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A review by marcnash21stc
Your Fathers, Where Are They? and the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? by Dave Eggers
4.0
All dialogue or rather all interrogation as a disturbed man snatches first an astronaut and ties him to a chain in an abandoned military post in California to grill him about frustrated dreams of reaching for the stars. They talk about the drying up of funds and the ignominious retirement of the Space Shuttle as it becomes a museum piece and the fact that the astronaut can now only reach the international space station by hitching a lift on a Russian rocket. Which prompts a new line of inquiry in the interrogator, but one that can only be answered by a controller of the budget, the local US Congressman who is next to be hitched up to a chain in the next room. The Congressman is paraplegic from his time in Vietnam and though they do talk about the US budget and wars versus spending on domestic services, the Congressman also demonstrates morality and goodness in his concern for the mental health of the man. The interrogator gets to thinking about morality and...
He proceeds to kidnap and interrogate and ex-teacher who was surrounded by rumours of child molestation; his own mother who sent him for a sleep over at the teachers as an eleven year old; a cop who just happened to be among the 12 besieging a house and shooting dead a man with a knife who was the interrogator's best friend; a hospital receptionist who was part of the police cover up; and finally a woman on the nearby beach who the interrogator bumped into during his downtime in between interrogations and who fits the vision of the woman of his dreams, but says no....
Unlike Pelevin's [b:Empire V: The Prince of Hamlet|29791032|Empire V The Prince of Hamlet|Victor Pelevin|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|10034467] which is the author lecturing the reader on his ideas, here Eggers is very skilful at writing a book about interrogation of ideas that is even handed. Even though the interrogator has the upper hand, the congressman picks him off in argument through compassion, his mother gives alternative interpretations to everything the interrogator believes and even the molester is not a black and white case of repulsion and disgust but puts up a good defence of his actions that just leaves enough room for doubt despite yourself.
The interrogation of cop and hospital receptionist are less convincing, as the interrogator gets exactly the story he's after, while the kidnapping of the vision of perfection that is the woman is just downright depressing and leaves the reader in no doubt that this interrogator has no redeeming features.
It is in some ways both timely and untimely. The theories of the young male with no place for his energies and creativity without a war or a national project to throw oneself into, chimes with the resurgence of the mentality of white supremacy and ideas of national renewal (though the race element is not in evidence here). However the cop shooting of a Vietnamese American is somewhat overtaken by the real life Black Lives Matter movement a couple of years after this book was published and has taken the debate on to a whole different level.
The device of each time he needs a fresh insight he grabs a new victim to interrogate was funny and didn't tire (you wondered who was next, Eggers never trailed the type of person). However, I did wonder, chained for 4 or 5 days, how did these people perform their toilet?
Sly, subversive, a smack across the chops (which the interrogator never resorts to with any of his captives), I enjoyed this book.
My booktube review of this and other Eggers' novels can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XisWROuMqnI
He proceeds to kidnap and interrogate and ex-teacher who was surrounded by rumours of child molestation; his own mother who sent him for a sleep over at the teachers as an eleven year old; a cop who just happened to be among the 12 besieging a house and shooting dead a man with a knife who was the interrogator's best friend; a hospital receptionist who was part of the police cover up; and finally a woman on the nearby beach who the interrogator bumped into during his downtime in between interrogations and who fits the vision of the woman of his dreams, but says no....
Unlike Pelevin's [b:Empire V: The Prince of Hamlet|29791032|Empire V The Prince of Hamlet|Victor Pelevin|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|10034467] which is the author lecturing the reader on his ideas, here Eggers is very skilful at writing a book about interrogation of ideas that is even handed. Even though the interrogator has the upper hand, the congressman picks him off in argument through compassion, his mother gives alternative interpretations to everything the interrogator believes and even the molester is not a black and white case of repulsion and disgust but puts up a good defence of his actions that just leaves enough room for doubt despite yourself.
The interrogation of cop and hospital receptionist are less convincing, as the interrogator gets exactly the story he's after, while the kidnapping of the vision of perfection that is the woman is just downright depressing and leaves the reader in no doubt that this interrogator has no redeeming features.
It is in some ways both timely and untimely. The theories of the young male with no place for his energies and creativity without a war or a national project to throw oneself into, chimes with the resurgence of the mentality of white supremacy and ideas of national renewal (though the race element is not in evidence here). However the cop shooting of a Vietnamese American is somewhat overtaken by the real life Black Lives Matter movement a couple of years after this book was published and has taken the debate on to a whole different level.
The device of each time he needs a fresh insight he grabs a new victim to interrogate was funny and didn't tire (you wondered who was next, Eggers never trailed the type of person). However, I did wonder, chained for 4 or 5 days, how did these people perform their toilet?
Sly, subversive, a smack across the chops (which the interrogator never resorts to with any of his captives), I enjoyed this book.
My booktube review of this and other Eggers' novels can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XisWROuMqnI