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4th out of 24 books
—
4 voters
Stone Junction
Annalee Pearce is a pregnant 16-year-old who has been placed in a corrective centre run by nuns for refusing to co-operate with authorities. Once in there, she soon rebels, breaks a sister's jaw with a "roundhouse right" and, when her son Daniel is born, she steals away into the rain.
Paperback, 384 pages
Published
September 11th 1998
by Grove Press
(first published 1990)
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I'm too tired to organize my thoughts into coherent paragraphs, so instead here's a numbered list thingy, sorry if it's lacking in artistry.
1. I'm about 99 percent sure I've read this before, but I can't remember much of anything about it. When I went to my library to find something else today, this just leapt off the shelf at me, so.
2. Not many books seriously grab you with the first five or ten pages; this one had me riveted by the end of the first paragraph.
3. Jim Dodge –- like Pynchon, thou...more
1. I'm about 99 percent sure I've read this before, but I can't remember much of anything about it. When I went to my library to find something else today, this just leapt off the shelf at me, so.
2. Not many books seriously grab you with the first five or ten pages; this one had me riveted by the end of the first paragraph.
3. Jim Dodge –- like Pynchon, thou...more
Feb 05, 2012
Drew
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Drew by:
thomas pynchon
Shelves:
recommended-by-other-authors
I think the last time I was this gripped right from the beginning of a book was when I read House of Leaves, and the time before that was probably Infinite Jest. Stone Junction isn't really much like either of those, though, so don't get the wrong idea. House of Leaves is gimmicky and academic, and Infinite Jest is long and fairly difficult. Stone Junction is significantly shorter* and definitely way more accessible. On the title page it calls itself an "alchemical potboiler." Using the word pot...more
No puedo dar una opinión, pero me dejó sabor La subasta del Lote 49, 1Q84, Hijos de la media noche...
Sep 01, 2009
Ollie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Americana aficionados and Magic Realists
Recommended to Ollie by:
my boyfriend
Thomas Pynchon, in his introduction to this novel, talks of a story grounded on Magic (with a capital M) from a time before the internet appeared in our lives. In my view, it's the kind of mysticism which was sought by the Beats (one of them, Gary Snyder, is even thanked in the novel); a form of American Magic Realism as seen through a hashish haze, to the sound of rock & roll.
Like Gabriel García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (the epitome of Magic Realism), giant characters come...more
Like Gabriel García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (the epitome of Magic Realism), giant characters come...more
This book is a mix between Lord of The Rings, Huckleberry Finn, On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I loved it! I recommend this book to anyone who liked the above books, and also people who need books to move fast or end up reading books in short spurts (on the bus) or work a job where they need to leave the world for a while and get totally absorbed. I couldn't put it down and the writing is smart, the characters are just as memorable as anything that Krauss could write- minus any...more
I think I first became aware of this book when searching Amazon for "Haight-Ashbury." I finished it a few weeks ago, and I MISS IT! To have that life, to have people approach the world that way -- man, to have someone take me to a remote ranch with the directives to contemplate, to notice, to think...well, that would outshine a lotto win. I'd explode with happiness! And you get to DO that while you read this mangificent measure of a book. It's pretty obvious I can't contain my zeal. I want to co...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
If you have not yet read Jim Dodge, start with Fup, the "fable that became a fable." Fup sets the perfect tone for Stone Junction and introduces a recurring, if minor character in the later. Both stories are deeply moving, full of insight, and written with incredible heart and humor. I also recommend saving the great introduction by Thomas Pynchon until the end, as he gives away plot points that are better left as undiscovered surprises.
Stone Junction reads like a literary Frankenstein construct - equal parts Tom Robbins' whimsy, Umberto Eco's esotericism, and Ken Kesey's individualism/anarchism, yet it is all Jim Dodge's brilliance. If this witches brew makes you blanche in horror then avoid this book. If, however, like me, it whets your imagination and sets your mind to salivating, then by all means crack the covers and come dance at the monster's ball!
Stone Junction will introduce you to the AMO - The Alliance of Magicians a...more
Stone Junction will introduce you to the AMO - The Alliance of Magicians a...more
This is a great, different and interesting book. It starts off really well, has some truly colourful characters and the story winds and weaves towards who knows where but... then it falls of the rails a little towards the end.
I am not 100% sure if my review is too low, as it really is a great book, but it's quite long, takes it's time building you up and the payoff is a little - weird and ultimately not very satisfying.
It's such a strange book that I am not really confident in my review, it is...more
I am not 100% sure if my review is too low, as it really is a great book, but it's quite long, takes it's time building you up and the payoff is a little - weird and ultimately not very satisfying.
It's such a strange book that I am not really confident in my review, it is...more
Apr 15, 2013
Nic Margett
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of Neil Gaiman
Shelves:
fantasy
I thought this was a fantastic book. A great storyline with some imaginative characters. I, like quite a few other reviewers, felt it did slow down a little in the third chapter (there are only four) but i was so addicted that i literally read the final two thirds of the book in what should have been a more productive day off (depending on your point of view of what constitutes productive!)
With it's use of magic in an everyday world, this book definitely reminded me of Neil Gaiman. It's really e...more
With it's use of magic in an everyday world, this book definitely reminded me of Neil Gaiman. It's really e...more
This book sets its own terms, existing somewhere in the lands of political fantasy--if such a geography exists. Here lives an underground and ancient, loosly-organized collaboration among those who have always lived outside the law. This loose confederation of anarchists, magicians, gamblers, alchemists--and others who live in a counter-economy//counter culture--has its own codes of honor which easily substitutes for rules.
This organization and the characters that interact with it are the protag...more
This organization and the characters that interact with it are the protag...more
1st from dodge for me...kindle version...subtitled: an alchemical pot-boiler. copyright 1990
w/an introduction from pynchon...copyright 1997
dedication: to my brother bob, whose courage and humor are a constant inspiration even if he catches fish like he catches cards.
followed by some gratitude...looks like a pile of folk
and heh! i love this 1st line of the intro from pynchon, having just now completed a reading of Love and War in California: A Novel, a story that has this same notion, almost verb...more
w/an introduction from pynchon...copyright 1997
dedication: to my brother bob, whose courage and humor are a constant inspiration even if he catches fish like he catches cards.
followed by some gratitude...looks like a pile of folk
and heh! i love this 1st line of the intro from pynchon, having just now completed a reading of Love and War in California: A Novel, a story that has this same notion, almost verb...more
I had this book recommended by a friend who's usually right about movies and old school death metal. He said I would probably like this book, and somehow he was correct. This book manages to spin a magical tale of metaphysical self development out of what should be a landscape of downtrodden Americana. Meditation in the mountains, high rolling poker games, messing around with the CIA and other agencies of law and order. Throughout it displayed a sense of justice / balance, showed characters in b...more
Reminded me of the Celestine Prophecy in a rather unflattering way. Even before magic entered the picture, the characters, the situations, and the overuse of coincidence made the whole thing feel like a utopian fantasy. That wouldn't have been as bad if Dodge had embraced the absurdity of things to a greater degree (see: Tom Robbins). Instead, it just felt cheap and lazy.
That said, the book had its moments. Daniel's childhood was engaging, if improbable, and the first third of the book was hard...more
That said, the book had its moments. Daniel's childhood was engaging, if improbable, and the first third of the book was hard...more
I discovered this amazing novel completely by accident
several years ago when I did a keyword search for “Thomas
Pynchon”. And lo—what should come rocketing back
from the wilds of Googlesville but this strange and
wonderful tale. What you have before you is good
old-fashioned American storytelling at its very finest:
a coming-of-age/unlikely heroic orphan story, with
some really exquisitely rendered passages of magical
realism and drug-fueled escapism—more than just a well
written, genre ben...more
several years ago when I did a keyword search for “Thomas
Pynchon”. And lo—what should come rocketing back
from the wilds of Googlesville but this strange and
wonderful tale. What you have before you is good
old-fashioned American storytelling at its very finest:
a coming-of-age/unlikely heroic orphan story, with
some really exquisitely rendered passages of magical
realism and drug-fueled escapism—more than just a well
written, genre ben...more
I can see what seems to appeal to so many in this book but it left me cold. A woman and her son are taken under the wing of a collective of anarchists and magicans and end up joining the fight against "the man". Gradually the story gets ever more fantastic as the man daniel grows and gets taught various skills culminating in the heist of the worlds biggest diamond. I just could not relate to any of the characters except they reminded me of some very overwrought addled monologues I had to listen...more
This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. An odyssey of a boy's journey into adulthood which isn't what it always what it seems as he explores a world behind a world filled with outlaws, renegades, magicians, alchemists, group sex, poker, pirate DJs, diamonds, corrupt CIA agents, bombs, mentally deranged. Yes, this book has it all and it takes place pre-internet era, but still retains a world that both feels visceral, somatic, and magical. A book that explores the whys, wherefores...more
What to say about this book. I was trying to collect my thoughts about the uncollected thoughts of this author and I am frankly at a loss. There is so much to like about this book it just didn't come together for me. It was like "on the road" meets the boring parts of "the dresden files". not a bad book but really needed a more centralizing plot. If you like supernatural and journey stories it is worth checking out but if you don't like just a story where things happen and your just reading abou...more
If Hunter Thompson sat down to write an all-American Harry Potter--this would be it.
Richard Braughtigan with plot and no suicide.Tim Robbins with less whimsey. This book
is unfairly obscure because it is awesomely entertaining and wonderful.
a sixties fueled, magic addled mythic race across America by young Daniel Pearce
as he tries to become a man and solve the mystery of the death of his mother, the greatest,
sexiest, straight shootin proto-hippie there ever was.
