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7th out of 60 books
—
48 voters
Just a Couple of Days
by
Tony Vigorito (Goodreads Author)
Blip Korterly kicks off a game of graffiti tag on a local overpass by painting a simple phrase: "Uh-oh." An anonymous interlocutor writes back: "When?" Blip slyly answers: "Just a couple of days." But what happens in just a couple of days? Blip is arrested; his friend, Dr. Flake Fountain—a molecular biologist—is drafted into a shadow-government research project conducting...more
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
April 2nd 2007
by Mariner Books
(first published September 1st 2001)
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Some people play the lottery. Some people go to the casino. Some people bet on the horses. When I want to gamble, I go to Borders and walk around. I look at books all over the story. And then I gamble on a book I've never heard before. This time, I hit the jackpot. Vigorito's prose is lyrical, flowing and downright funny. I'm having a lot of fun reading this book while taking a break from the king-hell bummer that is Palast's book. A lot of the authors I read rarely do so well on a first novel....more
"Some people learn to tinker with nucleotides, some people learn to walk quietly, I suppose."
Overall, a pretty good and funny book. It had some similarities to Cat's Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.).
The bad:
There were several portions though where the characters acted in ways that just didn't seem natural. For instance: Somehow General Kiljoy (fitting name btw) is AMAZINGLY observant when someone else is going to the bathroom and he's in another part of the building. Yet the protagonist is able to wr...more
Overall, a pretty good and funny book. It had some similarities to Cat's Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.).
The bad:
There were several portions though where the characters acted in ways that just didn't seem natural. For instance: Somehow General Kiljoy (fitting name btw) is AMAZINGLY observant when someone else is going to the bathroom and he's in another part of the building. Yet the protagonist is able to wr...more
I actually appreciate his political, social, spiritual, etc. orientations as much or more than the actual story plot--at least at times. He seems to use the story-line in order to promote his value system, and he is not alone in this; yet it is so obvious that it distracts the reader from full participation in the actual story-line, and I found myself resenting this 'poetic license' at times.
As I said in a previous review of Vigorito's work, he needs a editor who is able to both understand what...more
As I said in a previous review of Vigorito's work, he needs a editor who is able to both understand what...more
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Just a Couple of Days is a thought provoking, intellectual farce that will have you reading one of its two page chapters and thinking about what you just read for twenty minutes. Its definitely funny, but I was expecting more after reading the high praise it got from the author of Lamb. It's very easy to compare it to Cat's Cradle, and it is obvious that Vigorito is a fan of Vonnegut. It is a fantastic first novel, and I am excited to see what else this author can write. My only complaint is tha...more
Well hello, Tony Vigorito!!! This book was well written and hilarious. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a light read--something in the vein of Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett with less of an investment in understanding an "out there" world.
The story starts with a simple vandalism and from there blows out of proportion, with secret labs and government experiments gone awry. I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of humor, science, and exploitation of stereotypes. Don't expect this book to last m...more
The story starts with a simple vandalism and from there blows out of proportion, with secret labs and government experiments gone awry. I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of humor, science, and exploitation of stereotypes. Don't expect this book to last m...more
A great book for the ponderous spirit. The plot is surely an interesting idea, but Mr. Vigorito seems to be another writer more intent on sharing his lingually limber wisps of wisdom (a la Tom Robbins). What I'm saying is: Just a Couple of Days is a great fiction read, but don't expect your action-romance bookclub to get too excited about it. I recommend it to anyone who wants a little supra-ego pick-me-up, but fully expect a large dose of phonetic fornication lying atop a bed of frenzied philos...more
Sep 26, 2009
Alfred Bates
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people in particularly bad situations, intelligent loners, freethinkers.
Shelves:
favourites
I was walking around Borders, wallowing in self-pity and depression, when I found this book. Not to sound like a worshipper, but this really changed the way I think. It opened my mind towards independent thinking rather than listening to other people. Having just detached myself from the punk scene, I was going through a bout of depression, and for some reason, identified with the main character's terrible situation. A dark, amazing book and story in my opinion. Also, the cover has an apple with...more
Jul 07, 2012
Kelly
added it
45: headaches are caused by too much work or stress or fatigue or caffeine, not an aspirin deficiency.
158: I have even heard that fear and love, agony and exstasy, are the same feeling, and that its all a matter of perspective.
