What do you think?
Rate this book
Harpoons
207 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1989
1 person want to read
About the author
Arthur Rosenfeld
23 books30 followersBorn Arthur Rosenfeld in America, Yun Rou (the name means Soft Cloud) was ordained a Daoist monk in China. Host of the hit national public television show "Longevity Tai Chi with Arthur Rosenfeld", he is the author of award-winning titles and teaches tai chi around the world and in South Florida. As did Alan Watts, his non-fiction books use the wisdom of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching to address climate change, the challenges of culture, society, and everyday living, advancing prescriptions as useful as those in Wayne Dyer's "Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life", but with the east-meets-west philosophical flavor of Eckhart Tolle and Henry David Thoreau. His novels, by contrast, bring a New York literary sensibility to the emerging "Silkpunk" genre, blending Chinese history, some science fiction, and fantasy into adventurous, rollicking, thought-provoking reads.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 29, 2012
When Bernard Steinberg was born, his parents did the thing that all new parents do. They counted his fingers and toes - all 22 of them. Bernard's father was somewhat dismayed. After all, how could any child of his be imperfect? So, when baby Bernard is snatched away one night, Steinberg doesn't exactly knock himself out trying to find him.
Now we must say hello to Roman Loon, cat burglar and motorcycle enthusiast who, alas, is "sterile as cold rice." Tack "baby thief" onto his resume, since he is the snatcher of the infant with the extra digits.
Roman and his wife rename the purloined papoose "Scooter." Young Scooter Loon grows up happy and loved, inheriting his real father's brains, but sharing his "adopted" father's love of cycles.
And the Steinbergs? Well, a few years after the Bernard incident, they are the proud parents of a precious baby girl named Biji. (Yes. Biji Steinberg.) She grows into a beautiful, willful, coy and manipulative young woman who is destined for stardom.
You can probably guess that this is all going to blow up like a marshmallow Peep in a microwave. Rub your hands together with glee just imagining the part when Scooter and Biji (who don't know they're siblings, remember) meet. It's a comedy. It's a tragedy. It's fun and entertaining, but also a little sad. My only complaint is that the ending came a bit abruptly, kind of like hitting a patch of oil when you're doing over ninety mph on your Ducati.
(That's an inside joke between me and the one other Goodreads member who's read this book.)
Now we must say hello to Roman Loon, cat burglar and motorcycle enthusiast who, alas, is "sterile as cold rice." Tack "baby thief" onto his resume, since he is the snatcher of the infant with the extra digits.
Roman and his wife rename the purloined papoose "Scooter." Young Scooter Loon grows up happy and loved, inheriting his real father's brains, but sharing his "adopted" father's love of cycles.
And the Steinbergs? Well, a few years after the Bernard incident, they are the proud parents of a precious baby girl named Biji. (Yes. Biji Steinberg.) She grows into a beautiful, willful, coy and manipulative young woman who is destined for stardom.
You can probably guess that this is all going to blow up like a marshmallow Peep in a microwave. Rub your hands together with glee just imagining the part when Scooter and Biji (who don't know they're siblings, remember) meet. It's a comedy. It's a tragedy. It's fun and entertaining, but also a little sad. My only complaint is that the ending came a bit abruptly, kind of like hitting a patch of oil when you're doing over ninety mph on your Ducati.
(That's an inside joke between me and the one other Goodreads member who's read this book.)
Read
March 18, 2020A frankly weird book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews