Idiots in the Machine

by Edward Savio

Filled with an unforgettable array of characters, Idiots in the Machine is the off-beat, hilarious and occasionally heartbreaking tale of Noel "Satan" Dorobek, an eccentric near-genius at odds with just about every aspect of society. Given his nickname because he believes that deep beneath the Earth's surface a highly-evolved civilization happily flourishes under the warmth and glow of the planet's molten core without cell phones, postal workers, or Must-See-TV, Satan must, unfortunately, bide his time on the surface until he can discover a passage to this Utopia.This deliciously dark and comic novel chronicles Satan's vain attempt to find some measure of peace in his miserable life, only to become unexpectedly famous for extolling the health benefits of wearing aluminum foil in an increasingly ozone depleted world. Gathering a cult-like following, this unlikely hero is coerced into leading these disciples by the ultimate trendsetter--a beautiful, charismatic, yet emotionally bankrupt young woman--on an adventure that takes him from the depths of anonymity to the roof of America's tallest building.
Outrageous, provocative, bitingly funny, surprisingly poignant, Edward Savio's literary debut is still striking more than a decade and a half later for its wit, originality, and rather skewed insight into contemporary pop culture.
With a new Introduction by the Author for the 15th Anniversary (One Year Late) Edition.

Genres: Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2001

Reviews

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't a summary, it's just my two cents

"Idiots" is an amusing work of absurdist fiction that is more than a little reminiscent of "A Confederacy of Dunces." Not a surprise, as Savio wrote it as something of an homage to "Confederacy." It is one of those books with a dozen minor characters, each with some sort of unlikely and hysterical history or outlook. The way these books go, the stories of all of these seemingly random characters converge in a complex, skillfully constructed climax... except in this case, the end just didn't quite seem to jell. For me, about the last 20% of the book fell flat and felt kind of tacked-on. On the upside, the eccentric protagonist, who has been nicknamed "Satan"by his friends because of his fascination with an imagined subterranean civilization, isn't nearly as venal and annoying as I found Ignatius Reilly. (This is the main reason I didn't enjoy "Confederacy" more than I did- Ignatius was so well written that I hated him too much to care what happened to him). Satan is a little easier to empathize with.

Sadly, though, the author seems to have a serious problem with homonyms, in nearly every chapter substituting words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings (eg waver/waiver, toe/tow... oh and heroine/heroin.) Maybe it was supposed to be clever; if so, I did not get the joke and it drove me absolutely bonkers. (Dude, you have to read it, not just turn on the spell-check function). The editor should be tarred and feathered and the author should spend some serious time with flashcards.

Mostly, it is a funny and well-crafted story whose author shows signs of eventually becoming great.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only gave it three stars because it wasn't an important or particularly thought-provoking book, not because it wasn't a great fun read! The best word to describe this book is absurd. It's certainly not a book to take seriously and spend any amount of time picking apart any of its aspects. It should be enjoyed for what it is: a really charming cast of characters in outlandish situations. Savio's writing style was perfectly competent and he was adept at deadpan comedic dialogue and turn of phrase. His real strength was in the originality of the storyline. If you like Douglas Coupland, I would say you'd get a kick out of this book.

[Bluehighs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this book. I have to say, after a great start, it took a couple of chapters for it to really get moving, but you realize it's setting up the payoffs. I love the twisting turning language. It's just delicious. I kept laughing out loud reading this on the plane. I had to apologize to the guy next to me. I spit part of my crappy box lunch on him. He would probably rate this book no stars, but I recommend it.

[Dudegreen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I HATED Ion

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absurdist fiction about a guy who literally wears a foil hat, and believes that there are people living in some sort of utopia in the center of the earth, earning him the nickname "Satan". I think the author wants us to think Satan is a near-genius, though he never does or says anything to support that. The story takes off when Satan meets a manic pixie dream girl, drug store clerk, Ion. She apparently has some magic gift for making guys reach the potential they never knew they had. So she decides to use Satan to make foil hats a cultural phenomenon. (Because a drug store clerk and a 30-year old weirdo who never had a job can do things like that.) There are a bunch of other side characters and stories about other characters who are all tied together by unlikely coincidences, as if there are only about 20 people living in Chicago.
*Satan's friend Kelsey works for a city department, and her boss is trying to shut down the manufacturer of Satan's favorite foil.
*Kelsey's boyfriend works for the ad agency of the foil company
*the head of that ad agency is one of Ion's past "projects" who she had helped to reach his potential
*another of Ion's past project's is a Jazz musician who also happens to be Satan's childhood friend that he had lost touch with. He is in the story for a while. The he isn't any more.
*there is another childhood friend, Vlady, who moved to the Soviet Union in high school, but now he is back to add basically nothing to the story.
*Satan's childhood nemesis shows up, as a cartoonishly evil credit agency guy, bent on revenge.
There are more characters and side stories, but those are some example.

Over all, it was an amusing story that could be annoying if you aren't buying into the absurdity of it all. It seemed to be reaching a decent ending point, but then want on for another 70 pages too long.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Idiots in the Machine has garnered much comparison to A Confederacy of Dunces, an unfair comparison, that of literary debutant vs. acknowledged genius. However, one brought about by the author himself.

While Edward Savio borrowed heavily from John Kennedy Toole’s bag o’ tricks, he did so with much less finesse. Toole painted fully realized characters with deft strokes, whereas Savio threw paint at the canvas. And though this left all but the main characters rather flat and difficult to keep track of, Noel “Satan” Dorobek was infinitely more identifiable than the indomitable Ignatius J. Reilly.

That factor, alongside a curiosity of how all the various “threads” would finally weave back together, explain why this book was not simply set aside one-third of the way through. A decision almost instantly overridden with the first jarring encounter of Ion’s “sexy time.” Talk about needlessly crude… Where the hell did that come from?!?

Interestingly enough, while Savio provided an actual climactic event, it left me far less satisfied than Toole’s “looser” ending. Must be the Hollywood touch…

‘You gettin smart, buddy?’ asked the stranger … ‘Actually, I started out smart … However with a seriously degenerating ozone, microwave ovens, and pop music constantly bombarding us all, I’ve been getting dumber. Much dumber.’ (6)

He started walking. The man followed. Satan sped up. The man kept with him. Satan slowed down. The man dropped back. Satan crossed the street against the light. The man got run over by a bus. (102)

People were actually listening to him. He wasn’t sure he was comforted by that. (172)

Although, she thought about men all the time, and re-read the nastiest sections of her novels over and over wishing someone would do those things to her, Lilly was, without a doubt, a virgin. And a lonely and frustrated, yet imaginative virgin at that. (179)

… insanity has a funny way of rubbing off on people. Kind of like yawning. (258)

I’m not very big on anything that encapsulates the human condition in ten words or less. (302)

Cockroaches weren’t written about in the Bible—a fact that made him doubt the validity of the entire tome. (309)

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this manuscript in 1991. I knew then I was reading something very special. I was sucked into the imagery and the tone right away, making my way through his world through the eyes of Satan. It's about a guy who wears tinfoil on his head, thinks people live in the center of the earth, he's not totally crazy, he's just a little off. Some woman finds him and starts taking him around to coffeehouses, and people start listening to what he has to say. It's about his rise to fame, and his fall back down. So happy it was actually published. Optioned by Sony Studios, I think, for 1.2 million after a substantial bidding war, I'd take the time, make the purchase. I seldom go out of my way to review a book. So, for whatever that's worth, it's worth a read.

[Kristin-Leigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not finish this book. It's totally derivative of the far superior A Confederacy of Dunces, from the "homage" of the opening scene to the characters themselves, obviously caricatures of the portraits John Kennedy Toole painted in his own novel. While I wouldn't call Toole subtle, Savio makes him look that way relatively with the heavy hand he uses in his own book. It's all very self-indulgent and self-satisfied, and I got the feeling the author was far more impressed with himself than I could ever bring myself to be.

I would never recommend this to anyone.

[Ralph · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author says that his book is an homage to this book. I didn't care very much for that book, so maybe it's not a surprise that I didn't like this one much either.

It had an occasional hilarious moment, but the problems outweighed them by far: the characterizations were muddy and unconvincing and the plot was dragged way too far out for me. I almost stopped reading about 2/3 of the way through.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall fun read

In the style of Confederacy of Dunces Edward Savio creates hilarious characters and situations around the main character Satan set in Chicago.