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innatejames's review
3.0
A Brooklyn woman goes to Southern California to find her friend’s missing daughter and gets help from an unconventional detective.
I enjoyed how character-driven this story was. Phoebe and Charles are complex and strangely relatable they are. The mystery in the story played second fiddle to the budding relationship. Like, Phoebe found the person she came for and the moment was immediately stolen with Charles’s situation. So I guess what I’m saying is this isn’t a story for mystery lovers to read.
Although the ending certainly seemed like it was setting up for a sequel. I hope so at least because I definitely put the book down not feeling like things were resolved. I will read the next book if there is one because I liked the characters and found the situations they were in very entertaining, even though they didn’t always make sense.
I enjoyed how character-driven this story was. Phoebe and Charles are complex and strangely relatable they are. The mystery in the story played second fiddle to the budding relationship. Like, Phoebe found the person she came for and the moment was immediately stolen with Charles’s situation. So I guess what I’m saying is this isn’t a story for mystery lovers to read.
Although the ending certainly seemed like it was setting up for a sequel. I hope so at least because I definitely put the book down not feeling like things were resolved. I will read the next book if there is one because I liked the characters and found the situations they were in very entertaining, even though they didn’t always make sense.
tspangler1970's review
5.0
What a weird and wonderful story. He’s just an amazing writer. Need to read more of him. (Adored Motherless Brooklyn.)
tonstantweader's review
2.0
Even some 20 years after reading “Motherless Brooklyn” I can still remember the enchantment of reading it. Since then I have been a devoted Jonathan Letham reader. Despite being in the midst of a couple other books, I dropped everything to read The Feral Detective. I was more excited than usual because he was returning to the detective genre.
When Arabella, the daughter of Phoebe’s best friend, goes missing soon after Leonard Cohen’s death and the 2016 election, Phoebe, who is at loose ends after quitting her New York Times job in disgust, volunteers to go look for her at a California Zen mountain retreat Cohen used to frequent. She hires a local detective known for finding people named Charles Heist, the titular feral detective.
Their search takes them to the mountain and a horrific murder as well as to the desert where two groups of anti-social misfits aggregate in loose tribes, the Rabbits and the Bears. As the book is so much a reaction to the election, it is tempting to see the Rabbits and Bears as blue and red teams. The Rabbits are mostly women and children and more or less live off the land in tune with nature. The Bears are mostly men, violent, and rage-filled. Their leader is called Solitary Love, I kid you not. I think as obvious as it seems, seeing them as America's rival tribes is a mistake.
There’s a fair amount of adventure and derring-do by the men. The women mostly spectate or wait. Even when Phoebe acts, her acts are impulsive and completed by men. When a young girl she has brought with her acts to rescue them, even that rescue is completed by Heist. Women never get to solve, rescue, or complete anything.
That would perhaps be less irritating if the narrator were not a woman. The story is told by Phoebe, an urban dweller meeting a reclusive man. She’s from the city, he’s from the desert. She’s sophisticated, he lives in a trailer with a possum. She’s East Coast, he’s Western desert. It’s like the “Green Acres” song, “Goodbye City Life.” So, of course, she falls madly in love with Heist though we don’t know why, really, except maybe, sex. He is mostly silent and uncommunicative, just very good-looking and obviously concerned for the feral children of the Rabbits and Bears whom he hopes to rescue.
Jonathan Lethem keeps disappointing me lately. The Feral Detective is a greater disappointment because I had hoped his return to the detective genre might spark the genius of “Motherless Brooklyn.” The book has many Letham hallmarks, it’s full of pop culture references, it’s sometimes absurdly funny and wildly imaginative. Imagine a Ferris wheel prison, if you will.
Letham has his usual word magic, for example, “That coffee was a wiper blade, cutting a window for my brain to peer through.” However, the emotion is false. Perhaps it is narrating through the voice of a woman. Can a man even understand the betrayal that election was, the rejection of this competent woman who could talk in detail on nearly any policy for a babbling grifter who can’t string two thoughts together? In rejecting the hypercompetent Hillary, America told women we can never be enough. Rejecting her for the orange sack of hate, resentment, insecurity, and narcissism, for someone so manifestly incompetent, was more than rejection, it was annihilation.
And Letham gives us Phoebe, a shallow chatterbox who highest aspiration seems to be the Manic Pixie Dream Girl of Heist’s dreams. Why?
The Feral Detective at Harper Collins
Jonathan Lethem author site
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2018/11/16/9780062859068/
When Arabella, the daughter of Phoebe’s best friend, goes missing soon after Leonard Cohen’s death and the 2016 election, Phoebe, who is at loose ends after quitting her New York Times job in disgust, volunteers to go look for her at a California Zen mountain retreat Cohen used to frequent. She hires a local detective known for finding people named Charles Heist, the titular feral detective.
