Reviews

Giles Goat-Boy by John Barth

jodyjsperling's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

GILES GOAT-BOY May be the most necessary novel anyone living in 2018 can read. Without irony, I consider it life-changing.

stewreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Despite my high rating, I have to admit that this one was a bit of a slog. There are so many great ideas in here, but most of the best of them exist as digressions, whereas the main narrative never reaches the heights of Barth’s precious epic, The Sot-Weed Factor. Still, the book remains hilarious, unrelentingly bizarre, and a lot of fun to read, up until its much too long and repetitive ending. It might take me a few months to work up the gall for another Barth novel, but I still consider him to be among my favorites.

gef's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Longest shaggy goat story on record — 766 pages of the same joke. (Extract from my long handwritten 1984 note — I didn't like it, even found its gross eroticism and racist caricatures offensive, but nevertheless, I learned some more about writing from it.)

melanie_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0


I tried, I really did. So much potential but the book is ultimately just too long and driving home a very heavy-handed point OVER and OVER again. And this barely half-way into the book. I thought about skipping to the last chapter, but worried I'd be spending precious reading time on something I just didn't care to find out.

ninotchka's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

This is a tough book to read.
More...