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meghan111's review
3.0
New York City, but slightly different: ominous fog and a snowy winter that won't end, a tiger roaming the streets and causing destruction, a conceptual artist who digs huge pits in locations around the city. The New York Times publishes a war-free edition. To fill this edition, there is a need for non-war news. Chase Insteadman, former child star/current lightweight celebrity and socialite, and his fiancee, Janice Trumbull, make up a part of these headlines. Janice is an astronaut currently stuck in the international space station, whose love letters to Chase appear in the paper. Chase, meanwhile, becomes entranced with Perkus Tooth, an enigmatic pop-culture guru who seems to have an interest in finding an answer to the question of the meaning of everything and its relation to Marlon Brando and Gnuppets (a slightly different version of Muppets.) Perkus Tooth wants to know the truth, and Chase comes to realize the illusions he is living in and with.
This book meanders a lot, contains horribly accurate descriptions of migraine, and evolves into an exploration of stoner logic about the nature of reality - what if everything in our reality is just a simulation, one of thousands or millions of similar experiments? How would we ever know? That sounds cliched, but Lethem is such a great writer that he makes it sound new, as if the characters are really experiencing these revelations in their slightly-off version of New York City.
This book meanders a lot, contains horribly accurate descriptions of migraine, and evolves into an exploration of stoner logic about the nature of reality - what if everything in our reality is just a simulation, one of thousands or millions of similar experiments? How would we ever know? That sounds cliched, but Lethem is such a great writer that he makes it sound new, as if the characters are really experiencing these revelations in their slightly-off version of New York City.
scheu's review
3.0
A book about assholes. Pretty frustrating, as I enjoy reading Lethem and at times he made reading about these assholes worthwhile. Unfortunately by the end I was not satisfied.
audaciaray's review
3.0
Entertaining, but not my favorite Lethem book. The characters are great, and the details about New York are wonderful. I think that if I ever leave NYC, I will read a lot of Lethem so I can feel close to home.
rbreade's review against another edition
Lethem is one of those writers I'll read even if only for the language and the ideas, both of which are on display here in abundance. If the story lacks urgency--and it does--the prose acts as a countervailing force to keep me reading. Protagonist Chase Insteadman's friendship with don't-call-him-a-music-critic Perkus Tooth is the main course and through it the plot meanders, always seeming on the precipice of boiling over into significance but never quite crossing that line. I appreciate the subtle playing with simulated worlds theory--nothing ham-fisted here--but wish it might have risen just a bit more in importance to the story. The gigantic tiger, "a second-story tiger," that stalks the pages, off-camera, for the most part, is a nice magical realist touch that, when finally seen on an empty, snowy Manhattan street, delivers a jolt of the irreal to both the characters who see it and the reader.
kidclamp's review
3.0
I think I liked it, but I don't think I quite got it. The backdrop of a post 9/11 Manhattan had the right feel, but this book reminded me of Dhalgren in that it seemed to question reality and offer no revelations.
jervonyc's review
3.0
Lethem does marvelous things with language, and he outdoes himself in this very Pynchon-esque tale of strange-named people in a bizarre, fictional mirror image of NYC. And yet, now that I'm finished with it, I don't really know *why* this book had to be written. Nothing particularly interesting happens, and none of the characters themselves are particularly interesting, aside from their quirky personalities.
patkohn's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5