Their search takes them to the mountain and a horrific murder as well as to the desert where two groups of anti-social misfits aggregate in loose tribes, the Rabbits and the Bears. As the book is so much a reaction to the election, it is tempting to see the Rabbits and Bears as blue and red teams. The Rabbits are mostly women and children and more or less live off the land in tune with nature. The Bears are mostly men, violent, and rage-filled. Their leader is called Solitary Love, I kid you not. I think as obvious as it seems, seeing them as America's rival tribes is a mistake.
There’s a fair amount of adventure and derring-do by the men. The women mostly spectate or wait. Even when Phoebe acts, her acts are impulsive and completed by men. When a young girl she has brought with her acts to rescue them, even that rescue is completed by Heist. Women never get to solve, rescue, or complete anything.
That would perhaps be less irritating if the narrator were not a woman. The story is told by Phoebe, an urban dweller meeting a reclusive man. She’s from the city, he’s from the desert. She’s sophisticated, he lives in a trailer with a possum. She’s East Coast, he’s Western desert. It’s like the “Green Acres” song, “Goodbye City Life.” So, of course, she falls madly in love with Heist though we don’t know why, really, except maybe, sex. He is mostly silent and uncommunicative, just very good-looking and obviously concerned for the feral children of the Rabbits and Bears whom he hopes to rescue.
Jonathan Lethem keeps disappointing me lately. The Feral Detective is a greater disappointment because I had hoped his return to the detective genre might spark the genius of “Motherless Brooklyn.” The book has many Letham hallmarks, it’s full of pop culture references, it’s sometimes absurdly funny and wildly imaginative. Imagine a Ferris wheel prison, if you will.
Letham has his usual word magic, for example, “That coffee was a wiper blade, cutting a window for my brain to peer through.” However, the emotion is false. Perhaps it is narrating through the voice of a woman. Can a man even understand the betrayal that election was, the rejection of this competent woman who could talk in detail on nearly any policy for a babbling grifter who can’t string two thoughts together? In rejecting the hypercompetent Hillary, America told women we can never be enough. Rejecting her for the orange sack of hate, resentment, insecurity, and narcissism, for someone so manifestly incompetent, was more than rejection, it was annihilation.
And Letham gives us Phoebe, a shallow chatterbox who highest aspiration seems to be the Manic Pixie Dream Girl of Heist’s dreams. Why?
The Feral Detective at Harper Collins
Jonathan Lethem author site
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2018/11/16/9780062859068/
cspiwak's review
3.0
I didn’t really enjoy this book. The language was interesting and having the current political situation play a part added a dimension,but didn’t make up for the characters. The female narrator did not ring true to me, though perhaps her identity as a Manhattan socialite was just too foreign for me.
The fact that it is pretty much love at first sight between hard boiled detective and client seemed more than a bit unbelievable. Perhaps she is touched by his rescue of animals and people, but why does he fall for her?
The desert people are interesting and, the deserted festival atmospheric, but didn’t make up for the irritation I felt at the main character.
Maybe that was intentional
The fact that it is pretty much love at first sight between hard boiled detective and client seemed more than a bit unbelievable. Perhaps she is touched by his rescue of animals and people, but why does he fall for her?
The desert people are interesting and, the deserted festival atmospheric, but didn’t make up for the irritation I felt at the main character.
Maybe that was intentional
elhugh's review
3.0
Oh, to able to give a book 7 out of 10!
I think it's fair to say that Jonathan Lethem has become an increasingly Marmite author over the years. Even his fans can get very different reactions from different books. Reading the opening sections of 'The Fortress of Solitude' was one of the most thrilling reading experiences of my life. Conversely, slogging through 'You Don't Love Me Yet' was absolutely not.
I am far from alone on that count as its sub 3 Goodreads average score attests. 'The Feral Detective' isn't faring much better on here hovering on a far from respectable 3.02 (weirdly, while an individual score of 3 is fine an average Goodreads score of 3 is just terrible).
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would have loved to have given it a score that would do a tiny bit to bump up its average. And I would have if I could have awarded it 3.5 stars. Many reviewers choose to round up or down and clarify the half mark in the first line of the review. That's cheating though!
'The Feral Detective' is Lethem's return to the detective novel 2 decades after 'Motherless Brooklyn' and is satirical noir romp set on the cusp of Trump's presidency.
Despair at the incoming age of the orange tyrant and the divisions in America that are both causes of and caused by the age of Trump are the main targets of Lethem's ire. It's a funny book too. It's pretty flawed too. The narrative convinces as neo-noir but doesn't convince as a mid 30s New York woman coming to the ends of her tether in the Inland Empire and the sex scene is just not good.
Lethem paints his picture with broad strokes and it would be difficult to miss the message. He provides no answers because there aren't any yet.
