine peninsula village that is keeping the flame of civilization burning in its own humble way. They live like Hobbits in the Shire, but pay taxes, or tribute, or protection money to a more advanced group of survivors further inland in the form of farm-to-table pickles, sausage, and duck.
We never find out whether The Cordon are Tinderwick’s protectors or oppressors, but that’s not the point of the novel. Tinderwick has reached a precious equilibrium with their environment, and they prefer not to ask questions that will only disturb the balance and stir up trouble.
Todbaum is what Silicon Valley likes to call a “disruptor” — he rolls in from Malibu as a potential liberator (or dictator) of Tinderwick, creating the central conflict of the story. The Arrest is the story of how this practical back-to-nature community resolves the potentially bloody power struggle between Todbaum and The Cordon on their own terms. It’s not about good and evil, it’s about sustainability.
In an age when we common people are perpetually caught up in epic struggles between dueling techno-political-economic overlords, this book has valuable lessons to impart.
I enjoyed the book’s depiction of the peaceful Maine peninsula village that is keeping the flame of civilization burning in its own humble way. They live like Hobbits in the Shire, but pay taxes, or tribute, or protection money to a more advanced group of survivors further inland in the form of farm-to-table pickles, sausage, and duck.
We never find out whether The Cordon are Tinderwick’s protectors or oppressors, but that’s not the point of the novel. Tinderwick has reached a precious equilibrium with their environment, and they prefer not to ask questions that will only disturb the balance and stir up trouble.
Todbaum is what Silicon Valley likes to call a “disruptor” — he rolls in from Malibu as a potential liberator (or dictator) of Tinderwick, creating the central conflict of the story. The Arrest is the story of how this practical back-to-nature community resolves the potentially bloody power struggle between Todbaum and The Cordon on their own terms. It’s not about good and evil, it’s about sustainability.
In an age when we common people are perpetually caught up in epic struggles between dueling techno-political-economic overlords, this book has valuable lessons to impart.
Is it significant that Lethem can be scrambled to make The Lem? The bizarrely fantastical Blue Streak and the whimsically satirical tone certainly brought Lem to my mind, though I’ve read little of him and that long ago. So I stumbled along thinking of kicking this book to the curb but it had enough precious bits of writing to keep me going in spite of my perpetual annoyance with the protagonist being so, well, journeyman-like. I’m sure I’ve missed the deeper meaning of this choice. However, in the end I was delighted with the the final blockbuster act. An amazing meta-prank on the apocalyptic-dystopian genre. Not bad for my first Lethem.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Audiobook. What a weird and strange book. Feel like there was no obvious point or reason or deeper meaning. So many plot holes left. And such a boring lead. The premise was so cool. Kinda disappointed.