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Erased
When Theodore receives a postcard from his dead mother he sets out to track her down. Erased explores abandonment, life, death, and the transition between this world and the next.
Abandonment, life, death, and, oddly, Cleveland are explored in the hilarious second installment of Jim Krusoe's trilogy about resurrection. In Erased, Krusoe takes on a dead mother who mysteriously sends notes from the beyond to her grown son, Theodore, the owner of a mail-order gardening-implement business. "I need to see you," the first card reads. Theodore does what any sensible person he ignores it. But when he gets a second card that's even more urgent, Theodore leaves his quiet home in St. Nils for a radiantly imagined Cleveland, Ohio, to track down his mother. There, aided by Uleene, the last remaining member of Satan's Samaritans, an all-girl biker club, he searches through the realms of women's clubs, art, rodent extermination, and sport fishing until he finds the answers he seeks.
Abandonment, life, death, and, oddly, Cleveland are explored in the hilarious second installment of Jim Krusoe's trilogy about resurrection. In Erased, Krusoe takes on a dead mother who mysteriously sends notes from the beyond to her grown son, Theodore, the owner of a mail-order gardening-implement business. "I need to see you," the first card reads. Theodore does what any sensible person he ignores it. But when he gets a second card that's even more urgent, Theodore leaves his quiet home in St. Nils for a radiantly imagined Cleveland, Ohio, to track down his mother. There, aided by Uleene, the last remaining member of Satan's Samaritans, an all-girl biker club, he searches through the realms of women's clubs, art, rodent extermination, and sport fishing until he finds the answers he seeks.
214 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2009
2 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
About the author
Jim Krusoe
15 books46 followersJim Krusoe is an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. His stories and poems have appeared in Antioch Review, Denver Quarterly, BOMB, Iowa Review, Field, North American Review, American Poetry Review, and Santa Monica Review, which he founded in 1988. His essays and book reviews have appeared in Manoa, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, and The Washington Post. He is a recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund. He teaches at Santa Monica College and in the graduate writing program at Antioch University, Los Angeles. His novel, Iceland, was selected by the Los Angeles Times and the Austin Chronicle as one of the ten best fiction books of 2002, and it was on the Washington Post list of notable fiction for the same year. His novel Girl Factory was published in 2008 by Tin House Books followed by Erased, which was published in 2009 and Toward You published in 2010, also by Tin House Books.
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April 11, 2021
Eccentric egghead oddball.
Does the above description hold appeal? If so, then you will surely take delight in Erased, a short novel by Jim Krusoe where the contemporary American author explores, in ways flaky in the extreme, the transition from this world to the next.
How flaky? Jim Krusoe told an interviewer, "I call my fiction meta-realism, which means nothing to anybody but me. But what I mean is the world of my fiction is a real world that also includes the unlikely, delusions, and dreams. My intent is to explore and challenge conventional boundaries: between life and death, dream and waking, past and present, artifice and natural, desire and limitation, good and bad, comic and tragic.”
Push those boundaries, Jim! In the opening pages of Erased, the tale's narrator, Theodore Bellefontaine, receives a telephone call from his mother. She tells her son she was looking out the window when a stranger in a heavy, brown overcoat and carrying a dark leather bag stopped beneath her window, raised his head, stared right at her and asked if it ever occurred to her if she might not even be alive. "Yes," he continued, "despite your having a strong pulse and steady heartbeat, has it ever occurred to you for even one single moment that you might be dead, because not only for the living but also for the dead anything is possible."
The strangeness accelerates: the next morning, Theodore calls his mother to see if she’s all right. No answer. He travels across the town of St. Nils (more on the name of this town below) to check on her in person. No furniture, no note, no mom - she’s vanished.
Some weeks later, Theodore receives a newspaper clipping from Cleveland: his mother is dead, perished while out fishing on a lake. Big sigh – actually he hardly knew his mom since she turned him over to another young woman who raised him.
Months pass and then the impossible: two post cards from his now dead mother, postcards with scenes from Cleveland. No question, he must investigate in person – Theodore is off to Cleveland.
Upon arrival, walking the streets of what he terms "the city of Noble Foreheads" (ubiquitous physical characteristic of all he encounters), our adventurous narrator can perceive Cleveland is a kind of paradise on earth, a blissful combination of ancient Athens and modern Amsterdam, a place where women, men and even schoolchildren value philosophic inquiry, embrace progress and technology and pursue at least one of the fine arts.
No sooner does Theodore find an apartment to serve as home base than he must deal with a flock of oddities. How odd? As the Bard so eloquently opined: “But this eternal blazon must not be to ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list!” So, here goes: a list of peculiar, far-out funky tics:
Black Leather Biker Chick- Theodore gets into the spirit of Cleveland as cultural Mecca by taking art classes in sculpture and partaking of a favorite local delicacy: supersized donuts. But his hunt for dead or alive Mom is going nowhere fast - until he teams up with rough and ready Uleene on her Harley-Davidson decorated in Day of the Dead motif. Uleene claims to know exactly the place where her new friend can find Helen (his mom). Theodore trusts this biker lass since, after all, Uleene joined a bunch of other inmates back when she served time in prison to form a community outreach group: Satan's Samaritans.
Clubs - Uleene convinces Theodore to accompany her at a secret all-women club, combination Lions Club/Rotary. There's a keynote speaker, a woman in robe and shiny silver turban from the Fellowship of the Open Door who explains the hereafter, "the hereafter is not at all what you may think. Neither, for that matter, is the past, nor the here and now." Madam doesn't have time to finish as a brawl breaks out between two groups of women. Theodore makes his escape but not before several blows to his head. He didn't see Helen anywhere but no matter - Uleene whisks him off to another club and then another. Likewise more bad news: no mom.
Deadly Garden Tools: - Theodore earns his living by importing and selling exotic garden implements. But Thanatos rears its ugly head: newscasts alert Theodore a number of his clients have been using his hoes and trowels to commit murder. Fortunately, there's also good news: Thanatos intertwined with Eros - all the publicity triggers a boom in business, alas, the general public has fallen in love with those unique instruments of death.
Pernicious Pests – So happens, Cleveland has its ugly underbelly: an infestation of rats. But no need to run away - Theodore’s art teacher, a gal by the name of Sunshine, is from Eastern European stock. She hands her sculpture student a baseball bat and leads the charge with her own hefty cudgel during the city’s official Kill the Rats Day. Bam! Bam! Bam! Sunshine the Hungarian barbarian to the rescue. The local papers liken the event to Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.
Classic Cleveland – In addition to an outing to watch the Indians at Progressive Field, the dutiful son’s search leads him to an extraordinary bowling alley (after all, were talking about THE most magnificent American city), a bowling alley featuring 500 lanes (500!!), exquisite ethnic food and a jazz trio, a gypsy violinist and a mariachi band – bowling alley as psychedelic Garden of Earthly Delights (only the middle panel of Bosch’s triptych, fortunately). Then the unexpected.
Tapes - Helen has earned her bread transcribing tape recordings of radio interviews. Eight of these recordings are sprinkled between chapters where all eight guests speak of their near-death experience.
Recall I mentioned Theodore resides in St. Nils. Where in the US is St. Nils? I failed to locate such a town, which prompted me to do a bit of research. I discovered Nils is the name of a young boy setting out on a quest after he's been turned into an elf in Selma Lagerlöf's The Wonderful Adventure of Nils Holgersson. Reading an overview of this tale, I can detect some connection with Theodore.
Fanciful link or not, I've taken to Jim Krusoe and plan to read his other five novels. I suggest you begin with Erased. Perhaps you will likewise fall in love with his quirky storytelling.
American novelist Jim Krusoe, born 1942
December 23, 2010
Jim Krusoe is one of my favorite contemporary writers. His books are hilarious, wild rides. Every time I read “comic novel” in a book review, my lips thin and I wonder, “But is it as funny as Jim Krusoe’s work?” His narratives are oddball detective stories, surreal adventures worthy of his namesake, Robinson Crusoe.
Erased is the second part of an almost completed three-volume trilogy, published by Tin House books. The previous book in this series, Girl Factory recast the Bluebeard myth in modern times. Its narrator, Jonathan, finds several beautiful girls suspended in acidophilus underneath the yogurt shop where he works (yogurt shops are one of Krusoe’s favorite haunts, and he mentions them in nearly every story).
Just as the floating women are in-between life and death, Theodore, the narrator of Erased has a mother sending him postcards from the afterlife. I saw Jim read from this at Skylight Books in Los Feliz, and he said the genesis of this novel was very personal. One night, his mother called saying she didn’t feel well, and the next day she died. He said he wondered what that halfway time was like for her…did she know death was just around the corner?
Yet this isn’t exactly rumination on what happens when we die. The death of the mother is a MacGuffin, a device to set the plot in motion, something to let Theodore observe the wonders of Cleveland. These observations are what make this and all of Krusoe’s books so fun to read. The same lake that his mother apparently drowned in has a “coffee-with-not-enough-cream” color. The residents of Cleveland, where most of the story is set, are all artists. Even Ted is continually working on the nostrils of a sculpture.
At times, Erased feels a bit unanchored. In all of Krusoe’s fiction, the narrator isn’t someone who acts with conviction so much as he falls in with convicts, such as Ullene, a biker-chick who takes Ted from one place to another in this novel. Ted (and Jonathan before him) are Forrest Gump types, going from one place to another, following the thinnest of clues which, later, turn out to be the right paths.
At Skylight, Jim also said that his books represent a slowing down of plot. I can’t tell. And in fact, I would only want him to keep going faster, because his books are wild rides. Like Robinson Crusoe, whose head was “filled very early with rambling thoughts,” let’s keep the adventure going.
Erased is the second part of an almost completed three-volume trilogy, published by Tin House books. The previous book in this series, Girl Factory recast the Bluebeard myth in modern times. Its narrator, Jonathan, finds several beautiful girls suspended in acidophilus underneath the yogurt shop where he works (yogurt shops are one of Krusoe’s favorite haunts, and he mentions them in nearly every story).
Just as the floating women are in-between life and death, Theodore, the narrator of Erased has a mother sending him postcards from the afterlife. I saw Jim read from this at Skylight Books in Los Feliz, and he said the genesis of this novel was very personal. One night, his mother called saying she didn’t feel well, and the next day she died. He said he wondered what that halfway time was like for her…did she know death was just around the corner?
Yet this isn’t exactly rumination on what happens when we die. The death of the mother is a MacGuffin, a device to set the plot in motion, something to let Theodore observe the wonders of Cleveland. These observations are what make this and all of Krusoe’s books so fun to read. The same lake that his mother apparently drowned in has a “coffee-with-not-enough-cream” color. The residents of Cleveland, where most of the story is set, are all artists. Even Ted is continually working on the nostrils of a sculpture.
At times, Erased feels a bit unanchored. In all of Krusoe’s fiction, the narrator isn’t someone who acts with conviction so much as he falls in with convicts, such as Ullene, a biker-chick who takes Ted from one place to another in this novel. Ted (and Jonathan before him) are Forrest Gump types, going from one place to another, following the thinnest of clues which, later, turn out to be the right paths.
At Skylight, Jim also said that his books represent a slowing down of plot. I can’t tell. And in fact, I would only want him to keep going faster, because his books are wild rides. Like Robinson Crusoe, whose head was “filled very early with rambling thoughts,” let’s keep the adventure going.
July 8, 2009
Having never heard of Jim Krusoe, I am a bit ashamed to admit that my first judgment of this book was entirely based on its cover, which I felt quite positive about. This is a habit of mine that, contrary to popular belief, has gotten me in less trouble than you might think. Most books with well-designed covers, I find, contain well-designed stories inside.
Erased is not uninteresting. Its plot grows gradually more surreal, transporting the protagonist from his fictional hometown of St Nils to the mythicized Cleveland, where he searches for his dead mother, participating in some city-wide rat hunts along the way. But while the cover (which, as I learned from the back, is a detail from a Heironymous Bosch painting), promises not only dream-like situations, but also a depth of wonder and mysterious backstory that culminates in a complex but fascinating narrative, Erased has little of this subtle but important quality.
Nonetheless, it is a quick and fun read, and despite its shortcomings, didn't leave me feeling unsatisfied. Krusoe has potential, and I'd like to see where he goes from here.
Erased is not uninteresting. Its plot grows gradually more surreal, transporting the protagonist from his fictional hometown of St Nils to the mythicized Cleveland, where he searches for his dead mother, participating in some city-wide rat hunts along the way. But while the cover (which, as I learned from the back, is a detail from a Heironymous Bosch painting), promises not only dream-like situations, but also a depth of wonder and mysterious backstory that culminates in a complex but fascinating narrative, Erased has little of this subtle but important quality.
Nonetheless, it is a quick and fun read, and despite its shortcomings, didn't leave me feeling unsatisfied. Krusoe has potential, and I'd like to see where he goes from here.
February 15, 2016
I would love to talk with other people who have read this book. I could not put it down; I had to know what became of Theodore, the sweet, yet seemingly very naive protagonist. When I reached the ending, I had to sit with it for awhile. The ending, I think, is left open to interpretation. Definitely recommend it for a unique reading experience. I have already downloaded the author's other books.
