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RESURRECTION 2020
★★★★★
"Very amusing story. Great fun!"
- Reader Review
___
Recovering narcissist Skip Gershwin loses his teaching job and his condo on the same day!
It’s only through the intervention of his friend, cognitive scientist Gudrun Frege, that he’s saved from plummeting head first into a vortex of total despair.
During this trying moment in his life, the one thing that sustains him is his strange fascination with the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, the largest and most spectacular fair ever held in the United States.
When strangers bring him a time machine, he gets the chance to travel back to ‘64 and view the fair he visited as a child through newly opened adult eyes!
Accompanied by two brilliant former students and Gudrun herself, Gershwin is forced to confront evils that scarred America's past, stain its present, and threaten to annihilate its future.
In the tradition of Thomas Pynchon's V. and Joseph Heller's CATCH-22, Herb Guggenheim's RESURRECTION 2020 is both savagely funny and gut wrenchingly serious.
Click the BUY NOW button at the top and see how Resurrection 2020 sheds new light on America’s past sins and present transgressions!
___
Recovering narcissist Skip Gershwin loses his teaching job and his condo on the same day!
It’s only through the intervention of his friend, cognitive scientist Gudrun Frege, that he’s saved from plummeting head first into a vortex of total despair.
During this trying moment in his life, the one thing that sustains him is his strange fascination with the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, the largest and most spectacular fair ever held in the United States.
When strangers bring him a time machine, he gets the chance to travel back to ‘64 and view the fair he visited as a child through newly opened adult eyes!
Accompanied by two brilliant former students and Gudrun herself, Gershwin is forced to confront evils that scarred America's past, stain its present, and threaten to annihilate its future.
In the tradition of Thomas Pynchon's V. and Joseph Heller's CATCH-22, Herb Guggenheim's RESURRECTION 2020 is both savagely funny and gut wrenchingly serious.
Click the BUY NOW button at the top and see how Resurrection 2020 sheds new light on America’s past sins and present transgressions!
399 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 8, 2022
6 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 11, 2022
“Resurrection 2020” is a science fiction novel by Herb Guggenheim. Though officially part of a trilogy, it stands on its own as a reading experience; though I had not read the first two books in the “Skip Gershwin” series, this did not handicap my understanding of the storyline.
Skip Gershwin, an aging college professor, loses his teaching position and condo on the same day, throwing his life into turmoil, but these are the least of his problems. Through a mysterious reel-to-reel tape recorder, and accompanied by two college students, Marcel and Hester, and an old acquaintance, Grudun Fredge, the quartet is sent back in time to the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. The book describes various misadventures when time-traveling back and forth between 1964 and the present of the character’s world (2019, just before the COVID pandemic).
The main character has a passion for 1964 World’s Fair trivia, and this helps provide realistic “behind the scenes” descriptions of many of the Fair attractions, such as the Ford and Westinghouse pavilions with various Cities of Tomorrow exhibits and a General Motors exhibition complete with a mockup underwater “Hotel Atlantis”; it was interesting to time travel back to 1964 and see how those in that time would predict the future (e.g., underwater hotels).
The plot is circuitous and sometimes a little hard to follow; suffice it to say that time travel allows the characters to experience some positive, but mostly negative, characteristics of American society in 1964, comparing them to the present of 2019, showing, at best, moderate improvement.
An important plot element involves a former US president (think Mar-a-Lago), who gets caught up in the time traveling episodes to hilarious if not a little painful effect.
The main thing this reviewer enjoyed about the book was the humor; the comedy was at times a bit biting but was still the novel’s best feature. The second thing I enjoyed was the portrayal of the time-travelling adventures of a recent, highly polarizing president who I will refer to as Mr. Mar-a-Lago. A reader’s opinion of Mr. Guggenheim’s portrayal of Mr. Mar-a-Lago will likely depend on his or her political stripes. If you support this former president, you will consider the author’s description of him as mean-spirited. On the other hand, if you are not a fan of Mr. Mar-a-Lago, then the author’s savaging of his character will likely leave you pleasurably cringing. Putting aside politics (which is impossible, but try), if Mr. Guggenheim meant to portray this past president as a buffoon without moral moorings of any kind, then he nailed it.
Though my politics are likely more similar to the author’s than not, I was disappointed that the back cover description didn’t reference the story’s treatment of this past president (he is not mentioned nor hinted at); I would have telegraphed the novel’s left-leaning politics—perhaps with a joke at Mr. Mara-a-Lago’s expense—so the reader will know what he or she will be in for.
The main goal of Marcel’s character (a young African American college student) is to bring racism into focus; this is done definitively, often with humor. However, I had trouble with the fact that all of the 1964 time traveling episodes reveal one thing: everyone, especially the police, were then, and are now, inherently racist. Racism was a real big problem then and remains a big one today, but I was turned off by the author’s painting of all secondary characters as one-dimensionally racist; this theme could have been dialed back while still effecting the author’s message. There is some messaging on sexual violence, however, which was presented without humor and was spot on; kudos to the author there.
Despite a bit of plot choppiness and the aforementioned racism tropes, I found the author’s humoristic portrayals of his character’s adventures interesting. In my opinion, a future edition of this novel, sans minor typos and with more a straightforward political marketing presentation, will attract more readers. Good luck to Mr. Guggenheim: keep sharing your sharp sense of humor with us.
