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A review by stevereally
The Four Fingers of Death by Rick Moody
3.0
The story, characters, and writing style are frankly a disappointment and not enough to justify spending the time on this thing. The vivid portrayal of a crumbling America of 2025 made it worth it for me, though.
The story is sort of broken up into three stories, two of which are closely connected books written by the original narrator Montese Crandall. Crandall is unlikable and off-putting, as are his wife and the principal other character he interacts with. An entire book of them would be out of the question if it were 200 pages, forget 700.
In the Mars mission story, the story is relatively interesting; the characters are a decent mix of sympathetic, sinister, and interesting, in varying proportions; and the writing was enjoyable enough, although Jed Richards as narrator doesn't always work.
The Mars mission tale is the explanation and origin of the infectious animated severed arm in the "Crawling Hand" novelization, though the conceit is that the publisher doesn't want the space stuff, only the Earth stuff, and so Moody/Crandall uses two different styles for each. It's also an entirely separate set of characters with just some references by the new folks to what happened with the astronauts.
Few of the characters in the latter half of the novel are at all likable; several major ones are completely unpleasant. The plot throughout this section is serviceable but not compelling.
The world of Rio Blanco, though, that Moody gives us in the story of Montese Crandall and in that of the arm is so plausible, realistic, and depressing that it made it worthwhile for me. Some specifics, such as the cult-type deal, don't matter. But the effects of climate change and continued economic deterioration were portrayed vividly and compellingly, and, in that way, this was a glimpse right into our future.
The story is sort of broken up into three stories, two of which are closely connected books written by the original narrator Montese Crandall. Crandall is unlikable and off-putting, as are his wife and the principal other character he interacts with. An entire book of them would be out of the question if it were 200 pages, forget 700.
In the Mars mission story, the story is relatively interesting; the characters are a decent mix of sympathetic, sinister, and interesting, in varying proportions; and the writing was enjoyable enough, although Jed Richards as narrator doesn't always work.
The Mars mission tale is the explanation and origin of the infectious animated severed arm in the "Crawling Hand" novelization, though the conceit is that the publisher doesn't want the space stuff, only the Earth stuff, and so Moody/Crandall uses two different styles for each. It's also an entirely separate set of characters with just some references by the new folks to what happened with the astronauts.
Few of the characters in the latter half of the novel are at all likable; several major ones are completely unpleasant. The plot throughout this section is serviceable but not compelling.
The world of Rio Blanco, though, that Moody gives us in the story of Montese Crandall and in that of the arm is so plausible, realistic, and depressing that it made it worthwhile for me. Some specifics, such as the cult-type deal, don't matter. But the effects of climate change and continued economic deterioration were portrayed vividly and compellingly, and, in that way, this was a glimpse right into our future.