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Monday, February 23, 2009

Car. Harry Crews

Car
Harry Crews
William Morrow, 1972.

A shockingly good story. Herman, the son of a junkyard owner, decides he is going to make his claim for fame by eating a car. The short novel follows the repurcussions within and out of their small family.

The writing is intense, the strange psychology of all characters is at once absurd and utterly believable. Crews is successfully able to tie together a devotion and obsession with pop culture, an expose of crass commercialism, and a wholly believable look at some strange sexuality, in a way which is riveting, disturbing, and fun.

I must get my hands on more of his books, but they are apparently all highly sought-after...

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Radio Free Albemuth. Philip K. Dick

Radio Free Albemuth Philip K. Dick
Arbor House: 1985.

Dick is known for his paranoid-loner-goes-against-the-system theme, and this book fits in well. Dick himself is a sort of side-kick character in the story. It is always interesting to me when authors are characters in their own stories, but this lacked the self-reflectivity and suspense that the Dark Tower excelled in.

Dick published the complete "Valis Triology" during his life--the first volume of which is Timothy Archer, the novel that got me hooked on PKD in the first place. Albemuth is a sort of prequel posthumously published.

Nicholas is a Berkeley loser who receivs helpful transmissions from aliens. He bcomes one of a vanguard underground whose task is to help humanity return to the cosmic consciousness it lost zillions of years ago. The last person who tried to help was Jesus. Now, an Orwellian dictator is in power, and the aliens are sending signals to select humans to help them resist.

Well-written, great cosmic insights along with fluff, and a good psychlogically interesting story.

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