So, a book I enjoyed and would happily give 7 out of 10 to but not a 4 star book. Sadly then, even though I enjoyed it I have ended up bringing its average down by another smidgen. Sorry.
I think it's fair to say that Jonathan Lethem has become an increasingly Marmite author over the years. Even his fans can get very different reactions from different books. Reading the opening sections of 'The Fortress of Solitude' was one of the most thrilling reading experiences of my life. Conversely, slogging through 'You Don't Love Me Yet' was absolutely not.
I am far from alone on that count as its sub 3 Goodreads average score attests. 'The Feral Detective' isn't faring much better on here hovering on a far from respectable 3.02 (weirdly, while an individual score of 3 is fine an average Goodreads score of 3 is just terrible).
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would have loved to have given it a score that would do a tiny bit to bump up its average. And I would have if I could have awarded it 3.5 stars. Many reviewers choose to round up or down and clarify the half mark in the first line of the review. That's cheating though!
'The Feral Detective' is Lethem's return to the detective novel 2 decades after 'Motherless Brooklyn' and is satirical noir romp set on the cusp of Trump's presidency.
Despair at the incoming age of the orange tyrant and the divisions in America that are both causes of and caused by the age of Trump are the main targets of Lethem's ire. It's a funny book too. It's pretty flawed too. The narrative convinces as neo-noir but doesn't convince as a mid 30s New York woman coming to the ends of her tether in the Inland Empire and the sex scene is just not good.
Lethem paints his picture with broad strokes and it would be difficult to miss the message. He provides no answers because there aren't any yet.
So, a book I enjoyed and would happily give 7 out of 10 to but not a 4 star book. Sadly then, even though I enjoyed it I have ended up bringing its average down by another smidgen. Sorry.
dfett's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
barrynorton's review
5.0
One of Lethem's most readable books. Also a sign that American fiction has finally turned a corner and is anchored no longer in 9/11, only mentioned once, but rather in Trump's election. There's an allegory in this one about the two-party system, but it wasn't intrusive into what is, even superficially, another fine work of fiction.
audreylee's review
1.0
The story started out reading like an old-fashioned noir, then planted info about 2016 election to nail down timeline. If felt like a shallow dream sequence of violence, sex, and neanderthal-like preppers.
joyblue's review
I bailed because of the horrible narrator, but other reviewers make me wonder if I would have anyway. What follows pertains to the narration of this book, not its content or writing.
In my experience, authors who read their own work are horrible at narration! Most of the exceptions to that rule are actors—including, but not limited to, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, and Ellen DeGeneres. [A couple of non-actor authors who read their own books with wild success, IMHO, are Neil Gaiman and Jill Conner Browne.] My assumption from my experience so far has been that actors are well-suited to book narration because of their vocal and acting training.
This book is narrated by Zosia Mamet—an actor in movies/TV shows I don't watch. She. Is. The. Worst. I've now learned about vocal fry. I'm not sure that's her only problem in this narration. I just know that she is almost completely unintelligible most of the time, and that her voice is horrifically monotonous all of the time. Most reviewers agree (now that I've checked because I'm so frustrated about it). I saw one reviewer who thinks she's the perfect narrator *for this book* for the same reason most of us can't stand her narration. Increasing the playback speed is not a sufficient remedy. I started at 1.5 (almost always a safe speed for my processing), then moved to 1.85, and am now at 2.0.
I'm bailing on the book solely because of the bad narration. Practically, if I choose to bail, it is unlikely that I will ever finish the book because I have so little time to devote to reading with my eyes. Reading with my ears allows me to read while grooming, traveling, doing housework, etc.
In my experience, authors who read their own work are horrible at narration! Most of the exceptions to that rule are actors—including, but not limited to, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, and Ellen DeGeneres. [A couple of non-actor authors who read their own books with wild success, IMHO, are Neil Gaiman and Jill Conner Browne.] My assumption from my experience so far has been that actors are well-suited to book narration because of their vocal and acting training.
This book is narrated by Zosia Mamet—an actor in movies/TV shows I don't watch. She. Is. The. Worst. I've now learned about vocal fry. I'm not sure that's her only problem in this narration. I just know that she is almost completely unintelligible most of the time, and that her voice is horrifically monotonous all of the time. Most reviewers agree (now that I've checked because I'm so frustrated about it). I saw one reviewer who thinks she's the perfect narrator *for this book* for the same reason most of us can't stand her narration. Increasing the playback speed is not a sufficient remedy. I started at 1.5 (almost always a safe speed for my processing), then moved to 1.85, and am now at 2.0.
I'm bailing on the book solely because of the bad narration. Practically, if I choose to bail, it is unlikely that I will ever finish the book because I have so little time to devote to reading with my eyes. Reading with my ears allows me to read while grooming, traveling, doing housework, etc.
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