September 1, 2021
Reading this book, or really any of Krusoe’s fiction, is like taking a trip to the inner layer of the mind, which has somehow been turned inside out and exposed to the sun, and then finding some unknown organ that you need to survive but never knew was there. In his novels, dreams and reality at first seem to (but then don’t quite) fit each other…like a box of mismatched lids for old canning jars.
Here’s a bit from later in the novel, which I don’t think will spoil anything.
“Time, that old fooler, expanded and compressed itself, rolled over and played dead, only to spring back to life again when I least expected it. How long I walked, I couldn’t tell. It could have been hours. It might have been minutes. I heard the high squeals of bats and the sharp cries of night birds. I heard my own breath grow heavy as I trudged up a smallish hill, then I heard it ease on the way down. The wild dogs, or a completely different set of wild dogs, were back.”
In Erased, Krusoe’s protagonist is looking for his mother, who is supposedly dead, but keeps sending him postcards. This quest takes him to Cleveland, an idealized Cleveland that is laughable to anyone who has been to the real Cleveland. In Krusoe’s vision, the city is brimming with artists, carrying their work (often classical sculpture busts) with them to cafes like real-life celebrities carry small dogs in handbags. I love how the writer boldly steals the city from “our” reality
Jim Krusoe was my mentor in graduate school I have learned so much from him over the years, through his teaching and his writing, I can’t imagine where I’d be as a writer without him.
And I can’t wait to read more of Krusoe's work, whatever's next, and read again.
Here’s a bit from later in the novel, which I don’t think will spoil anything.
“Time, that old fooler, expanded and compressed itself, rolled over and played dead, only to spring back to life again when I least expected it. How long I walked, I couldn’t tell. It could have been hours. It might have been minutes. I heard the high squeals of bats and the sharp cries of night birds. I heard my own breath grow heavy as I trudged up a smallish hill, then I heard it ease on the way down. The wild dogs, or a completely different set of wild dogs, were back.”
In Erased, Krusoe’s protagonist is looking for his mother, who is supposedly dead, but keeps sending him postcards. This quest takes him to Cleveland, an idealized Cleveland that is laughable to anyone who has been to the real Cleveland. In Krusoe’s vision, the city is brimming with artists, carrying their work (often classical sculpture busts) with them to cafes like real-life celebrities carry small dogs in handbags. I love how the writer boldly steals the city from “our” reality
Jim Krusoe was my mentor in graduate school I have learned so much from him over the years, through his teaching and his writing, I can’t imagine where I’d be as a writer without him.
And I can’t wait to read more of Krusoe's work, whatever's next, and read again.
October 10, 2022
Having read Blood Lake, I was very excited to see this volume on the shelf of my semi-local bookstore. The premise is intriguing: Mother sends son postcards after she has died. Son goes searching for mother. Cool.
Like I said, I read Blood Lake; I was prepared for the sort of surreality that Krusoe was bound to engage in. As I read, I found myself a bit put off by the apparent randomness of the plot detail; the biker gang, the string of murders, the weird clubs, the.....donuts.
Clues as to Theodore's mother's whereabouts are unearthed, but his investigations into these clues only result in more clues, more bizarre meetings, more stalling. The book arrives at a conclusion of sorts, but if you read Erased hoping for a substantive explanation of any kind, you'll likely be a bit disappointed.
Caveat: I often react poorly to literary humor that many other people seem to enjoy - I spent a fair portion of the novel feeling like I just plain didn't get it.
Jim Krusoe is a fine writer - more than fine, actually. Erased wasn't my cup of tea. I look forward to reading Girl Factory.
Like I said, I read Blood Lake; I was prepared for the sort of surreality that Krusoe was bound to engage in. As I read, I found myself a bit put off by the apparent randomness of the plot detail; the biker gang, the string of murders, the weird clubs, the.....donuts.
Clues as to Theodore's mother's whereabouts are unearthed, but his investigations into these clues only result in more clues, more bizarre meetings, more stalling. The book arrives at a conclusion of sorts, but if you read Erased hoping for a substantive explanation of any kind, you'll likely be a bit disappointed.
Caveat: I often react poorly to literary humor that many other people seem to enjoy - I spent a fair portion of the novel feeling like I just plain didn't get it.
Jim Krusoe is a fine writer - more than fine, actually. Erased wasn't my cup of tea. I look forward to reading Girl Factory.