181: Among the many irritating inventions humans have devised stands the elevator. Its shafts enable us to scrape the sky (a horrific thought, I might point out), to design a priapic skyline, to stack ourselves, and to kill ourselves in just one more dramatic way. Moreover...more
158: I have even heard that fear and love, agony and exstasy, are the same feeling, and that its all a matter of perspective.
181: Among the many irritating inventions humans have devised stands the elevator. Its shafts enable us to scrape the sky (a horrific thought, I might point out), to design a priapic skyline, to stack ourselves, and to kill ourselves in just one more dramatic way. Moreover...more
I do love Vigorito's debut. It was recommended to me several years ago (when it had the original psychedlic cover!) by Amazon's "If you like this you might enjoy" feature as I had been buying a lot of Tom Robbins. The similarties are obvious; they both write like old hippies on an upper. However Vigorito's prose is not as natural as Robbins, and his divergent essays on genetics, the meaning of life, and human spirituality can be a little annoying collectively. However the storyline and concept a...more
Let me say that I liked this book; however I found it to be a bit of a misrepresentation of pure fiction. So with that said, I feel I need to explain my ranking of only 3 stars for a book I actually enjoyed.
This book is written as a diary or journal of events as witnessed and experienced by the protagonist. Throughout this retelling of events already unfolded, there are multiple tangents taken by the narrator to embark upon speeches discussing topics only tentatively tied to the story. At one p...more
This book is written as a diary or journal of events as witnessed and experienced by the protagonist. Throughout this retelling of events already unfolded, there are multiple tangents taken by the narrator to embark upon speeches discussing topics only tentatively tied to the story. At one p...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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1 like · like · see review
Jun 18, 2008
Matt Miller
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of Vonnegut; Anyone who likes to question existence as they know it.
Recommended to Matt by:
Natalie
This book explores many interesting issues concerning the nature of language, human communication, and philosophies of human nature/existence. And it does so with a Vonnegut-style grim playfulness. JACOD is an enjoyably dark comedy with a surface level conspiracy/adventure/apocalypse story that one can breeze through in...well...just a couple of days, but I think to read it in such a manner would be a diservice to all the potential debates and thought exercises that this book is longing to incit...more
I really enjoyed this book. I'm not going to compare it to Tom Robbins because it holds its own as a completely separate, unique entity. Much better than "Nine Kinds of Naked."
It shifts back & forth between lyrical prose and edge-of-your-seat plot, using witty humor throughout.
The themes, which he comes back to again and again very directly, are ones that I've thought about many times, but maybe never considered in this particular light. Here and there, there are a few loose ends, but I thi...more
It shifts back & forth between lyrical prose and edge-of-your-seat plot, using witty humor throughout.
The themes, which he comes back to again and again very directly, are ones that I've thought about many times, but maybe never considered in this particular light. Here and there, there are a few loose ends, but I thi...more
I went into this book pretty excited from a tiny blurb I read on Amazon...and I am quitting to move on to better things. The story is a satire, but a very disappointing one. In fact, I had to make a new bookshelf in Goodreads for this work, "Not Worth Finishing."
There is one thing that pains me above all else about this book ...Tony Vigorito is trying so hard to rip of Tom Robbins style that it renders his own work unreadable.
The bottom line is that anyone familiar with Tom Robbins would be dis...more
What a great first half! Vigorito sets up the action spectacularly. Unfortunately the second half drags. This book was originally published by a very small press and could have used the talents of a big press editor. Many, many pages of the narrators views on the world could have been purged. Vigorito never gives you the chance to decide what you think of what is going on. He proceeds to tell you, over and over, what everything means.
Vigorito has some great ideas. I would very much like to chec...more
Vigorito has some great ideas. I would very much like to chec...more
1 like · like · see review
I started out really loving this book and ended it with a smile, but there were times in the middle that felt pretty sluggish for me. Vigorito has moments of sheer brilliance as a writer ; now and again he'll write a sentence of passage that I read several times, just rolling it around in my head. Other times, I wish he'd quit with the flowery language and get to the point, which he won't until he's ready. I thought the plot to this was an interesting one and was not anticipating it to play out...more
I had the pleasure to take several classes from Tony for my undergrad minor in sociology. I didn't know he was a novelist when I signed up for the first one, and never got around to reading my copy of Just a Couple of Days until after I was done with college altogether... but I had such strong flashbacks to sitting in a UTC classroom listening to many of the same ideas.
