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A review by heykellyjensen
Idaho Winter: Landscape with Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle by Tony Burgess
3.0
Pretty much the epitome of a mind-screw of a book.
No one likes Idaho Winter. This includes the crossing guard who wants to make sure he crosses the street when a car is coming, his classmates who want to beat him up, and even the school janitor who has saved a couple of hatchets for just the right time to knock him off. Doesn't really matter why no one likes Idaho. It's just the way it goes.
Then one day Madison decides she's going to be nice to him so he doesn't feel alone any more. Except, things aren't going to be that nice or clean. Remember, no one likes Idaho. It's about here I have to stop explaining what happens because basically, it's at this point where Idaho decides he's sick of the author writing the book. Idaho's going to take things into his own hands.
This is a very meta book about writing and reading and expectations of authors and characters and story and audience. Most of it makes no sense at all, and yet at the same time, the book makes absolute perfect sense. The story's assembled with pieces of Jurassic Park, as well as cameos by Billie Joe of Green Day and Green Day's drummer Tre Cool. There's also bats that are pretty vicious and a girl who causes your emotions to get stronger the closer you get to her (no, really, they have to build a rope to drag the poor girl through the story because if they got closer than 50 feet to her it would be end game). Also, characters change names and genders. Suddenly the author is at the will of the character who decided it was time to offer no good solutions and no sense whatsoever. Basically, it's Idaho giving Burgess the big middle finger. Except it's also Burgess giving Idaho the big middle finger and then both giving the same middle finger to the conventions of story telling. I'd say they're doing the same thing to the reader except I found this so funny I thought they were giving me a gift more than anything else.
I will say this went on a tad too long. It's 150 pages, and I think it could have been cut down even more to be more effective. But overall, it's the kind of book that readers who are okay with absurd stories will enjoy, and I think it's the kind of book that readers and writers will appreciate for the boundary breaking elements. It's meant to be fun. And it totally delivers on that.
But poor Idaho Winter. Even in the end, your life isn't any better.
No one likes Idaho Winter. This includes the crossing guard who wants to make sure he crosses the street when a car is coming, his classmates who want to beat him up, and even the school janitor who has saved a couple of hatchets for just the right time to knock him off. Doesn't really matter why no one likes Idaho. It's just the way it goes.
Then one day Madison decides she's going to be nice to him so he doesn't feel alone any more. Except, things aren't going to be that nice or clean. Remember, no one likes Idaho. It's about here I have to stop explaining what happens because basically, it's at this point where Idaho decides he's sick of the author writing the book. Idaho's going to take things into his own hands.
This is a very meta book about writing and reading and expectations of authors and characters and story and audience. Most of it makes no sense at all, and yet at the same time, the book makes absolute perfect sense. The story's assembled with pieces of Jurassic Park, as well as cameos by Billie Joe of Green Day and Green Day's drummer Tre Cool. There's also bats that are pretty vicious and a girl who causes your emotions to get stronger the closer you get to her (no, really, they have to build a rope to drag the poor girl through the story because if they got closer than 50 feet to her it would be end game). Also, characters change names and genders. Suddenly the author is at the will of the character who decided it was time to offer no good solutions and no sense whatsoever. Basically, it's Idaho giving Burgess the big middle finger. Except it's also Burgess giving Idaho the big middle finger and then both giving the same middle finger to the conventions of story telling. I'd say they're doing the same thing to the reader except I found this so funny I thought they were giving me a gift more than anything else.
I will say this went on a tad too long. It's 150 pages, and I think it could have been cut down even more to be more effective. But overall, it's the kind of book that readers who are okay with absurd stories will enjoy, and I think it's the kind of book that readers and writers will appreciate for the boundary breaking elements. It's meant to be fun. And it totally delivers on that.
But poor Idaho Winter. Even in the end, your life isn't any better.