June 19, 2023
I almost don’t know how I feel about this book. It’s comedic in the details and randomly philosophical. I thought the slowness of the plot would make me dnf this book but I was curious about the mystery of Theo’s mother and how she was able to communicate with him. The ending (spoilers) has me confused but I think Theo was dead to begin w seeing as he couldn’t find his reflection various times and his mother guided him to it. I honestly don’t know but I know I didn’t hate this book and was oddly intrigued by it.
June 14, 2017
Not my cup of tea.
December 24, 2024
Not sure… Kind of a waste of time. Silly. Almost sort-of hints at meaning something, but actually not.
June 19, 2015
I love the quirky writer. I love the witty writer. I love the self-assured writer. I hate it when they think they are too quirky, witty and self-assured for their own good. Sadly, this book turned out to be written by such an author.
It started out quirky enough. The protaganist, Theodore, seems to be lucky in life despite being as naive as an adult can possibly be. He grew up with a woman named Linda who used to sell medicinal “rare kelp” (obviously pot) and he sells high-end garden tools that have started to be used for high-profile murders across the country. In the midst of this, his mother disappears and he eventually receives notice that she has died. And then he gets a postcard from her. Theodore decides to go on a trip to Cleveland to find out what is going on.
At first, this was a refreshing book. The naivety of Theodore and his love of Cleveland as the most perfect city in the country was enjoyable to read. It was fun the first couple times Theodore and Uleene visited weird women’s clubs around town. It was refreshing as he enjoyed his new-found love of sculpture. But the same thing kept happening each time he visited a women’s club…over and over. His naivety became irritating and I started to wonder how he was even able to wash his face without drowning. By the end, I didn’t much care how the book ended, which turned out to be some kind of esoteric, post-modern comment on life and death. And apparently we’re supposed to be smart enough to figure out what the loose ends Krusoe never ties up mean. I guess I’m just not smart enough.
It started out quirky enough. The protaganist, Theodore, seems to be lucky in life despite being as naive as an adult can possibly be. He grew up with a woman named Linda who used to sell medicinal “rare kelp” (obviously pot) and he sells high-end garden tools that have started to be used for high-profile murders across the country. In the midst of this, his mother disappears and he eventually receives notice that she has died. And then he gets a postcard from her. Theodore decides to go on a trip to Cleveland to find out what is going on.
At first, this was a refreshing book. The naivety of Theodore and his love of Cleveland as the most perfect city in the country was enjoyable to read. It was fun the first couple times Theodore and Uleene visited weird women’s clubs around town. It was refreshing as he enjoyed his new-found love of sculpture. But the same thing kept happening each time he visited a women’s club…over and over. His naivety became irritating and I started to wonder how he was even able to wash his face without drowning. By the end, I didn’t much care how the book ended, which turned out to be some kind of esoteric, post-modern comment on life and death. And apparently we’re supposed to be smart enough to figure out what the loose ends Krusoe never ties up mean. I guess I’m just not smart enough.
June 28, 2009
Having read Blood Lake, I was very excited to see this volume on the shelf of my semi-local bookstore. The premise is intriguing: Mother sends son postcards after she has died. Son goes searching for mother. Cool.
Like I said, I read Blood Lake; I was prepared for the sort of surreality that Krusoe was bound to engage in. As I read, I found myself a bit put off by the apparent randomness of the plot detail; the biker gang, the string of murders, the weird clubs, the.....donuts.
Clues as to Theodore's mother's whereabouts are unearthed, but his investigations into these clues only result in more clues, more bizarre meetings, more stalling. The book arrives at a conclusion of sorts, but if you read Erased hoping for a substantive explanation of any kind, you'll likely be a bit disappointed.
Caveat: I often react poorly to literary humor that many other people seem to enjoy - I spent a fair portion of the novel feeling like I just plain didn't get it.
Jim Krusoe is a fine writer - more than fine, actually. Erased wasn't my cup of tea. I look forward to reading Girl Factory.
Like I said, I read Blood Lake; I was prepared for the sort of surreality that Krusoe was bound to engage in. As I read, I found myself a bit put off by the apparent randomness of the plot detail; the biker gang, the string of murders, the weird clubs, the.....donuts.
Clues as to Theodore's mother's whereabouts are unearthed, but his investigations into these clues only result in more clues, more bizarre meetings, more stalling. The book arrives at a conclusion of sorts, but if you read Erased hoping for a substantive explanation of any kind, you'll likely be a bit disappointed.
