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Bowl of Cherries
Kicked out of Yale at age 14, Judd Breslau falls in with Phillips Chatterton, a bathrobe-wearing Egyptologist working out of a dilapidated home laboratory. There, young Valerie Chatterton quickly leads Breslau away from his research and into, in the attic, a Colorado equestrian ranch, a porn studio beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, and a jail cell in southern Iraq, where we find him awaiting his own execution while the war rages on in the north. Written by a 90-year-old debut novelist, ex-Marine, two-time Oscar nominee, and co-creator of Mr. Magoo, Bowl of Cherries rivals the liveliest comic novels for sheer gleeful inventiveness. This is a book of astounding breadth and sharp consequence, containing all the joy, derangement, terror, and doubt of adolescence and modern times.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2007
41 people are currently reading
664 people want to read
About the author
Millard Kaufman
9 books7 followersMillard Kaufman was an American Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and novelist.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
March 17, 2008
3/14 I just started this book last night and, sadly, I have had to re-read several pages to really get the gist of what's going on. I don't think I'm an especially stupid person. Kaufman, in his 90 years, has simply learned A LOT of words (that I haven't yet learned).
Luckily for anyone who is reading this review before reading the book, here is a list of THIRTY-FOUR words (and their definitions) you probably don't know, either:
1. bilbo--a long iron bar or bolt with sliding shackles and a lock, formerly attached to the ankles of prisoners.
2. infelicity--inappropriate and unpleasing manner or style (especially manner or style of expression)
3. smashmouth-- in sports, playing very aggressively; tending towards confrontation; also written
4. plangent-- Loud and resounding: plangent bells; expressing or suggesting sadness; plaintive
5. cadenza--an elaborate flourish or showy solo passage, sometimes improvised, introduced near the end of an aria or a movement of a concerto.
6. pursy--short-winded, esp. from corpulence or fatness.
7. coign--the keystone of an arch; expandable metal or wooden wedge used by printers to lock up a form within a chase
8. ignominy-- disgrace; dishonor; public contempt.
9. caparison--to dress richly; deck; rich and sumptuous clothing or equipment.
10. hussar-- one of a body of Hungarian light cavalry formed during the 15th century.
11. shako-- a military cap in the form of a cylinder or truncated cone, with a visor and a plume or pompon.
12. apposite-- suitable; well-adapted; pertinent; relevant; apt.
13. confrere-- a fellow member of a fraternity, profession, etc.; colleague.
14. roupy-- affected with the disease roup; hoarse or husky.
15. Carmen figuratum-- ??
16. asquint-- with an oblique glance or squint; askance; slyly; dubiously.
17. slubber-- to perform hastily or carelessly.
18. sedulous-- persistently or carefully maintained.
19. specious-- apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible; pleasing to the eye but deceptive.
20. mellifluous-- sweetly or smoothly flowing; sweet-sounding.
21. bosky-- covered with bushes, shrubs, and small trees; woody.
22. dell-- a small, usually wooded valley; vale.
23. factotum-- a person, as a handyman or servant, employed to do all kinds of work around the house; any employee or official having many different responsibilities.
24. capriole-- a caper or leap.
25. carillon-- a set of stationary bells hung in a tower and sounded by manual or pedal action, or by machinery.
26. abstruse-- Obsolete. secret; hidden; hard to understand
27. exegesis-- critical explanation or interpretation of a text or portion of a text, esp. of the Bible.
28. plinth-- a slablike member beneath the base of a column or pier.
29. aegis-- protection; support; auspices, sponsorship.
30. stanchion-- an upright bar, beam, post, or support, as in a window, stall, ship, etc.
31. chalcedonic—of or relating to a microcrystalline, translucent variety of quartz, often milky or grayish.
32. apogee-- the highest or most distant point; climax.
33. defenestrate-- To throw out of a window.
34. inkhorn-- Affectedly or ostentatiously learned; pedantic.
Update 3/16: I'm nearing the middle of the book and liking it okay (it's not really my style) and have noted an additional 50 words I needed to look up. Here are there definitions for your reading pleasure:
35. gleed-- a glowing coal.
36. crapulous-- given to or characterized by gross excess in drinking or eating.
37. phalanx-- a number of individuals, esp. persons united for a common purpose; a compact or closely massed body of persons, animals, or things.
38. tollage-- toll; tax.
39. linsey-- linsey-woolsey, which means: any mixture that is incongruous or of poor quality; jumble; a coarse fabric woven from linen warp, or sometimes cotton, and coarse wool filling.
40. wen-- a benign encysted tumor of the skin, esp. on the scalp, containing sebaceous matter; a sebaceous cyst; a large, crowded city or a crowded urban district.
41. rectitude-- rightness of principle or conduct; moral virtue; correctness.
42. fusty-- having a stale smell; moldy; musty; old-fashioned or out-of-date, as architecture, furnishings, or the like
43. sousaphone—a tuba
44. postulant-- a candidate, esp. for admission into a religious order; a person who asks or applies for something
45. fubsy-- short and stout.
46. crepuscular-- of, pertaining to, or resembling twilight; dim; indistinct.
47. frowsty-- musty; ill-smelling
48. hob-- a projection or shelf at the back or side of a fireplace, used for keeping food warm
49. letch—(lech) a lecherous desire or craving
50. belletristic-- light and elegant literature, esp. that which is excessively refined, characterized by aestheticism, and minor in subject, substance, or scope.
51. digitalis-- any plant belonging to the genus Digitalis, of the figwort family, esp. the common foxglove
52. ginzo-- an Italian (offensive)
53. epicene-- belonging to, or partaking of the characteristics of, both sexes; flaccid; feeble; weak; effeminate; unmasculine
54. philter-- a potion, charm, or drug supposed to cause the person taking it to fall in love, usually with some specific person.
55. ersatz-- an artificial substance or article used to replace something natural or genuine; a substitute.
56. manqué-- having failed, missed, or fallen short, esp. because of circumstances or a defect of character; unsuccessful; unfulfilled or frustrated
57. stoup-- a drinking vessel, as a cup or tankard, of various sizes.
58. scholiast-- an ancient commentator on the classics
59. tractable-- easily managed or controlled; docile; yielding; malleable.
60. jejune-- without interest or significance; dull; insipid; juvenile; immature; childish; lacking in nutrition
61. cropper-- A disastrous failure; a fiasco.
62. pelage-- the hair, fur, wool, or other soft covering of a mammal.
