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bigjessenergy's review against another edition
adventurous
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
twharring's review against another edition
1.0
I'm sorry to shit all over small indie novelists and all, but I'm pretty sure this was the most obnoxiously self-conscious and just plain dumb book I've ever read. Sorry, Ben, but no one cares that you know who Neutral Milk Hotel and Halldor Laxness are.
_b_a_l_'s review against another edition
2.0
Literary magic realism just isn't my thing.
I kept wanting it to get more silly, or more fantastical or more something.
I kept wanting it to get more silly, or more fantastical or more something.
explikator's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
annebennett1957's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this quirky book immensely. It is the hero's journey tale but instead of a ring, there is a couch and the couch has both good and bad powers. The book is also hilarious. I loved this book so much I recommended it for book club. No one liked it but me so now everyone teases me about that. Here is my review: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/two-tales-two-epic-journeys.html
nasathespaceship's review against another edition
3.0
2.7 ,,, started off strong but towards the last third of the book it all got very convoluted and kind of messy in my opinion. I’m all for up for interpretation/open endings but for all the time I had spent following these characters I just didn’t feel satisfied. Some beautiful passages and sentences and ideas in here though, it just didn’t come together.
marmarta's review
2.75
I guess I wanted more surrealism, more weirdness, more change and self-reflection from the main character. Also, it has the feel of "women are just accessories on the Hero's Journey" kind of thing you so often get with male writers. Much less interesting than I hoped, and didn't make me think nearly enough.
annabella82's review against another edition
4.0
I had picked this book up on discount at my local bookstore after seeing the cover and then reading the backcover (and finding the story intriguing).
Who would have thought that a story about three guys carrying a couch would be so great? It's a novel that anyone can get caught up in; the characters are memorable and very likeable.
Who would have thought that a story about three guys carrying a couch would be so great? It's a novel that anyone can get caught up in; the characters are memorable and very likeable.
slferg's review against another edition
5.0
An amusing and fascinating tale of three young men carrying a couch from their apartment to a new destination - where, they aren't exactly sure. One of the boys is a dreamer, seeing visions and indications of where they need to go. Another lost his programming job and his girlfriend kicked him out. The third is a ne'er-do-well who lives by his wits and is constantly in trouble. The three are sharing an apartment when the waterbed in the apartment above bursts and drowns out all the apartments, ruining ceilings, walls and floors. So they have to leave and are requested to take the couch with them, to goodwill or someplace. But no one will take the couch, so they start off on a journey in a direction it seems to want to go. The journey is rather fantastic, with some mysticism and old worlde knowledge, but it's quite interesting.
Well worth the read.
Well worth the read.