Swamp’s (The Gyre Mission: Journey to the *sshole of the World, 2012) comic and obscene cautionary tale pits the haves against the have-nots in a remarkably unpleasant future.
Having escaped the poverty of his childhood, claims adjuster Floyd Jasper is now gainfully employed by a large health insurance company. In a nightmarish near-future America suffering the ill effects of post–Citizens United election-buying, he has, because of his profession, become a supremely unpopular man. Just as 99 percent of the U.S. is poor, 99 percent of the insurance company’s claims are denied. The sick have three choices: pay in full, start a payment plan with 75 percent interest, or be executed. Floyd delights in the gruesome nature of the job: though he was born poor, he nevertheless considers these unfortunate souls to be nothing but vermin. Few things weigh heavily on his conscience as he murders, rapes women, and shoots annoying kids in the street. Nevertheless, he is a scathing and wry critic of the oppressive government, the delusional media, and the rich. His intense love for his brother is often on his mind, and a torrid affair with co-worker Gloria Estrella opens up a new dimension in his career and personal life. The mysterious death of his colleague Carl Winters as well as a fateful encounter with a 700-pound woman lead Floyd to believe he’s being stalked, so he goes on the run with Gloria. As he grows into an impromptu inspirational leader, the resulting battles make him question the motives of everyone around him. Swamp’s rollicking and witty prose makes the stomach-turning events somewhat easier to swallow. The narrative is solid, if wordy and long, casting Floyd as a deadpan antihero. Zany though informed, disgusting but relevant, the story offers insight into American class divisions and the general public’s feeling of powerlessness toward the government machine. Think American Psycho if it were written by Carl Hiaasen, plus characters from The Handmaid’s Tale on a lot of hard drugs. If Swamp had been more concise, his book could have taken flight a bit more easily.
Overlong but astonishing social commentary.
Pub Date: April 20, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-31601-6
Page Count: 446
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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