63. jehu-- a fast driver
64. asseverate-- to declare earnestly or solemnly; affirm positively; aver.
65. provender-- dry food, as hay or oats, for livestock or other domestic animals; fodder.
66. dottle-- the plug of half-smoked tobacco in the bottom of a pipe after smoking.
67. bezel-- a grooved ring or rim holding a gem, watch crystal, etc., in its setting.
68. botfly-- stout-bodied hairy dipterous fly whose larvae are parasites on humans and other mammals
69. dingle-- a deep, narrow cleft between hills; shady dell.
70. irrupt-- errupt
71. celerity-- alacrity, dispatch, briskness.
72. hie-- to hasten; speed; go in haste.
73. chatelaine-- the mistress of a castle.
74. imprimatur-- sanction or approval; support
75. fatuity-- complacent stupidity; foolishness.
76. symbiont-- an organism living in a state of symbiosis.
77. recrudescence-- breaking out afresh or into renewed activity; revival or reappearance in active existence.
78. ithyphallic-- grossly indecent; obscene.
79. monadnock-- A mountain or rocky mass that has resisted erosion and stands isolated in an essentially level area.
80. gaskin-- The part of the hind leg of a horse or related animal between the stifle and the hock.
81. brio-- vigor; vivacity.
82. hosanna-- an exclamation, originally an appeal to God for deliverance, used in praise of God or Christ.; a shout of praise or adoration; an acclamation.
83. eponymous-- giving one's name to a tribe, place, etc.
84. soupçon-- a slight trace, as of a particular taste or flavor.
Update 3/20 I finished the book but I'm not ready to write the review yet. Here are some more definitions:
85. canaille-- riffraff; rabble.
86. chary-- cautious or careful; wary: shy, timid.
87. dither-- a state of flustered excitement or fear; a trembling; vibration
88. piquant-- agreeably pungent or sharp in taste or flavor; pleasantly biting or tart; agreeably stimulating, interesting, or attractive
89. plenipos—no definition found
90. collier-- a ship for carrying coal; a person who carries coal.
91. dubiety—(dubiosity)—a matter of doubt
92. lee-- protective shelter
93. spoliation-- the act or an instance of plundering or despoiling,; the act of spoiling
94. havelock-- a cloth covering for a service cap with a flap extending over the back of the neck to protect the neck from direct rays of the sun
95. schist-- any metamorphic rock that can be split into thin layers
96. tutelary-- having the position of guardian or protector of a person, place, or thing; Of or relating to a guardian or guardianship
97. claque-- a group of persons hired to applaud an act or performer; a group of fawning admirers.
98. drupe-- any fruit, as a peach, cherry, plum, etc., consisting of an outer skin, a usually pulpy and succulent middle layer, and a hard and woody inner shell usually enclosing a single seed.
99. alembic-- anything that transforms, purifies, or refines
100. jeremiad-- a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint
101. propound-- to put forward or offer for consideration, acceptance, or adoption; set forth; propose
102. steatopygous-- extreme accumulation of fat on and about the buttocks, esp. of women
103. prie-dieu-- a piece of furniture for kneeling on during prayer, having a rest above, as for a book.
104. plaudits-- an enthusiastic expression of approval; a demonstration or round of applause, as for some approved or admired performance
105. sirocco-- any hot, oppressive wind, esp. one in the warm sector of a cyclone.
106. flummery-- complete nonsense; foolish humbug; any of various dishes made of flour, milk, eggs, sugar, etc
107. surdy—no definition; surd: A voiceless sound in speech
108. encomium-- a formal expression of high praise; eulogy
109. obbligato-- ) obligatory or indispensable; so important that it cannot be omitted, usually in reference to music. Also spelled obligato.
Luckily for anyone who is reading this review before reading the book, here is a list of THIRTY-FOUR words (and their definitions) you probably don't know, either:
1. bilbo--a long iron bar or bolt with sliding shackles and a lock, formerly attached to the ankles of prisoners.
2. infelicity--inappropriate and unpleasing manner or style (especially manner or style of expression)
3. smashmouth-- in sports, playing very aggressively; tending towards confrontation; also written
4. plangent-- Loud and resounding: plangent bells; expressing or suggesting sadness; plaintive
5. cadenza--an elaborate flourish or showy solo passage, sometimes improvised, introduced near the end of an aria or a movement of a concerto.
6. pursy--short-winded, esp. from corpulence or fatness.
7. coign--the keystone of an arch; expandable metal or wooden wedge used by printers to lock up a form within a chase
8. ignominy-- disgrace; dishonor; public contempt.
9. caparison--to dress richly; deck; rich and sumptuous clothing or equipment.
10. hussar-- one of a body of Hungarian light cavalry formed during the 15th century.
11. shako-- a military cap in the form of a cylinder or truncated cone, with a visor and a plume or pompon.
12. apposite-- suitable; well-adapted; pertinent; relevant; apt.
13. confrere-- a fellow member of a fraternity, profession, etc.; colleague.
14. roupy-- affected with the disease roup; hoarse or husky.
15. Carmen figuratum-- ??
16. asquint-- with an oblique glance or squint; askance; slyly; dubiously.
17. slubber-- to perform hastily or carelessly.
18. sedulous-- persistently or carefully maintained.
19. specious-- apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible; pleasing to the eye but deceptive.
20. mellifluous-- sweetly or smoothly flowing; sweet-sounding.
21. bosky-- covered with bushes, shrubs, and small trees; woody.
22. dell-- a small, usually wooded valley; vale.
23. factotum-- a person, as a handyman or servant, employed to do all kinds of work around the house; any employee or official having many different responsibilities.
24. capriole-- a caper or leap.
25. carillon-- a set of stationary bells hung in a tower and sounded by manual or pedal action, or by machinery.
26. abstruse-- Obsolete. secret; hidden; hard to understand
27. exegesis-- critical explanation or interpretation of a text or portion of a text, esp. of the Bible.
28. plinth-- a slablike member beneath the base of a column or pier.
29. aegis-- protection; support; auspices, sponsorship.
30. stanchion-- an upright bar, beam, post, or support, as in a window, stall, ship, etc.
31. chalcedonic—of or relating to a microcrystalline, translucent variety of quartz, often milky or grayish.
32. apogee-- the highest or most distant point; climax.
33. defenestrate-- To throw out of a window.
34. inkhorn-- Affectedly or ostentatiously learned; pedantic.
Update 3/16: I'm nearing the middle of the book and liking it okay (it's not really my style) and have noted an additional 50 words I needed to look up. Here are there definitions for your reading pleasure:
35. gleed-- a glowing coal.