Caveat: I often react poorly to literary humor that many other people seem to enjoy - I spent a fair portion of the novel feeling like I just plain didn't get it.
Jim Krusoe is a fine writer - more than fine, actually. Erased wasn't my cup of tea. I look forward to reading Girl Factory.
August 12, 2014
Better off Dead
There are some funny and insightful parts at the beginning of this book. And while the topic is interesting, there is just something missing. The protagonist of this story is forced into a mystery regarding his mother's disappearance. Using a simple plot to make a point about how death is final and somehow always knocking at our door was a nice idea, but the overall story telling ability fails as it seems that the author just piled on or patched together remnants of various characters without bringing their metaphorical existence to the fore. In the end, without giving away the author's realization, this could and would have been a much better short story by delving deeper into the symbolism and existentialism attempted to be applied throughout it. A good attempt but I wasn't taken away and I wasn't disappointed to have finished the book. This is one of those purchases I made based on Amazon's suggestions; I threw caution to the wind, and it did not pay off.
There are some funny and insightful parts at the beginning of this book. And while the topic is interesting, there is just something missing. The protagonist of this story is forced into a mystery regarding his mother's disappearance. Using a simple plot to make a point about how death is final and somehow always knocking at our door was a nice idea, but the overall story telling ability fails as it seems that the author just piled on or patched together remnants of various characters without bringing their metaphorical existence to the fore. In the end, without giving away the author's realization, this could and would have been a much better short story by delving deeper into the symbolism and existentialism attempted to be applied throughout it. A good attempt but I wasn't taken away and I wasn't disappointed to have finished the book. This is one of those purchases I made based on Amazon's suggestions; I threw caution to the wind, and it did not pay off.
July 9, 2012
Basically want to repeat what I said about The Dart League King: "I tend to like books published by Tin House. I've found their books to be well-crafted with odd characters who seem a bit unlikeable at first and plots that gently twist and turn. This book was no exception. I thought the ending was a little sentimental in parts (which I liked because I'm a sentimental dude) and a little predictable in others."
July 24, 2009
I really enjoyed Krusoe's last book, Girl Factory, but this one was a little too heavy on the absurd and too light on plot. It seemed like layer upon layer of absurdest action in between running commentary. Don't get me wrong much of the commentary and imagery was funny - who doesn't like making fun of Cleveland? - but it became dense and hard to follow at some point.
I think this is a book you have to immerse yourself in to enjoy and it has a style that isn't for everyone.
I think this is a book you have to immerse yourself in to enjoy and it has a style that isn't for everyone.
July 24, 2009
What? What the...? I didn't get it. Many times I was ready to quit on the book but instead skipped passages and pushed on. I was intrigued enough to get to the conclusion but then I asked myself What???
I didn't bond with the protaganist, mother was self absorbed, and any ideas or thoughts that the book provoked in me I brushed off as silly. Maybe that was the point. Maybe timing wasn't right.
I didn't bond with the protaganist, mother was self absorbed, and any ideas or thoughts that the book provoked in me I brushed off as silly. Maybe that was the point. Maybe timing wasn't right.
February 3, 2010
Intrigued by the premise, but it ultimately ended up reading like a bad
David Lynch movie.
Oddball characters, curious set pieces, an ending that leaves a lot to the imagination and no one satisfied.
David Lynch movie.
Oddball characters, curious set pieces, an ending that leaves a lot to the imagination and no one satisfied.
June 1, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. I actually had a hard time putting it down! It was an easy read. Very thought provoking.
December 12, 2009
An unusual, often surreal, tale. Funny and quirky. The second half seemed a little disjointed, but otherwise a worthwhile read.
July 1, 2009
Erased was a bit quirky, but I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to my friends and family.
December 15, 2009
I did not enjoy this book. It is very surreal, weird and absurd. I still don't know why I didn't quit reading it but I made it through thinking the ending would make some sense. It didn't help.
December 19, 2009
Another "quirky" novel. Actually somewhat surrealistic. I enjoyed this one a lot. Laughed out loud a number of times
August 19, 2010
blech, just not for me at all. i tried to like it.
January 24, 2011
This is my least favorite of Jim Krusoe's novels, but it was still pretty good. If you haven't read any Jim Krusoe start with Iceland and then read Girl Factory.
January 30, 2011
"Rat weather." Krusoe has a talent for the strange.
May 28, 2009
At a Chinese Restaurant the protagonist orders Twice Regarded Beef. That cracks me up.
July 12, 2014
recommended by rebecca kuder
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