Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 04, 2009

terrycojones rated it:

It's a toss up whether to give this 4 or 5 stars. In the end I went with 4 because giving it 5 would leave no clear category for books that are even better. I tend to ignore people who rate everything as a 5.

Having said that, The Sot-Weed Factor is a great read. In high school one of my classmates asked our wonderful English teacher for a list of books he'd recommend. I kept the list for years. There were probably 4 Barth titles on it and I eventually got to them.

The Sot-Weed More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2010

Bob rated it:

A true picaresque novel, “The Sot-Weed Factor” follows the trials and tribulations of one Ebenezer Cooke, the Poet and Laureate of Maryland. This is a randy, irreverent and truly satisfying book. Sblood, the thing is a long-winded, but it is also a rousing romp across two continents with all the intrigue and sex of a James Bond story. Of course, the thing is clever and intricate, but I wouldn’t have read the 800+ pages if it wasn’t also laugh-out-loud funny.

During the two weeks it More...

0 comments like

Jun 25, 2009

Adam rated it:

Reading this out loud, which is a good experience. Older novels were designed for reading out loud and this one is very at home with being in the style of the earlier period (17th century). Having trouble deciding its agenda. At times, it seems its interest extends no farther than being a historical novel, a novel written later as though it were written earlier - with little cuts in its interest, accordant with the true period in which it was written, but in no wise meant to undermine its gen More...

0 comments like

Apr 02, 2010

Mark rated it:

This may be the funniest book I have ever read. The story follows Ebenezer Cooke, who actually existed, and actually wrote a poem called The Sot-Weed Factor. The novel itself is Mr. Barth's imagining of what led Eben to write such a disillusioned satire about his terrible experience in Maryland. He is vexed along the way by a revolving door cast of characters, gets a lesson in Maryland history (my personal favorite scene, because it's basically about how Virginia and Pennsylvania have been tryin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 21, 2011

David rated it:

This true American masterpiece is written like a 17th century literary novel. The style could well be Fielding, except that Barth is even more hilarious.At a time when minimalist novelists seem to be in vogue, I revelled in the intelligent richness of the elaborate quixotic tale woven by Barth. When a novelist can write as well as peers like Saul Bellow or V.S. Naipaul, then a maximalist style like Barth's is to be savoured. Poor chaste poet laureate, Ebenezer Cooke, encounters harsh reality at More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 29, 2011

Carrie rated it:

A few years ago a creative writing teacher recommended that I read this book after writing a trite little fake-historical fiction short story about an artists' colony in Massachusetts Bay around 1636. The Sot-Weed Factor is the kind of book that makes you feel worthless as a writer for its sheer brilliance. I have quickly abandoned all hope of ever rewriting that narrative from 2008 ever again because John Barth has already written it in a way that will overshadow any kind of fiction that dare t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 29, 2011

Jamie rated it:

A sprawling and sarcastic tale about the founding of Maryland and the Colonies in general, The Sot-Weed Factor was hilarious in most parts, heart-wrenching in others, and endlessly frustrating in the foolish choices Barth has his characters make. The prose is written in a facsimile of colonial speech patterns which does take some getting used to, but once you gather the rhythms of the speech patterns it actually becomes quite enjoyable. I wouldn't recommend this book to everybody, but for people More...

0 comments like

Jul 22, 2011

Rob rated it:

(8/10) At first I was tempted to dismiss The Sot-Weed Factor as a well-crafted but unaffecting exercise in stylistic mimicry, much like Cloud Atlas. But as I kept on reading, I started enjoying it. And then I started really enjoying it. Barth has created eighteenth-century shilling-shocker that really was, moving the book along with ridiculous plot twists, dirty jokes, and sheer momentum and joy. Despite Barth's reputation for post-modern academic trickery, The Sot-Weed Factor is first and f More...

0 comments like

Jan 22, 2009

Zachary rated it:

Hilarious and wonderfully ribald treatment of the nature of innocence, identity and good works in the 'New World'. Barth's shining moments are his mimickry of 17th century poetry, the constant barrage of fart jokes, and his satirical retelling of the John Smith/Pocahontas story, in which John Smith doesn't come out looking as smooth has he did in his own version. A 'metafiction', consisting mostly of stories told by people Eben Cooke, the protagonist, meets on his adventures (a la Chaucer), this More...