36. crapulous-- given to or characterized by gross excess in drinking or eating.
37. phalanx-- a number of individuals, esp. persons united for a common purpose; a compact or closely massed body of persons, animals, or things.
38. tollage-- toll; tax.
39. linsey-- linsey-woolsey, which means: any mixture that is incongruous or of poor quality; jumble; a coarse fabric woven from linen warp, or sometimes cotton, and coarse wool filling.
40. wen-- a benign encysted tumor of the skin, esp. on the scalp, containing sebaceous matter; a sebaceous cyst; a large, crowded city or a crowded urban district.
41. rectitude-- rightness of principle or conduct; moral virtue; correctness.
42. fusty-- having a stale smell; moldy; musty; old-fashioned or out-of-date, as architecture, furnishings, or the like
43. sousaphone—a tuba
44. postulant-- a candidate, esp. for admission into a religious order; a person who asks or applies for something
45. fubsy-- short and stout.
46. crepuscular-- of, pertaining to, or resembling twilight; dim; indistinct.
47. frowsty-- musty; ill-smelling
48. hob-- a projection or shelf at the back or side of a fireplace, used for keeping food warm
49. letch—(lech) a lecherous desire or craving
50. belletristic-- light and elegant literature, esp. that which is excessively refined, characterized by aestheticism, and minor in subject, substance, or scope.
51. digitalis-- any plant belonging to the genus Digitalis, of the figwort family, esp. the common foxglove
52. ginzo-- an Italian (offensive)
53. epicene-- belonging to, or partaking of the characteristics of, both sexes; flaccid; feeble; weak; effeminate; unmasculine
54. philter-- a potion, charm, or drug supposed to cause the person taking it to fall in love, usually with some specific person.
55. ersatz-- an artificial substance or article used to replace something natural or genuine; a substitute.
56. manqué-- having failed, missed, or fallen short, esp. because of circumstances or a defect of character; unsuccessful; unfulfilled or frustrated
57. stoup-- a drinking vessel, as a cup or tankard, of various sizes.
58. scholiast-- an ancient commentator on the classics
59. tractable-- easily managed or controlled; docile; yielding; malleable.
60. jejune-- without interest or significance; dull; insipid; juvenile; immature; childish; lacking in nutrition
61. cropper-- A disastrous failure; a fiasco.
62. pelage-- the hair, fur, wool, or other soft covering of a mammal.
63. jehu-- a fast driver
64. asseverate-- to declare earnestly or solemnly; affirm positively; aver.
65. provender-- dry food, as hay or oats, for livestock or other domestic animals; fodder.
66. dottle-- the plug of half-smoked tobacco in the bottom of a pipe after smoking.
67. bezel-- a grooved ring or rim holding a gem, watch crystal, etc., in its setting.
68. botfly-- stout-bodied hairy dipterous fly whose larvae are parasites on humans and other mammals
69. dingle-- a deep, narrow cleft between hills; shady dell.
70. irrupt-- errupt
71. celerity-- alacrity, dispatch, briskness.
72. hie-- to hasten; speed; go in haste.
73. chatelaine-- the mistress of a castle.
74. imprimatur-- sanction or approval; support
75. fatuity-- complacent stupidity; foolishness.
76. symbiont-- an organism living in a state of symbiosis.
77. recrudescence-- breaking out afresh or into renewed activity; revival or reappearance in active existence.
78. ithyphallic-- grossly indecent; obscene.
79. monadnock-- A mountain or rocky mass that has resisted erosion and stands isolated in an essentially level area.
80. gaskin-- The part of the hind leg of a horse or related animal between the stifle and the hock.
81. brio-- vigor; vivacity.
82. hosanna-- an exclamation, originally an appeal to God for deliverance, used in praise of God or Christ.; a shout of praise or adoration; an acclamation.
83. eponymous-- giving one's name to a tribe, place, etc.
84. soupçon-- a slight trace, as of a particular taste or flavor.
Update 3/20 I finished the book but I'm not ready to write the review yet. Here are some more definitions:
85. canaille-- riffraff; rabble.
86. chary-- cautious or careful; wary: shy, timid.
87. dither-- a state of flustered excitement or fear; a trembling; vibration
88. piquant-- agreeably pungent or sharp in taste or flavor; pleasantly biting or tart; agreeably stimulating, interesting, or attractive
89. plenipos—no definition found
90. collier-- a ship for carrying coal; a person who carries coal.
91. dubiety—(dubiosity)—a matter of doubt
92. lee-- protective shelter
93. spoliation-- the act or an instance of plundering or despoiling,; the act of spoiling
94. havelock-- a cloth covering for a service cap with a flap extending over the back of the neck to protect the neck from direct rays of the sun
95. schist-- any metamorphic rock that can be split into thin layers
96. tutelary-- having the position of guardian or protector of a person, place, or thing; Of or relating to a guardian or guardianship
97. claque-- a group of persons hired to applaud an act or performer; a group of fawning admirers.
98. drupe-- any fruit, as a peach, cherry, plum, etc., consisting of an outer skin, a usually pulpy and succulent middle layer, and a hard and woody inner shell usually enclosing a single seed.
99. alembic-- anything that transforms, purifies, or refines
100. jeremiad-- a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint
101. propound-- to put forward or offer for consideration, acceptance, or adoption; set forth; propose
102. steatopygous-- extreme accumulation of fat on and about the buttocks, esp. of women
103. prie-dieu-- a piece of furniture for kneeling on during prayer, having a rest above, as for a book.
104. plaudits-- an enthusiastic expression of approval; a demonstration or round of applause, as for some approved or admired performance
105. sirocco-- any hot, oppressive wind, esp. one in the warm sector of a cyclone.
106. flummery-- complete nonsense; foolish humbug; any of various dishes made of flour, milk, eggs, sugar, etc
107. surdy—no definition; surd: A voiceless sound in speech
108. encomium-- a formal expression of high praise; eulogy
109. obbligato-- ) obligatory or indispensable; so important that it cannot be omitted, usually in reference to music. Also spelled obligato.
May 4, 2008
The man who wrote the first screenplay for Mr. Magoo, now at 91 years old, gives us his first novel. He is not new to writing, only novels, having written several screenplays, a few award winning.
Remember Mr. Magoo? Anyone? The blind man who did all kinds of funny things because he couldn't see? Well, that theme, the hilariousness of blindness comes out in BOWL OF CHERRIES. Everyone blind with greed. And when you're blind, things get rather funny.
Mr. Kaufman, bless his heart, has accumulated a huge vocabulary. 91 years worth of words. I am a nerd, I confess, so I find looking up words fun. It unfortunately makes for slow reading, and when you take the book to a doctor's waiting room, you get all frustrated when you find you forgot your pccket dictionary. (If you read the book, get a pocket dictionary, a computer one. You will n eed it). I think some of his words were purely for show. The narrator is a prodigy and quite smart, so yes fluff and big words are apppropriate, but sometimes they were out there and unnecessary.
The plot was silly, involving crazy schemes to find ways to make money in a particularly awful section of Iraq. The buildings in this country were actually constructed with human waste--crap, held together by a secret epoxy that a hungry Amercian businessman was desperate to discover. If he could find what holds crap together, given how much we have, well, we could use our crap for all kinds of things, and thus become billionairs! The metaphor is priceless.
It devolves into silliness, but it's fun and I have a bigger vocabularly now than I did before I picked it up.
I LOVED Mr. Magoo, too.
Remember Mr. Magoo? Anyone? The blind man who did all kinds of funny things because he couldn't see? Well, that theme, the hilariousness of blindness comes out in BOWL OF CHERRIES. Everyone blind with greed. And when you're blind, things get rather funny.
Mr. Kaufman, bless his heart, has accumulated a huge vocabulary. 91 years worth of words. I am a nerd, I confess, so I find looking up words fun. It unfortunately makes for slow reading, and when you take the book to a doctor's waiting room, you get all frustrated when you find you forgot your pccket dictionary. (If you read the book, get a pocket dictionary, a computer one. You will n eed it). I think some of his words were purely for show. The narrator is a prodigy and quite smart, so yes fluff and big words are apppropriate, but sometimes they were out there and unnecessary.
The plot was silly, involving crazy schemes to find ways to make money in a particularly awful section of Iraq. The buildings in this country were actually constructed with human waste--crap, held together by a secret epoxy that a hungry Amercian businessman was desperate to discover. If he could find what holds crap together, given how much we have, well, we could use our crap for all kinds of things, and thus become billionairs! The metaphor is priceless.
It devolves into silliness, but it's fun and I have a bigger vocabularly now than I did before I picked it up.
I LOVED Mr. Magoo, too.
August 31, 2008
I wanted to like this book a LOT more than I did. How you can not get behind a 1st novel written by an author is his NINETIES?
Unfortunately, it is what it is...meaning that it's a first novel, and it shows. It shows in the tenuous structure, linked only because it's all happening to the protagonist, and it shows in the manner of how the author gives equal import to every event, regardless if that event has any import to the story, and it shows in the irritating over-use of language, as "literate" words as a method of validating literacy is the clearest way to showcase a bout of amateur writing.
And Kaufman's use of flashbacks to establish why the lead character is in jail, in a backwards country, sentenced to a horrible death, would have had far greater worth if he didn't so often meander from the plot as a whole. Every time he returned to the actual plot, it took me a page of readjustment time, as if the plot were an old friend who hadn't stopped by in a very long time, and we needed to reestablish the framework of our friendship.
But...I plodded through the book, though I would have definitely stopped if the author hadn't been in his 90's, and hadn't notched some other rather cool accomplishments in his life. For all of this, I was rewarded with a hope that Kaufman's next book will showcase all that he learned (from his mistakes) during the writing process of this book. Kaufman can certainly compile some good material; he just needs to more fully learn how to put that material in the proper order, to tone down his needlessly abundant language, and shave off the wandering words.
Lastly...I hope to hell I'm as energetic as Kaufman when I reach his age. This novel does have a high energy content, and a rather lusty zest for life. Kudos on that score, Mr. Kaufman!
Unfortunately, it is what it is...meaning that it's a first novel, and it shows. It shows in the tenuous structure, linked only because it's all happening to the protagonist, and it shows in the manner of how the author gives equal import to every event, regardless if that event has any import to the story, and it shows in the irritating over-use of language, as "literate" words as a method of validating literacy is the clearest way to showcase a bout of amateur writing.
And Kaufman's use of flashbacks to establish why the lead character is in jail, in a backwards country, sentenced to a horrible death, would have had far greater worth if he didn't so often meander from the plot as a whole. Every time he returned to the actual plot, it took me a page of readjustment time, as if the plot were an old friend who hadn't stopped by in a very long time, and we needed to reestablish the framework of our friendship.
But...I plodded through the book, though I would have definitely stopped if the author hadn't been in his 90's, and hadn't notched some other rather cool accomplishments in his life. For all of this, I was rewarded with a hope that Kaufman's next book will showcase all that he learned (from his mistakes) during the writing process of this book. Kaufman can certainly compile some good material; he just needs to more fully learn how to put that material in the proper order, to tone down his needlessly abundant language, and shave off the wandering words.
Lastly...I hope to hell I'm as energetic as Kaufman when I reach his age. This novel does have a high energy content, and a rather lusty zest for life. Kudos on that score, Mr. Kaufman!
March 2, 2008
I have just finished reading Bowl of Cherries, the debut novel from nonagenarian, Oscar-nominee, and Mr. Magoo co-creator Millard Kaufman.
Kaufman is a precocious writer, unabashedly using phrases like “wee beasties,” and this particular tale is indeed cut from the same cloth as Catcher in the Rye. In fact, given all the secrecy and reclusive nature surrounding J.D. Salinger, I’m going to go ahead and spin the rumor mill: Millard Kaufman IS J.D. Salinger.
Millard also displays a mighty vocabulary in Bowl of Cherries, rivaling that of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Have dictionaries at your side for both.
Supposedly, Kaufman is at work on his second novel and I could not be looking forward to more phrases like, “He had a hard grin on his face, the Plexiglass fixity of a TV hero about to kick calamitous ass.” Plexiglass fixity? Kick calamitous ass? Yes and yes.
The most bestest and my favorite part of the book comes when the protagonist asks his love interest if she is having a nice day and she answers, “I didn’t get fucked. But I sneezed twice.” From now on, if anybody asks how my day is going, that is how I shall answer. Unless of course I’ve gotten laid.
Kaufman is a precocious writer, unabashedly using phrases like “wee beasties,” and this particular tale is indeed cut from the same cloth as Catcher in the Rye. In fact, given all the secrecy and reclusive nature surrounding J.D. Salinger, I’m going to go ahead and spin the rumor mill: Millard Kaufman IS J.D. Salinger.
