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A review by screamdogreads
America Fantastica by Tim O'Brien
4.0
"You're robbing me? Not you, said Boyd. He took out his gun and showed it to her. It was not a toy. It was a Temptation .38 Special. Angie Bing managed to scrape up just under eighty-one thousand dollars, a significant sum for a small bank in the small town of Fulda, California. Boyd stuffed the cash into a paper grocery bag. I'm sorry about this, he said, but I'll have to ask you to take a ride with me."
A heist novel that's not actually a heist novel. A book about a bank robbery, that's... Actually not about a bank robbery. America Fantastica is a satirical enigma, a dark humored and morose tale about a man on the verge of taking his own life and the corrupt, nefarious characters who orbit him. Having a subtle grit-lit angle while also examining some extremely uncomfortable truths about the times we live in, there's a whole lot of craziness within this novel and it's all told to us through sharp and snappy dialogue and wit. It's a rather bleak and sad satire, overall. An exaggerated sense of despair seems to course through the very core of this novel.
Ultimately, this is a story of liars. The characters that populate this book are horrible, morally bankrupt, awful people. This makes the novel far more enjoyable for those who care not for the tales of the morally sound. While the tone of this book is obvious from the start, and sets the stage for a rather grim and farcical affair, there's also a seriousness to be had here, delving beneath the surface will unearth a profound and touching poignancy. It's surprising just how much depth there is to this novel, it's a disheartening and wholly sobering thing. The true heart and soul of this tale is found in the journey, it's in how all these questionable people finally arrive at their destinations.
A heist novel that's not actually a heist novel. A book about a bank robbery, that's... Actually not about a bank robbery. America Fantastica is a satirical enigma, a dark humored and morose tale about a man on the verge of taking his own life and the corrupt, nefarious characters who orbit him. Having a subtle grit-lit angle while also examining some extremely uncomfortable truths about the times we live in, there's a whole lot of craziness within this novel and it's all told to us through sharp and snappy dialogue and wit. It's a rather bleak and sad satire, overall. An exaggerated sense of despair seems to course through the very core of this novel.
Ultimately, this is a story of liars. The characters that populate this book are horrible, morally bankrupt, awful people. This makes the novel far more enjoyable for those who care not for the tales of the morally sound. While the tone of this book is obvious from the start, and sets the stage for a rather grim and farcical affair, there's also a seriousness to be had here, delving beneath the surface will unearth a profound and touching poignancy. It's surprising just how much depth there is to this novel, it's a disheartening and wholly sobering thing. The true heart and soul of this tale is found in the journey, it's in how all these questionable people finally arrive at their destinations.
"With no real future, and with a past he cared not to dwell on, Boyd had nothing much to lose. Or, more precisely, nothing left to be. He was done hiding from the world. Dishonor was one thing - a terrible thing - but he'd paid for it with a divorce and a scuttled career and the loss of all appetite for the future. That seemed penalty enough."
This is a book that's so clearly of the current times. This is modern day satire, and it'll be intensely interesting to see how this holds up, 10 years from now. Examining everything from the nature of humanity, American corporate culture, and the criminal underworld, this is one hell of a book, one that verges off into a million different directions. It's made up of countless narratives and stories that are only loosely woven together, that stitch into one huge, fragmented tale of chaos. At once, both quiet and wildly adventurous, America Fantastica is a strange novel. Perhaps it is the American dream in a book, road-trips, fast cars, gambling, guns, sex, bundles of money, liars and cheats - It's a brilliant book, that, at times, could be accused of being overtly heavy-handed.
The portrayal of an America gone crazy, however, is brutally funny. Time O'Brien has latched on to one of the world's worst traits, and used it to shoot a harpoon into the very heart of America - the tendency to absorb and repeat even the most asinine of disinformation. Perhaps it's a fair assessment, that at times, the satire is very obvious, nonetheless, America Fantastica is a fantastic novel.
"To recognize one's own life as a breathtaking failure was an experience Junior would recommend to all. Relieved of illusion, he was relieved of disappointment. There was, in fact, a harsh cleansing effect that accompanied the knowledge that he could do no worse than he had already done. "