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piccoline's review
3.0
A more whimsical approach than I usually can take as a reader, but Anthony deploys it well. Sadly, it felt to me like it lost momentum as it went along.
Even so, it seems to me this is a worlds better attempt at what Jonathan Safran Foer was trying (and to my mind failing) to do with Everything is Illuminated.
But I don't want to start a fight about the merit or (extreme) lack of merit of Foer.
Even so, it seems to me this is a worlds better attempt at what Jonathan Safran Foer was trying (and to my mind failing) to do with Everything is Illuminated.
But I don't want to start a fight about the merit or (extreme) lack of merit of Foer.
nicka's review against another edition
2.0
What do you do about a protagonist so repugnant, so loathsome that no amount of background elicits sympathy?
This very well may be a good book that I simply did not enjoy. For me, unfortunately, the best part of the book is the cover art.
This very well may be a good book that I simply did not enjoy. For me, unfortunately, the best part of the book is the cover art.
jamiereadthis's review against another edition
3.0
On the one hand, fantastic. In the literal and lateral definitions of the word. Mythmaking on a Vonnegut scale, meaning squirrelly and capricious and where the bizarre alt-history of the world actually seems a heap more likely than the histories we’re given. On the other hand, the ending lost me completely. Had it stuck the landing and not just written Kafka on post-it notes, I’d be singing more praises right now. 3.675 stars.
weirdtea's review against another edition
2.0
There is an absurdity to much of this book that I really respond to. There is definitely a lot of delight to be found in it. The narrator is oddly compelling. Some of the elements of magical realism are interesting. Some feel a bit tired--The Metamorphosis--really? As much as I enjoyed some aspects of the novel, its eccentricities seem to spill over into...pretension? No, not really that. It is like a precocious child, amusing and full of promise, but a bit too hungry for attention and a bit too full of self-satisfaction to be truly endearing.
meganmfahey's review against another edition
4.0
So good, especially if you like books about dwarves who steal meat and live in vans mixed with Hungarian mythos.
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