Millard also displays a mighty vocabulary in Bowl of Cherries, rivaling that of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Have dictionaries at your side for both.
Supposedly, Kaufman is at work on his second novel and I could not be looking forward to more phrases like, “He had a hard grin on his face, the Plexiglass fixity of a TV hero about to kick calamitous ass.” Plexiglass fixity? Kick calamitous ass? Yes and yes.
The most bestest and my favorite part of the book comes when the protagonist asks his love interest if she is having a nice day and she answers, “I didn’t get fucked. But I sneezed twice.” From now on, if anybody asks how my day is going, that is how I shall answer. Unless of course I’ve gotten laid.
October 26, 2008
i read this because this is the author's first work. the author is in his 90's. bully for him! and, truly, the publisher is to be commended for a great book design. sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.
slightly strange book by oddly hypnotic. i couldn't stop reading it. honestly, it was just a compelling read. i can't even say specifically whether it was the plot or the characters that drove my interest... it just kind of happened. i suppose i needed to see how it was going to end.
definitely worth the read just to experience. and i hope kaufman is around to write more.
slightly strange book by oddly hypnotic. i couldn't stop reading it. honestly, it was just a compelling read. i can't even say specifically whether it was the plot or the characters that drove my interest... it just kind of happened. i suppose i needed to see how it was going to end.
definitely worth the read just to experience. and i hope kaufman is around to write more.
October 20, 2007
Don't even ask how I'm reading this already.... Suffice it to say that, once in a while, amazing things do happen in my life.
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When this book comes out, grab it. It is so imaginatively written and intricately conceived. Super, super fun and cool.
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When this book comes out, grab it. It is so imaginatively written and intricately conceived. Super, super fun and cool.
December 29, 2007
A birdie that lives inside me said to check this book out, written by quite an old man who has lived a full life. I enjoyed 30% of the book, the remaining 70% reminded me why I hate gifted children, pick fights with them I always said. I will continue to say-unless they are in an Iraqi jail. If I go by this book once they get to that near death place in life they become cool.
July 14, 2024
Publication gets greenlit because of the novel age of the author, and nothing else. It's a good selling point, probably pulled in a few dimes and felt good for the author to have written. But it's just not very good.
February 16, 2008
i liked the part of this book where i was having trouble sleeping and i read it and i fell asleep.
February 7, 2009
Though I appreciated the author's alliterative genius, and witty turns of phrase... I'm just not a fan of slapstick-y yuk-yuk-yuk kind of humor, and this was just over the top that way.
October 14, 2023
Round up from 2.5. Breadth & ambition of John Irving novel but doesn’t quite land the helicopter well. I read it quickly due to a day of jury duty as it had been on my shelf for years and now it will find its way to the thrift store or library. Couldn’t really connect with characters, too many tangents, & just too crazy with a missing heart.
“But Lord God Jesus, how we cling to the earn when we’re faced with the possibility of never seeing it again. Let the void swallow me up, but not yet.” P.22
“And so I planted a whisper of a kiss on her sculpture-still mouth and held it there for an eternity. She raised her hands and placed them lightly on my shoulders and my arms encircled her, drew her to me, and Oh Lord God Jesus the sweet excitement of holding her. It flowed from my arms through my body and I was secretly exultant, as if I had found a treasure. In the dark and glacial wood she seemed by some astonishing chemistry to throw off light. Her hair, tumulting in the wind, whipped the corners of my eyes. She smelled like some exotic sundae of peaches, strawberries, cream, and hot chocolate. The point of her tongue slipped into my mouth. Immediately it was gone, and gently she drew away. I stood there, glass-eyed and shaky, breathing like a bellows.” P.112
“I went to bed aglow with lost innocence, having gained heaven by abandoning virtue.
How, I wondered, bad evil endured in the world, once copulation was discovered?” P.116
“Without further elaboration, I jumped her. Of course, we were not lovers, nor would we ever be in any sense of the word that transcendent and almost jarring physicality; lovers, make love and countless ways, seeking contact as well as connection. They hang onto each other, linking arms, touching, and intoxicated by the perfume of proximity. they are constantly in each other’s pockets, especially hip pockets. They whisper fatuities and assign vast significance to them. They weave small conspiracies that set them apart from all the world; they go underground. They nozzle and nibble and chew on each other. They cosset and quarrel and eat from the same spoon.” P.144
“America is the only country in the world where people are allowed more than one adolescence.” P.172
“Eden? The Eden of Adam and Eve?”
“He nodded solemnly. “The Cradle of God,” he said. “Eden on earth. It’s somewhere out there,” he went on, “toward the uncharted northeast. Somewhere besides the ghost of a stream that once fed the Nile, or the Tigris, or the Euphrates. Waiting to be rediscovered....” P.283
“I guess nothing’s wrong with ambition,” I said. “It’s just that I don’t have any, and greatness requires an awful lot of energy. I don’t really care about making a big bang in the world. I am kind of lazy.” P.303
“But Lord God Jesus, how we cling to the earn when we’re faced with the possibility of never seeing it again. Let the void swallow me up, but not yet.” P.22
“And so I planted a whisper of a kiss on her sculpture-still mouth and held it there for an eternity. She raised her hands and placed them lightly on my shoulders and my arms encircled her, drew her to me, and Oh Lord God Jesus the sweet excitement of holding her. It flowed from my arms through my body and I was secretly exultant, as if I had found a treasure. In the dark and glacial wood she seemed by some astonishing chemistry to throw off light. Her hair, tumulting in the wind, whipped the corners of my eyes. She smelled like some exotic sundae of peaches, strawberries, cream, and hot chocolate. The point of her tongue slipped into my mouth. Immediately it was gone, and gently she drew away. I stood there, glass-eyed and shaky, breathing like a bellows.” P.112
“I went to bed aglow with lost innocence, having gained heaven by abandoning virtue.
How, I wondered, bad evil endured in the world, once copulation was discovered?” P.116
“Without further elaboration, I jumped her. Of course, we were not lovers, nor would we ever be in any sense of the word that transcendent and almost jarring physicality; lovers, make love and countless ways, seeking contact as well as connection. They hang onto each other, linking arms, touching, and intoxicated by the perfume of proximity. they are constantly in each other’s pockets, especially hip pockets. They whisper fatuities and assign vast significance to them. They weave small conspiracies that set them apart from all the world; they go underground. They nozzle and nibble and chew on each other. They cosset and quarrel and eat from the same spoon.” P.144
“America is the only country in the world where people are allowed more than one adolescence.” P.172
“Eden? The Eden of Adam and Eve?”