Skip Gershwin, an aging college professor, loses his teaching position and condo on the same day, throwing his life into turmoil, but these are the least of his problems. Through a mysterious reel-to-reel tape recorder, and accompanied by two college students, Marcel and Hester, and an old acquaintance, Grudun Fredge, the quartet is sent back in time to the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. The book describes various misadventures when time-traveling back and forth between 1964 and the present of the character’s world (2019, just before the COVID pandemic).
The main character has a passion for 1964 World’s Fair trivia, and this helps provide realistic “behind the scenes” descriptions of many of the Fair attractions, such as the Ford and Westinghouse pavilions with various Cities of Tomorrow exhibits and a General Motors exhibition complete with a mockup underwater “Hotel Atlantis”; it was interesting to time travel back to 1964 and see how those in that time would predict the future (e.g., underwater hotels).
The plot is circuitous and sometimes a little hard to follow; suffice it to say that time travel allows the characters to experience some positive, but mostly negative, characteristics of American society in 1964, comparing them to the present of 2019, showing, at best, moderate improvement.
An important plot element involves a former US president (think Mar-a-Lago), who gets caught up in the time traveling episodes to hilarious if not a little painful effect.
The main thing this reviewer enjoyed about the book was the humor; the comedy was at times a bit biting but was still the novel’s best feature. The second thing I enjoyed was the portrayal of the time-travelling adventures of a recent, highly polarizing president who I will refer to as Mr. Mar-a-Lago. A reader’s opinion of Mr. Guggenheim’s portrayal of Mr. Mar-a-Lago will likely depend on his or her political stripes. If you support this former president, you will consider the author’s description of him as mean-spirited. On the other hand, if you are not a fan of Mr. Mar-a-Lago, then the author’s savaging of his character will likely leave you pleasurably cringing. Putting aside politics (which is impossible, but try), if Mr. Guggenheim meant to portray this past president as a buffoon without moral moorings of any kind, then he nailed it.
Though my politics are likely more similar to the author’s than not, I was disappointed that the back cover description didn’t reference the story’s treatment of this past president (he is not mentioned nor hinted at); I would have telegraphed the novel’s left-leaning politics—perhaps with a joke at Mr. Mara-a-Lago’s expense—so the reader will know what he or she will be in for.
The main goal of Marcel’s character (a young African American college student) is to bring racism into focus; this is done definitively, often with humor. However, I had trouble with the fact that all of the 1964 time traveling episodes reveal one thing: everyone, especially the police, were then, and are now, inherently racist. Racism was a real big problem then and remains a big one today, but I was turned off by the author’s painting of all secondary characters as one-dimensionally racist; this theme could have been dialed back while still effecting the author’s message. There is some messaging on sexual violence, however, which was presented without humor and was spot on; kudos to the author there.
Despite a bit of plot choppiness and the aforementioned racism tropes, I found the author’s humoristic portrayals of his character’s adventures interesting. In my opinion, a future edition of this novel, sans minor typos and with more a straightforward political marketing presentation, will attract more readers. Good luck to Mr. Guggenheim: keep sharing your sharp sense of humor with us.
April 12, 2022
Well, Herb Guggenheim has done it again; yet another success!
Herb brings back some favorite characters from his previous novels (and a few new and surprising folks, as well) and takes us on an exciting, and sometimes troubling, journey through time travel.
Let me note, that while you may wish to read Herb’s previous novels, you certainly do not need to do so to understand the characters in this reading. Herb effortlessly reminds the reader of any previous characters and their current role in this book.
Herb masterfully integrates the past and present; taking us back to the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. For those of us who actually attended, it provided a wonderful flashback and reunion. If you were unable to attend; not to worry. Herb provides great detail and insight into the times of the 1960’s, as well as the exhibits that were at the site.
As with his previous books, the reader will laugh out loud and cry within a few page turns. This emotional journey begs the questions, Is time travel really possible? Should it be?
Herb brings back some favorite characters from his previous novels (and a few new and surprising folks, as well) and takes us on an exciting, and sometimes troubling, journey through time travel.
Let me note, that while you may wish to read Herb’s previous novels, you certainly do not need to do so to understand the characters in this reading. Herb effortlessly reminds the reader of any previous characters and their current role in this book.
Herb masterfully integrates the past and present; taking us back to the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. For those of us who actually attended, it provided a wonderful flashback and reunion. If you were unable to attend; not to worry. Herb provides great detail and insight into the times of the 1960’s, as well as the exhibits that were at the site.
As with his previous books, the reader will laugh out loud and cry within a few page turns. This emotional journey begs the questions, Is time travel really possible? Should it be?
October 29, 2022
I always enjoy a good sci-fi novel about time travel, and this one didn't disappoint. I really liked the fact that it touches on some deep mesages regarding our human existence (not saying much more than that, better discover it for yourself). There are moments of comedy as well, but that also make you think and become excited about the events developing throughout the story. I really recommend it. Worth your time!
August 11, 2024
Thin
Blatantly expressed political opinions in the guise of a fictional novel. Paradoxically, that also added to the entertainment value. Some of the political opinions presented are debatable, as to truth, but some are reliably well supported. Still you had to accept some wildly fantastic concepts. But then, science fiction is like that. While I don't agree with all of the positions presented, I could still recommend this, if just to consider varying views and opinions.
Blatantly expressed political opinions in the guise of a fictional novel. Paradoxically, that also added to the entertainment value. Some of the political opinions presented are debatable, as to truth, but some are reliably well supported. Still you had to accept some wildly fantastic concepts. But then, science fiction is like that. While I don't agree with all of the positions presented, I could still recommend this, if just to consider varying views and opinions.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews