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Lord Vishnu's Love Handles: A Spy Novel (Sort Of)
by
Will Clarke
"Lord Vishnu's Love Handles" is the story of a man who is teetering on the edge of financial ruin and insanity until a couple of secret agents teach him what it really means to lose his mind.Travis Anderson has a psychic gift. Or so he thinks. So far he's milked his premonitions only to acquire an upper-middle-class lifestyle -- pretty wife, big house, and a shiny Range Ro...more
Hardcover, 292 pages
Published
June 21st 2005
by Simon & Schuster
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Let's set things straight: Will Clarke's LORD VISHNU'S LOVE HANDLES is a darn funny book--some of it literally laugh-out-loud funny. Clarke's here-it-is, straight-forward style is fun to read, and the author can set up a scene, antagonize his protagonist, then knock it out of the park with ingenuous comedic wit and ease. Clarke's goofy, ultra-fantastic story--about a yuppie psychic who goes to work for the government in exchange for forgiveness of his IRS debt, yet subsequently loses his family...more
Lord Vishnu's Love Handles is unexpectedly fleshy and overly brash. Its protagonist spends so much time shooting his mouth off that I think the author may have forgotten that, as readers, we're probably more apt to enjoy his work if we don't hate its main character. There's no redemption here. There's barely a coherent plot. What there is, in spades, is a lot of unnecessary bawdiness.
The premise is simple, and then convoluted. Yuppie man leads charmed existence, with a side of psychic abilities...more
The premise is simple, and then convoluted. Yuppie man leads charmed existence, with a side of psychic abilities...more
This story of a yuppie with a psychic gift who suddenly finds himself mixed up with covert operatives and Hindu holy men was a mixed bag for me. I loved the premise and loved the title, and enjoyed much of the writing. But I was disappointed in the direction the author took the story and it fell apart for me at the end.
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Not bad for a first novel, I must say. Clarke's characters, while not exactly paragons of literary complexity, are certainly deeper and more detailed than one might expect. He also has a knack for jarring imagery, though a bit of it was a little too-obviously included for shock value. The plot, while not predictable, wasn't particularly inspired, but was still quite fun. I did really like the ending; everything gets wrapped up in a satisfyingly consistent way by having the main character show se...more
Listened to this for an RA SIG. Funny in parts, though the language and sex might offend some. I'm usually pretty good at suspending my disbelief, but this book pushed the limits and, while I was mildly interested in where this might end up, by the time we got there I was bored. Man with mild psychic abilities is taken in to a government program in return for the forgiveness of a $5 million IRS debt. Who can be trusted? Is his wife sleeping with his partner? Is there an alligator in the swimmng...more
I loved this book— it’s an adventure in the mind of a crazy person. In a good way. Travis Anderson, an alcoholic on the edge of financial ruin, has a psychic gift. His family doesn’t know about it, but the government does and Travis is recruited, partially against his own will, to work as a “remote influencer.”
It’s all about plot. It’s surprising, fun, dangerous, nutty. The sci-fi mind-control aspect is a great device. I would put this in the same category as James Hynes. I’ll look for more from...more
It’s all about plot. It’s surprising, fun, dangerous, nutty. The sci-fi mind-control aspect is a great device. I would put this in the same category as James Hynes. I’ll look for more from...more
I started reading Lord Vishnu's Love Handles by Will Clarke a while back. I picked up the book after catching an excerpt of it that sounded fascinating and instantly find it right up my reading alley. The writing was plain, and when I say plain, I mean each sentence was civil enough that all levels of comprehension should be able to read from one sentence to the next without feeling lost.
Amid quite a bit of sarcasm the man has a failing business, a wife he suspects of cheating, and a drinking pr...more
Amid quite a bit of sarcasm the man has a failing business, a wife he suspects of cheating, and a drinking pr...more
I selected the rating, "really liked it," simply because I could not put the book down. But I don't know that I LIKE, LIKED it (to sound a like a teenage girl). The language is not for the faint of heart. And the whole tail is curious - much in the vein of a Tim Robbins book. There probably was some big metaphorical meaning hidden in among on the craziness, but since I was looking for escapism - not theology - I chose to simply read it for the very peculiar, action-adventure that it was....
Wacky read -- plays with concept of reality. Main character plays PSYCHIC cow type game online -- has extremely high scores -- government was monitoring site to find people with psychic ability for secret projects. Found the main character...The high-octane swearing made it very tough for me to enjoy reading this possibly humorous novel. Younger generation book club readers who didn't mind swearing liked it.
A truly inspired, some might say insane, romp through betrayal, paranoia, religious bunk and cops, crooks and IRS agents. Trying to describe the plot of this story is to get the story wrong...you read this story so as to immerse yourself in a bit of weird paranoia that might be slice of life observation if life is being observed while imbibing too many drinks or way to many drugs...
This book was freakin' histerical. It's essentially about a dude who has some magical mind powers. Obviously he thinks he's crazy when he is kidnapped and keeps seeing the "blue genie" but its actually a covert government operation. He's got a douche bag for a business partner and there are definitely lots of twists and turns in this book. I do highly recommend it!
Ah. . . this book was exactly what I was hoping it would be . . . an entertaining if somewhat slight beach read. The plot is bizarre. A Dallas yuppie scum does well enough on a psychic website that he's hired by government contractors and ends up in an all consuming battle of good vs. evil, the stakes being his family's welfare and the future of human kind (or at least Disney World). Clarke's voice isn't all that unique--I kept picking up hints of Bret Easton Ellis here, Tim Sandlin there and th...more
This book was way out of the box for me, and I really enjoyed it. I don't read spy novels, but it was sort of a spoof of them, new age stuff, and Disney world, among other things. I was laughing and also not wanting to put it down. As "out there" as the plot was, it also seemed plausible once you entered the head and life of Travis Anderson, the main character, and I think the first person narration helped in that--a lot! The ending was perfect, and the characters were just--so believable, even...more
This was actually a pretty good story once I got passed the strangeness of the main character. A quick read with lots of action that actaully makes you laugh. By the end I found myself rooting for the main character even though he is a borderline psychotic alcoholic with a foul mouth.
This book is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets Shadow Run (sorry only humans) meets Unbreakable, but it has a soul all its own. It is set in Dallas....poor boring Dallas if only it's good, republican citizens knew what was going on under it's squeaky clean exterior. It is a fast and fun read. The main character has to wade through alcoholism and borderline-schizo apparitions of blue guys as he gets sober and takes on the IRS and secret government organizations and the freaks they employ. All...more
Strange and weird but fast moving and crazy fun. Imagine James Frey never went to rehab and instead became a family man in Texas and developed enhaced mind-reading power as well as (seemingly) outrageous paranoid delusions.
This is a silly, mindless, sometimes annoying comedic romp through the head of a psychic yuppie desperate to please his wife and keep his Stepford family intact - often to the point of "why bother, dude?" It was a mindless read, slightly laughable, to the tune of Tom Robbins (but not nearly as wordsmithy), Christopher Moore, or Carl Hiaasen. Two-and-a-half stars; I'm halfway between it was ok and liked it, but it was a quick read.
This book is crazy, but crazy in a good way. Clarke reminds me of Moore a bit. The psychic action moves fast. There are some great lines and just enough depth to make it all worthwhile. The book definitely pushes 3.5 stars.
I am constantly looking for easy to read entertainment books with different points of views, especially male, and Joe, this is a dude-lit book if I have ever seen one. Funny sometimes, but mostly not...
Fun, quick read. I'm not sure I'd really recommend it to friends, but I definitely enjoyed it. It's kind of science fictiony, but the narrator has a great voice -- kind of an edgier Hornby.
I liked this book. It is about a man living in upper middle class in Dallas and he has pschic abilities that are tapped by a clandestine organization of the US governemnt
It's a quick read, and the story started to get sloppy towards the end. However it's hard not to love the main character if you're imagining him talking like Kenny Powers from Eastbound and Down. Very funny.
This book I found in the clearance bin at Borders for $4. I greatly enjoyed it. Quick fun read. A comic satire of a spy novel about an alcoholic psychic's adventures.
Tia really liked this, but I didn't care for it. Couldn't get into it and never found it anything about it interesting.
Strange, hallucinogenic story of psychic spies. Very bizzare, but fun quick read. Nothing very substantial.
I judged this book by it's hilarious cover and the content more than delivered. It's a good, quick, fun read.
Amazingly stupid,irreverent book but I did laugh out loud. Reminded me of the travel book about Disney.
This is a wacky, unpredictable book. At times creepy, pathetic, annoying, it in nonetheless an entertaining and quick read.
"Shelby is a slut. She is also my wife." What a way to open a story! A fun and quick read. I gave it a "3" because although I enjoyed it immensely, I do not believe I would read it a second time.
A dumb read but funny about a guy that has a psychic gift. It's a spy novel (sort of).
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Feb 16, 2008 02:47pm