“He nodded solemnly. “The Cradle of God,” he said. “Eden on earth. It’s somewhere out there,” he went on, “toward the uncharted northeast. Somewhere besides the ghost of a stream that once fed the Nile, or the Tigris, or the Euphrates. Waiting to be rediscovered....” P.283
“I guess nothing’s wrong with ambition,” I said. “It’s just that I don’t have any, and greatness requires an awful lot of energy. I don’t really care about making a big bang in the world. I am kind of lazy.” P.303
January 15, 2024
This is a quirky modern (?) coming of age tale full of vocabulary I don't know and didn't bother to look up (though, I appreciate the person who reviewed the book with a list of definitions!). Judd, the main character, is a sort of young prodigy who has a meandering path that essentially is responding to the whims of various people with their own greedy agendas. The bulk of the story happens in a ridiculous society--treated comically as backwards--in Iraq.
I found the meandering of his journey and story to be at times slow and yet comic and ridiculous. Sometimes I didn't like the book, and then I would get beyond and keep going. I'm not sure I would say I loved it, but certainly it's different, interesting, and pointed. It's worth reading, but it's also not a quick or easy read.
I found the meandering of his journey and story to be at times slow and yet comic and ridiculous. Sometimes I didn't like the book, and then I would get beyond and keep going. I'm not sure I would say I loved it, but certainly it's different, interesting, and pointed. It's worth reading, but it's also not a quick or easy read.
April 10, 2024
I plowed through this for the language, long after I lost interest in the story. It's been said here many times, and I agree--Kaufman has a way with words. But that ending! And I'm going to spoil it, consider yourself warned. Our heroes connive themselves into what once was very nearly an uncontacted society, then build a nuke plant to 'modernize' the place, then accidentally cause a meltdown and destroy everything--and it all gets played for laughs. No! In no sane universe is that funny. This is imperialist colonialist grandstanding at its darkest. I've rarely been so viscerally angry at a book: this one literally landed in the fireplace. Don't bother, the world is full of far better stories.
December 2, 2023
DNF, p. 178.
"Precocious sarcasm" is not a voice I can take at great length, and this one doesn't let up. In particular since this seems to be centered on an old man's Mary Sue of a character, living out a kind of gonzo-style The Catcher in the Rye, with jokes about animal husbandry and furious virginity-losing. It's just all a little dumb.
"Precocious sarcasm" is not a voice I can take at great length, and this one doesn't let up. In particular since this seems to be centered on an old man's Mary Sue of a character, living out a kind of gonzo-style The Catcher in the Rye, with jokes about animal husbandry and furious virginity-losing. It's just all a little dumb.
April 1, 2018
I'm sorry, I wanted to like this book, I really did. I just couldn't stick with it. The characters were too weird, and the language was just too florid. I was recovering from an injury and had nothing else to do but read, but I had to keep a dictionary at hand as I read, and I got tired of looking up words, even though I love words.
September 5, 2023
There is a verve to the writing that is occasionally fun, but there is a lot of this book that just clanged for me. The whole conceit of the Iraq section (about 65% of the book) was misguided at best and orientalist / racist at worst ... plus there is not a significant female character who does not function primarily as a sex object. So not great.
December 30, 2019
This book had its moments, but mostly felt like a disconnected and forced burlesque adventure from a curious boy and 5 other people that keep fortuitously meeting everywhere.
Funny at times, the writing at least compensated for the week plot.
Funny at times, the writing at least compensated for the week plot.
June 23, 2020
Hilarious in spots, but mostly boring. I am probably not the target audience, who in my opinion, is either a horney 15-year-old boy or the parent of one.
That being said, the narration by actor Bronson Pinchot is a true tour de force —bravo!!!
That being said, the narration by actor Bronson Pinchot is a true tour de force —bravo!!!
September 20, 2018
Condescending in every possible way—I should not have finished this book...it did not get better.
November 16, 2024
I remember nothing, only that I liked it.
December 25, 2024
It jumps around a lot so it is hard to follow at times.
January 25, 2008
I read this book at the same time that I was re-reading Cat's Cradle, by the sorely missed Mr. Vonnegut. It was actually a very bizarre experience, because the books have some fairly severe similarities in plot.
1. Both narrators are scholars that are rather unimpressed with their work.
2. Within the first few pages of the both books, each scholar-narrator writes a letter requesting information on fictional historic characters.
3. Both scholar-narrators end up taking jobs highly out of their general line of work in order to be near a woman of epic beauty.
4. Both scholar-narrators end up in a strange land (a fictional part of Iraq, or a fictional tropical island).
5. The governments of both strange lands make use of an extremely barbaric method of execution of criminals.
Spooky, right?
Bowl Of Cherries is a good book; it meanders, it stops and starts in all the right places, and it is well-crafted, all of which are to be expected from a man who literally wrote the textbook on screenplays. But, in the end, I felt disappointed by the whole thing. I can't explain it very well, other than to say that some the characters' stories were tied up too handily. Other characters weren't tied up at all, we leave them walking back to a land they hate for the unlikely possibility of saving it from Chernobyl-like aftermath.
There was one question that literally pushed all the action of the second half of the book. This question goes unanswered, which is ok in principle, but the importance of the question is also never revealed. Kaufmann seems to be symbolizing something with this question. It looms so heavily over all the action of the book that I thought it must be a metaphor. But we reach the end of the book, and everything is simply dissipated. The metaphor was forgotten, never sharpened, just left laying on the desert floor.
Given all of this, I am going to try to read it again, sometime when I'm not reading Vonnegut. It be might be unfair that I'm comparing Kaufmann's work to that of one of the sharpest, most concise writers who ever laid ink on a page.
1. Both narrators are scholars that are rather unimpressed with their work.
2. Within the first few pages of the both books, each scholar-narrator writes a letter requesting information on fictional historic characters.
3. Both scholar-narrators end up taking jobs highly out of their general line of work in order to be near a woman of epic beauty.
4. Both scholar-narrators end up in a strange land (a fictional part of Iraq, or a fictional tropical island).
5. The governments of both strange lands make use of an extremely barbaric method of execution of criminals.
Spooky, right?
Bowl Of Cherries is a good book; it meanders, it stops and starts in all the right places, and it is well-crafted, all of which are to be expected from a man who literally wrote the textbook on screenplays. But, in the end, I felt disappointed by the whole thing. I can't explain it very well, other than to say that some the characters' stories were tied up too handily. Other characters weren't tied up at all, we leave them walking back to a land they hate for the unlikely possibility of saving it from Chernobyl-like aftermath.