0 comments like

Aug 03, 2009

Sarah rated it:

Absolutely hysterical. I almost groaned and put the book back down when I realized it's done in the style of Tom Jones, but thank GOD I made myself finish the second chapter because right at the end John Barth slips something that made me shake my head and re-read the last paragraph at least five more times.
And that's the best way I can describe how to read this book. Be careful. If you go too fast or aren't paying attention you'll pass by some of the funniest lines you've ever laid eyes More...

0 comments like

Jul 30, 2011

Ronald rated it:

This book somehow came to my library in the late 1970s and I first read it in 1979. I had only vague recollections of it, but this time found it a fascinating and hilarious read. A fictitious tale based on a well-known poem of the same name by a genuine poet, Ebenezer Cooke, the entire book is written in the style and vernacular of the late 17th century. Reading it was especially enjoyable when I could sit in front of a computer and look up the unfamiliar words on the OED and locate the exact ac More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 30, 2010

David rated it:

"The Sot-Weed Factor" é um livro magnífico, por várias razões.
Para começar, está muitíssimo bem escrito; e sem artificialismos, o que, para um romance que intenta (e consegue!) capturar o linguarejar e os modos do século XVII, é extraordinário. A narrativa conta as desventuras de Ebenezer Cooke, o auto-proclamado «poeta e virgem», que, num golpe do destino, é mandatado como poeta laureado da colónia norte-americana de Maryland para viajar até essa região do Novo Mundo e compor a " More...

1 comment like

Oct 12, 2010

Sam rated it:

I read this a long time ago, but I still consider it one of my all-time favorites. I was able to master the dialect in this one, while I got stymied by the math references in Giles Goat-Boy. I never made it through that one, which is supposed to be even better. This one, though, was one of those books that took some work, but gave back the rewards. It is clever and entertaining. It delves daringly far into some really primal archetypes. I haven't been able to work my way through it a secon More...

0 comments like

Feb 01, 2012

Russ marked it as to-read

Diving in. This book is huge.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 18, 2011

Sharyl rated it:

An amazing piece of work, The Sot-Weed Factor is an hilarious satire set in the 17th century and written in a style that reflects that time. The many plot twists keep the reader going, and the colorful vocabulary is part of the fun. In one section, there are several pages devoted to a verbal name-calling battle between two women who come up with about a hundred synonyms for the word "prostitute." There are long conversations filled with double entendre, unbelievable boasts, and of cour More...

0 comments like

Nov 11, 2010

Martin rated it:

The Sot-Weed Factor was a gift from my Aunt, who, in her inscription, said that she hoped I enjoy one of her favorite books. Well, mission accomplished: it may now be one of my favorite books as well. Written in the 1960s in quasi-Elizabethan English, The Sot-Weed Factor both mocks, and is, a huge, sprawling, picaresque tale in the grand 18th century tradition. The story is a huge, chaotic romp through the beginnings of America in the late 17th century, filled with pirates, “salvages,” stormy More...

0 comments like

Dec 11, 2009

Thomas rated it:

This is a virtuoso performance. John Barth is a born storyteller, and The Sot-Weed Factor makes full use of his talents. There are tales within tales, here, and they're all told with a seductive sense of humor.

The story follows a woefully innocent (you could say naive) young poet on his travels from the Old Country to the New. He meets a vast number of characters on his journey, many of whom seek to take advantage of his innocence (or take his life). His companion on his journey is a More...

0 comments like

Jul 22, 2011

Eric rated it:

I admit it: I stopped with about 200 pages to go. It's too long and I think it's silly to finish a book just for the feeling of finality, rather than actually wanting to.
The Sot-Weed Factor is an amusing book but not much else. The jokes are funny, if often crude, but the characters are fairly shallow and their traits get repeated again and again. I laughed out loud; I did not feel any empathy. Barthes' constant re-tellings of prior events, the same characters showing up in different guise More...

0 comments like

Jun 06, 2008

Michael rated it:

I appreciate what Barth does in this novel, essentially riffing on the 18th century historical novel (I believe the Sot-Weed Factor was published around 1960). He does it with a great deal of humor and, at least it seems to me, authenticity. Alas, I have tried twice and I just can't read more than about 50 pages of the thing.

My problem is mainly this: I don't like reading books written in the 18th century. I don't like the style of writing or the way people spoke, especially when More...