This is a book with a pretty transparent agenda, and it comes across so strongly that I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone...more
This is a book with a pretty transparent agenda, and it comes across so strongly that I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone...more
I was introduced to this book in college when given the option of selling it back for full price if I was unimpressed. Not only did I keep a copy, but bought another for a friend. If you are looking for a fun quirky thought provoking book, and are interested in delving a little beyond the words on the page, then this is a unique find.
I actually took a class taught by this author, and it was fantastic, so I might be biased. Also, I've only read the original print, which apparently has a different ending than the reprint. Tony told my friend that he changed it because he thought it got a little too preachy, but I still liked it.
Wow - this book is just off the charts! I didn't realize I would be one for meta-fiction, but this book made me stop and really think about how the world works. Recommended read from a friend and it tends to be a book that I continue to recommend to my friends for a more thought-provoking read.
I don't know why I love this book so much. The vocabulary is pretentious. But then again, I'm a stuck-up prick and I knew what every one of those big words meant. It's a fun, little end of the world tale and you'll definitely enjoy it, unless you're hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobic.
This was a quirky, weird book. For the first 2/3 that was fine and amusing, but then it just got so bogged down in the quirkiness that the story got lost. I skimmed the last few chapters, intent on finishing it.
A great idea and a happy message.
Full of quotable, whimsical passages and one-liners that overshadow the author's sometimes annoying habit of overindulging in wordplay.
This was my third reading of the book, and although my zeal for it has gone down, I still finished the book in a good mood.
Full of quotable, whimsical passages and one-liners that overshadow the author's sometimes annoying habit of overindulging in wordplay.
This was my third reading of the book, and although my zeal for it has gone down, I still finished the book in a good mood.
Meh. Touted by Amazon or some other blurb I read in a bookstore as Vonnegut-like. I'm being generous with the extra star because there were a few good pages scattered in between a lot of dreck.
Language is fucked. We are God.
Slow for me at some points, but intriguing nonetheless. Filled with fun facts, an adorable side romance, and a feeling of life at the end. Enjoyed!
Slow for me at some points, but intriguing nonetheless. Filled with fun facts, an adorable side romance, and a feeling of life at the end. Enjoyed!
freaking awesome-- fast paced, quick-witted, smart, funny. i wasn't quite sure what i was getting myself into, but vigorito just draws you in and makes it impossible to put this book down.
"UH-OH"
"WHEN?"
"JUST A COUPLE OF DAYS"
Sounds like it was inspired by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
This is my kind of book: It asks the question, "Where do ideas come from?"
Excellent book.
"WHEN?"
"JUST A COUPLE OF DAYS"
Sounds like it was inspired by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
This is my kind of book: It asks the question, "Where do ideas come from?"
Excellent book.
bargain book at borders. enjoyable. I'm pretty sure that the Pied Piper virus is the only disease which I would voluntarily contract. Oh and gotta love those character names...Agent Orange, hee hee.
My all time favorite book! An absolute must read. The only book that has caused me to actually laugh out loud! So great on so many levels!
Started out good, but ended up being an incredible let down..
I felt myself skipping through pages upon pages of artfully crafted yet extremely repetitive prose, making and re-making the same point over and over and over again to the point where I thought where was the editor of this book?
Sad to say I didn't even care for the characters especially the look-how-free-spirited-we-are! couple and the main character whom I felt was way too passive.
In the end there were some good ideas in this book, bu...more
I felt myself skipping through pages upon pages of artfully crafted yet extremely repetitive prose, making and re-making the same point over and over and over again to the point where I thought where was the editor of this book?
Sad to say I didn't even care for the characters especially the look-how-free-spirited-we-are! couple and the main character whom I felt was way too passive.
In the end there were some good ideas in this book, bu...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Vigorito + Jennifer Donnelly Giveaway (International) | 1 | 1 | Sep 04, 2012 04:30pm |
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“Language is a piss poor attempt at telepathy is what it is. We try to put our thoughts into each other's heads through language...But half the intended meaning gets lost in the transmission, and the other half is filtered through existing assumptions. Everything is a half truth!
That's the whole problem! You can't understand me through the smog of your presumptions and prejudices. Multiply that six billion times and you'll begin to understand the desperation of our global situation”
—
6 people liked it
That's the whole problem! You can't understand me through the smog of your presumptions and prejudices. Multiply that six billion times and you'll begin to understand the desperation of our global situation”
“He was unmistakably sipping iced tea with the hatters and the hares.”
—
4 people liked it
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