There was one question that literally pushed all the action of the second half of the book. This question goes unanswered, which is ok in principle, but the importance of the question is also never revealed. Kaufmann seems to be symbolizing something with this question. It looms so heavily over all the action of the book that I thought it must be a metaphor. But we reach the end of the book, and everything is simply dissipated. The metaphor was forgotten, never sharpened, just left laying on the desert floor.
Given all of this, I am going to try to read it again, sometime when I'm not reading Vonnegut. It be might be unfair that I'm comparing Kaufmann's work to that of one of the sharpest, most concise writers who ever laid ink on a page.
April 15, 2008
I liked this book quite a bit. It's very impressive for a 90 year old first time novelist. At times I feel like Kaufman has a difficult time speaking in the language of youth in today's culture. Judd, the protagonist, doesn't exactly talk like Juno. In fact, were it not for the inclusion of the war in Iraq and a scene with a bumbling misspoken president, I would think this book could be 30 years old. But, in the long run, Kaufman makes the young characters work by sticking to this same timelessness.
The book is filled with strange characters, and is rich in sharp satire of Americans, politics, and academia. Yet, the book never reaches the heights of hilarity. The depiction of George Bush seems to be a depiction of an impersonator's George Bush, so unbelievable that satire goes out the window.
Kaufman does show a keen sense for the feeling of youth, which to me seems very timely, but I am sure is nothing new. Judd is very intelligent, but admittedly unambitious, and just follows along with where he is told he is supposed to go. To college. To a PHD program. To research in Baltimore. To work on a farm in Colorado. To run errands in New York. And finally to try and steal the secret of making bricks from human feces in a province in Iraq, where he ends up sentenced to a gruesome death. None of these places (especially the last) are where he wants to be, and the only desire he sees in life is for his love Valerie.
Judd is continually pulled by others desires, and is eventually forced to decide whether he will continue following the path set out for him, or to forge his own path and actually do some good, which is a decision I think most young Americans try to avoid.
The book is filled with strange characters, and is rich in sharp satire of Americans, politics, and academia. Yet, the book never reaches the heights of hilarity. The depiction of George Bush seems to be a depiction of an impersonator's George Bush, so unbelievable that satire goes out the window.
Kaufman does show a keen sense for the feeling of youth, which to me seems very timely, but I am sure is nothing new. Judd is very intelligent, but admittedly unambitious, and just follows along with where he is told he is supposed to go. To college. To a PHD program. To research in Baltimore. To work on a farm in Colorado. To run errands in New York. And finally to try and steal the secret of making bricks from human feces in a province in Iraq, where he ends up sentenced to a gruesome death. None of these places (especially the last) are where he wants to be, and the only desire he sees in life is for his love Valerie.
Judd is continually pulled by others desires, and is eventually forced to decide whether he will continue following the path set out for him, or to forge his own path and actually do some good, which is a decision I think most young Americans try to avoid.
March 20, 2008
A year sped by, calendar leaves exfoliating.
And so it was that on a dank, dark autumn day, before the hermetic snows of winter gripped the world and everything went bare and shriveled and icy, I sloshed through the melancholy leaves down the tree-lined corridor of Chatterton's ancestral seat.
Of course we were not lovers, now would we ever be in any sense of the word that transcended an almost jarring physicality; lovers make love in countless ways, seeking contact as well as connection. They hang on to eahc other, linking in each other's pockets, especially hip pockets. They whisper fatuities and assign vast significance to them. They weave small conspiracies that set them apart from all the world; they go underground. They nuzzle and nibble and chew on each other. They cosset and quarrel and eat from the same spoon. They sigh or scream hilariously, redefining wit for the outsider, who sees nothing funny there. They beam into each other's eyes, seeking and finding the mirrored fusion that isolates everybody else. Or together they focus on the moon or the page of a book or—with what tender mercy—on the inflammation of a big bite. They tingle with the stupefactive awareness that no duad in the long history of the earth has been so privileged or so blessed.
Could I snatch the dream out of the satchel and polish it up again, put a burnish of reality on a lost but insistently lingering fantasy?
America is the only country in the world where people are allowed more than one adolescence.
…nothing could compete against the desert, which was inhospitably in command.
And so it was that on a dank, dark autumn day, before the hermetic snows of winter gripped the world and everything went bare and shriveled and icy, I sloshed through the melancholy leaves down the tree-lined corridor of Chatterton's ancestral seat.
Of course we were not lovers, now would we ever be in any sense of the word that transcended an almost jarring physicality; lovers make love in countless ways, seeking contact as well as connection. They hang on to eahc other, linking in each other's pockets, especially hip pockets. They whisper fatuities and assign vast significance to them. They weave small conspiracies that set them apart from all the world; they go underground. They nuzzle and nibble and chew on each other. They cosset and quarrel and eat from the same spoon. They sigh or scream hilariously, redefining wit for the outsider, who sees nothing funny there. They beam into each other's eyes, seeking and finding the mirrored fusion that isolates everybody else. Or together they focus on the moon or the page of a book or—with what tender mercy—on the inflammation of a big bite. They tingle with the stupefactive awareness that no duad in the long history of the earth has been so privileged or so blessed.
Could I snatch the dream out of the satchel and polish it up again, put a burnish of reality on a lost but insistently lingering fantasy?
America is the only country in the world where people are allowed more than one adolescence.
…nothing could compete against the desert, which was inhospitably in command.
January 14, 2009
Millard Kaufman, who is in his 90s, is a pretty good writer. He obviously loves language and has a vocabulary to boot, and his sense of humor is – for a man of an older generation – well-anchored in the modern era. But his first novel is not what I would call great.
One gets the impression that if he had started writing fiction earlier, he might have churned out something pretty incredible by now. Bowl of Cherries is not it. However, I would still recommend it as an entertaining and quick read worth the regular chuckles. The only thing missing is a decent ending.
The novel follows Judd Breslau, a tortured teenage genius, as he looks for professional and romantic satisfaction, and the answer to the mystery of his father's disappearance. Sounds a little heavy, but Kaufman treats his protagonist's travails with incisive levity and the book is never meant to be serious.
A typical line: "It took all of a minute before I nodded in approbation at the invincibility of her logic. But not without a certain queasy disturbance attending the acknowledgment that she had so easily skewered the meat of my argument."
Definitely worth thumbing through.
One gets the impression that if he had started writing fiction earlier, he might have churned out something pretty incredible by now. Bowl of Cherries is not it. However, I would still recommend it as an entertaining and quick read worth the regular chuckles. The only thing missing is a decent ending.
The novel follows Judd Breslau, a tortured teenage genius, as he looks for professional and romantic satisfaction, and the answer to the mystery of his father's disappearance. Sounds a little heavy, but Kaufman treats his protagonist's travails with incisive levity and the book is never meant to be serious.
A typical line: "It took all of a minute before I nodded in approbation at the invincibility of her logic. But not without a certain queasy disturbance attending the acknowledgment that she had so easily skewered the meat of my argument."
Definitely worth thumbing through.
July 2, 2016
Pur apprezzando l'abilità narrativa e la verve di Kaufman, che pubblicò questo suo primo libro a 90 anni, non posso dire di avere completamente apprezzato il testo. Si tratta di un connubio fra un "memoir" di un prigioniero americano nelle prigioni di una sperduta enclave in territorio iracheno ed un racconto e un romanzo di formazione impregnato di atmosfere surreali. Il racconto di un bambino prodigio che riesce ad entrare a Yale, abbandonato dalla madre in cerca di un suo spazio, e che finisce poi in una magione piena di (ex) professori sciroccati alla ricerca di qualcosa di simile ad un sacro graal filosofale. Li si innamorerà della figlia i cui destini si uniranno fino alle prigioni irachene. Sebbene le atmosfere surreali (più british che americane) allegeriscano il tutto, specie nella descrizione farsesca irachena, il racconto sembra sbandare senza sapere che direzione letteraria prendere. Mentre lo leggevo mi chiedevo il "senso" di avere voluto raccontare questa storia... . L'atmosfera che aleggia per tutto il libro è quella dei Monty Python. Quindi sebbene la sufficienza sia piena non è un libro che rileggerei o che consiglierei facilmente.
January 23, 2008
"Bowl of Cherries" is a first novel by a ninety-three year old writer. I find this adorable and plunge in. The book is humorous, with well-imagined characters and thoroughly sprinkled with words you have only seen in dictionaries and many that you are suspicious Kaufman may have invented.
The plot moves along at a steady pace; the main character, a listless and luckless boy genius scrambles from bizarre setting to bizarre setting at a rate that keeps things interesting. I wasn't entirely won over by this book, some parts, such as the whole Colorado escapade, don't seem to blend with the rest of the novel. There is also a generous helping of vulgarity, with bodily functions playing a starring role. It seems like a ninety-three year old would be over that type of humor, but thankfully, it didn't ruin it for me.
I thought the overall set-up of the novel was brilliant and captivating. The chapters bounce back and forth between the main character's final state and his progress in getting there. The author's descriptions and creativity really kept this book going for me.
The plot moves along at a steady pace; the main character, a listless and luckless boy genius scrambles from bizarre setting to bizarre setting at a rate that keeps things interesting. I wasn't entirely won over by this book, some parts, such as the whole Colorado escapade, don't seem to blend with the rest of the novel. There is also a generous helping of vulgarity, with bodily functions playing a starring role. It seems like a ninety-three year old would be over that type of humor, but thankfully, it didn't ruin it for me.
I thought the overall set-up of the novel was brilliant and captivating. The chapters bounce back and forth between the main character's final state and his progress in getting there. The author's descriptions and creativity really kept this book going for me.
June 9, 2009
Laughably, intentionally badly written, this book is almost a caricature of the Michael Chabon novel, with its florid, esoteric 800 verbal SAT score prose and Jewish protagonist.
I'm not sure if the author, the ninety year old creator of Mr. Magoo, intended to simulate youth vernacular of today, as the novel is set around 2004, they speak more like youth from the '60s or '70s, which adds to the humor value. Their actions as well as the descriptions of locations, seem hopelessly dated in the past as well. That adds to the humor value of the book, on a meta-level.
Unfortunately the ending comes completely out of the blue and out of character. Normally I'm really displeased by bad writing (and here the author appears to have just chosen words of the dictionary and then determined to write those words into the book) but until Bowl of Cherries, I've never read one so badly written that it was funny.
I'm not sure if the author, the ninety year old creator of Mr. Magoo, intended to simulate youth vernacular of today, as the novel is set around 2004, they speak more like youth from the '60s or '70s, which adds to the humor value. Their actions as well as the descriptions of locations, seem hopelessly dated in the past as well. That adds to the humor value of the book, on a meta-level.
Unfortunately the ending comes completely out of the blue and out of character. Normally I'm really displeased by bad writing (and here the author appears to have just chosen words of the dictionary and then determined to write those words into the book) but until Bowl of Cherries, I've never read one so badly written that it was funny.
December 26, 2012
This is a farce. What else could you call a plot revolving around a journey to a rat-infested desert sheikdom in search of a secret process for turning human excrement into construction material? There, I've turned you off. But read this book. See that plot revealed in an intricately constructed, pyrotechnically written, amazing first novel. And, of course, the real subject is not a pile of crap; this book explores the essence of humanity, the soul of America and the Garden of Eden - or, more precisely, the glory of the chaos that God created before he created order. A truly amazing reading experience. I might advise you to keep a dictionary handy to help parse the extravagant language, but you really don't need one. The rhythms and sounds of this book are more important than literal meaning. You'll come away with an expanded sense of the world - a new appreciation for rat skins, goat's milk and anybody who might happen to grab you by the gonads.
September 18, 2008
Now that I am all sad and alone in a house with no furniture, sick in my bed and cut off from the outside world I have only books and goodreads to turn to when procrastinating on turning in my homework for f%*@$ng library school.
Every review you read of this book will start out by telling you that the author is a first time novelist and octogenarian. True. The sprawling scope and academic references remind me of Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace (the little I actually read of them) and the swarm of unlikeable characters are reminiscent of the cast of characters from Confederacy of Dunces. I don't remember that last time that a book made me lazily turn over towards my computer to look up a word on nearly every page. Very funny. This book will make you smarter.
Every review you read of this book will start out by telling you that the author is a first time novelist and octogenarian. True. The sprawling scope and academic references remind me of Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace (the little I actually read of them) and the swarm of unlikeable characters are reminiscent of the cast of characters from Confederacy of Dunces. I don't remember that last time that a book made me lazily turn over towards my computer to look up a word on nearly every page. Very funny. This book will make you smarter.
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