1 comment like

Jul 18, 2007

Mike rated it:

Please don't be put off by the size of this book, or by any reviews saying it is a difficult read. It's true it is a big, big book, and it is written in the language of an 18th century novel, but it's actually a fairly quick and largely fun read. This was my first Barth, but I definitely plan on reading more of his stuff. The Sot-Weed Factor is a funny book. His humor sort of reminds me of Tom Robbins, in that it's a little mischievous and childish, but also intelligent and not something ever More...

0 comments like

Nov 21, 2010

Mr. Brammer rated it:

There are many things to quibble about with Barth's hugely ambitious tale of Ebenezer Cooke - first of all, the number of coincidences that pile up at the end almost cause a narrative trainwreck - thankfully, the ending is satisfying without being pat. The Sot-Weed Factor is a satire of the big, wordy 18th Century novel, and references abound to Defoe, Jones and Sterne. Barth is not afraid to plumb the depths of scatological humor - there are many jokes involving bodily functions, and somewh More...

0 comments like

Dec 20, 2008

ryan rated it:

i read this the summer i lived in the alf haus. i liked it at the time but a year or so later, in doing some research on colonial maryland, i wrote of critique on barth and his floating brothel inspired by a historian who could only devote a line to the anachronism. while i don't consider it an anachronism (ideology has no history); i do think it says something about the sad little boy released by academic rockstardom with a knack for fiction. i have to admit, i am a sucker for bad poems.

0 comments like

May 24, 2009

Alice rated it:

It is a truly marvelous book in so many ways: history, humor, and storytelling are just three of its virtues. I had a low level hum going on a majority of pages as I chortled to myself. I also particularly enjoyed the fact that John Barth wrote this book using the syntax and spellings from several centuries ago. Having never read John Barth before, I now understand why he is considered an absolute genius of the literary world.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 03, 2009

John rated it:

Marylanders, Colonial historians, and lovers of a good yarn alike owe it to themselves to read this Candide of the modern age. Barth weaves a complex and compelling tapestry of circumstance and characters that will make your head spin. I can't describe it well enough here to do it justice. Please check amazon.com for a more detailed account of its attributes and then do yourself the favor of purchasing a copy.

0 comments like

Aug 16, 2009

Lark rated it:

There were things in this book I found hilarious. There's no cruder, raunchier, and probably truer-to-history retelling of the American colonial period. It's a zing of social commentary, no question.
So I had a hard time with the depiction of women. If they weren't calculating heartless b*tches who wield their seductive powers to take down the innocent, they WERE the innocents and subjected to some very graphic rape fantasies.
It wasn't until the end of the book that I realized th More...

0 comments like

Sep 30, 2011

Austin rated it:

Liked it while I was reading it, but in retrospect maybe too much of a genre exercise to really be considered such a great classic. I wasn't aware at the time that "The Sot-Weed Factor" was meant to be a kind of parody of the "Tom Jones" rake-makes-good tale popular in the 18th Century. Still, it was a pretty compulsive read and Barth's ability to construct stylized prose is unassailable.

0 comments like

Sep 03, 2011

Jason rated it:

Ebenezer Cooke, Poet Laureate of Maryland is useless as a protagonist in a way that I find at once obnoxious, familiar, and even a little endearing. This might be the only John Barth novel I actually like reading, but I respect and enjoy it enough to consider him my favorite author. As a historical farce, it maybe descends a little too readily into ridiculous flights-of-fancy, but I can look past all that.

0 comments like

Aug 18, 2009

Sean rated it:

A completely preposterous, hilarious and brilliant book about, among a million other things, the evils of innocence. Written beautifully in 17th century prose, in which time the book is set. About Ebeneezer Cooke, possibly the poet laureate of the colony of Maryland, depending on whom you believe, which in this book should be no one at all. Every character he meets has at least one lengthy story to tell, always fascinating, about events seemingly distant from Cooke's story, yet which inevitably More...

0 comments like

Aug 24, 2010

David rated it:

For a book rumored to be difficult to read, I had no difficulty and enjoyed it immensely. The book is large, but I do not think Barth could have accomplished what he does in any less space. It has a story that is both comic and compelling. Suspenseful and entertaining. It has the feel of the historic, but says things that never would have been said for a piece from the period. My final summation would have to be a book with plenty to chew on which still yet doesn't chip teeth.

0 comments like

Sep 17, 2011

Mark rated it:

Goodreads just recommended this to me, which is odd, because it's one of my favorite books. I really love this one. It's pure entertainment, with a wonderful cast of characters and plenty of humor. Don't even read it as an 'important literary text' or whatever (even though it is). You could devour this like Harry Potter, only better written.

0 comments like