This is one of those books where the plot is original and the pace is upbeat, the characters are well-desribed and the twists are in abundance, but overall the work falls well short of the sum of its parts. I really wanted to like Stone Junction. I enjoyed its Pynchon-Tom Robbins kind of Americana raw boned wide-eyed American late 20th century style, with occasional touches of Richard Ford-like blatantly non pretentious poetic observations-- but only up to a certain point. Then it kept going, an...more
This is one of my favorite books of all time. I got it in San Francisco for a dollar or two, from a drifter peddling books placed upon the sidewalk. A little known gem about a wayward orphaned youth who avenges his mothers death with the help of alchemists, outlaws, magicians, gamblers, and all kinds of hustlers. Here's a summation from a fellow fan on Goodreads:
"This book is a mix between Lord of The Rings, Huckleberry Finn, On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."
Yep.
"This book is a mix between Lord of The Rings, Huckleberry Finn, On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."
Yep.
Stone Junction By Jim Dodge
Well this is the first Jim Dodge book that I've
read and have to say it was pretty rivetting
reading he is like a cross between Tom Robbins,
Harry Crews, Kurt Vonnegut with a hint of Carlos
Casteneda. the book rips along through many
twists and turns as the plot of the sinister
underground organisation builds and builds
through more and more unbelievable happenings
and events, I had trouble putting it down.
Well this is the first Jim Dodge book that I've
read and have to say it was pretty rivetting
reading he is like a cross between Tom Robbins,
Harry Crews, Kurt Vonnegut with a hint of Carlos
Casteneda. the book rips along through many
twists and turns as the plot of the sinister
underground organisation builds and builds
through more and more unbelievable happenings
and events, I had trouble putting it down.
Nov 20, 2008
Lynda
added it
I discovered this book in high school while browsing the library Fiction section. I read it, loved it, and borrowed the same copy from the library a 2nd time while still in high school, and then found it again years later after getting laid off. I just re-read it again about a month ago, and I still love it. I keep discovering new things in the story based on new perspectives I've gained in my own experiences.
Ritmo narrativo perfecto, personaxes envidiables, un sistema educativo tentador (mais analóxico). Notei, literalmente, cómo se me ralentizaba o corazón ó rematar - e cómo pesaba máis. Tamén se aprecia o intento de alonxarse do falogocentrismo, con personaxes femeninas fortes, fascinantes, independentes e case perfectamente libres (incluso da sociedade), pero queda niso: nun bo intento.
Desgraciadamente, falla a última parte toda, cando o narrador deixa de comunicarse eficazmente cun lector que a...more
Desgraciadamente, falla a última parte toda, cando o narrador deixa de comunicarse eficazmente cun lector que a...more
Daniel Pearse's journey from childhood to adulthood amid magic, mayhem and mysticism all guided by the Alliance of Magicians and Outlaws. In a series of apprenticeships young Daniel learns meditation, safe cracking, poker and the art of becoming invisible. This description is entirely inadequate -- this is one of those books in regard to which the reader never knows what will happen next.
I was so wowed by this book on initial reading about a dozen years ago that I bought copies for friends, re-reading it in short order. Last year I read it for a third time and only to wonder what I had ever seen in it. A curious book that seems to elicit extreme responses (even in the same reader!). I'm hoping years from now I'll rediscover it and rediscover what I loved about it.
My all time favourite book. I don't have a second favourite there are loads I don't normally like to riaj one favourite as I have different things expedia different moods. This is my exception. Again with the bitter plot lines that I love. The plot can't really be summarised in a few words but everyone I lent this to loves it. Why do my favourite writers only do a handful of books
I think I liked this book. It's different and well written. I found the first half great. It moved quickly, the characters were well developed and the story was intriguing. Then it started to loose me. The pace slowed and it became a little boring. I also thought the ending was a poor, I wanted more. I wanted it all to connect better than it did. I almost felt like Daniels ending was a bit of a cop out and it didn't fit. It was almost like the main story was hijacked by a secondary one. Any stor...more
Stone Junction has the back bone of a Tom Robbins novel: exotic characters and extraordinary adventures along with a playful sense of humor. There are a lot of aspects about this book I enjoyed, but overall the story just didn't come together. The plot took shape very well at the beginning. At about the half-way point it started to fall apart a little and ultimately the final execution left me wanting more.
SJ is very much the type of adventure book I love reading, but the last 1/3 of the book f...more
SJ is very much the type of adventure book I love reading, but the last 1/3 of the book f...more
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Jim Dodge is an American novelist and poet whose works combine themes of folklore and fantasy, set in a timeless present. He has published three novels, Fup, Not Fade Away and Stone Junction and a collection of poetry and prose, Rain on the River. Dodge was born in 1945 and grew up as an Air Force brat. As an adult he spent many years living on an almost self-sufficient commune in West Sonoma Coun...more
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“Let's get really fucked up and full of sentimental despair and then finally decide life, despite very heartbreak and anguished cry, is worth each pulse and breath”
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“a national government is bad enough, but this administration is the largest collection of scoundrels and morons in recent memory.”
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Jan 26, 2011 12:40pm
Jan 26, 2011 12:41pm