book data
316 ratings, 3.90 average rating, 41 reviews
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published
September 10th 2004
by Grove Press
binding
Paperback, 464 pages
isbn
0802141552
(isbn13: 9780802141552)
description
Sewer, Gas & Electric is the exuberant follow-up to Matt Ruff's cult classic and critically acclaimed debut Fool on the Hill.
High above Manha...more
High above Manha...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 446)
Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
Bored sewer rats/objectivist scum.
Sewer, Gas and Electric is an interstate pileup of absurdity of insurmountable proportions. Anyone familiar with science fiction will be on intimate terms with this brand of humor, especially if they have encountered Terry Pratchett or Neil Stephenson. Where Stephenson's novels are accelerated by propulsive narrative/action in the manner of Tom Clancy, and Pratchett at his best is a chaotic slapstick self-referential tornado, S,G&E falls a bit short of humor in an uneasy middle-ground betw...more
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Read in November, 2008
recommended to Jillian by:
Corprewrecommends it for: everyone
This book is FanTasTic, and so fun to read. It combines mind-bending, wacky ideas with neat characters in the setting of New York City in 2023. There's some sci fi and some mystery and Lots of hilarity, I laughed out loud every 10 pages or so. Included in this book are environmental warnings, conspiracy theories, artificial intelligence, and some very interesting ideas about how Americans really feel about black people. All of this is wrapped up in a clever package that you should read.
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If really mind-bending science fiction is the main course then this would be dessert. It's a meta-science-fiction mash-up which wins your heart with its witty, if unlikely plotline and hilarous characters. A Gibson-esque omniscient supercomputer owned by a megacorporation wreaks havok on the world. Only this time. . .it's the Disney corporation, and the computer is trying to force the world to obey cartoon logic - obeying misheard dinner orders from it's creator as final commands. The protago...more
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Read in October, 2004
New York im Jahre 2023. Philo Dufresne, ein Schwarzer mit grünen Augen (und gerade diese Augenfarbe rettete ihn vor der Ausrottung 2004), kämpft mit seinem U-Boot als Ökopirat gegen Harry Gant. Dieser wiederum ist wie in kleiner Junge, der immer höher hinaus will. Sein Ziel: einen Turm namens Babel zu bauen. Harry's Exfrau wiederum kämpft zuerst in der Kanalisation gegen einen mutierten Hai und geht danach der Frage nach, ob es vielleicht ein Roboter war, der Amberson Teaneck - einen Typ de...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommended to Vanessa by:
Monicarecommends it for: non-Objectivists
I had a hard time deciding how many stars to give this book. Overall, I thought the book was kind of stupid and ridiculous, but eventually it charmed me, and I ultimately ended up liking it. Everything about the story is overly complicated—plot, characters, and definitely the jokes. I think the best analogy I can come up with for this book is that it's like one really long, goofy joke that the person telling it thinks is really funny and they're so enthusiastic that you end up laughing (or at ...more
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Read in September, 2007
This is now the second book by Matt Ruff I've read. He has a gift for madcap chaos and incorporating literary and historical references in a way that is more amusing than exclusive. Sewer, Gas and Electric is a crazy ride through an imagined future where mutant sharks roam the sewers of New York City, an enthusiastic industrialist is building a new Tower of Babel, Ayn Rand is resurrected in a hurricane lamp, and all the dirty work is done by androids known as Electric Negroes.
Ruff touches...more
Ruff touches...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in November, 2007
recommended to Dan by:
igtrtsootbcrecommends it for: nobody I like
I had to stop. I'm sorry. I hate not finishing books but this one increasingly felt like a waste of my ever precious reading minutes.
Yeah, this book is crap.
This book was very bad. It is not genius, clever, or even that interesting. The characters are not developed in any real way and the premise and plot situations are sophomoric and trite. This reads like a college student who had just read some philosophy and other literature decided to write a novel based on what he'd just learned. H...more
Yeah, this book is crap.
This book was very bad. It is not genius, clever, or even that interesting. The characters are not developed in any real way and the premise and plot situations are sophomoric and trite. This reads like a college student who had just read some philosophy and other literature decided to write a novel based on what he'd just learned. H...more
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Read in April, 2008
This book is Zany--with a capital Z. Whether that's good or bad depends on your perspective. Ruff seems to have tossed every wacky idea he's ever had into one book. Some of it works, some of it doesn't. Because he focuses so much on his ker-razy ideas about the near future, there's no real character development or even differentiation. Most of the main characters seem like platforms for Ruff's various ideas rather than people in their own right. It definitely could have used an editor's stronger...more
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Read in October, 2008
This book is a fantastical science fiction novel that tries to be funny, mainly by being wacky. Does it succeed? Not for me, most of the time. A lot of the humor comes from incongruous situations -- but there's nothing really funny there, so it gets old quickly.
The actual story takes place largely in New York in the year 2023, which is an ecological disaster and has mutants running around the sewers. There's more, but honestly, it doesn't really matter.
There were some parts I enjoyed...more
The actual story takes place largely in New York in the year 2023, which is an ecological disaster and has mutants running around the sewers. There's more, but honestly, it doesn't really matter.
There were some parts I enjoyed...more
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Read in July, 2005
recommends it for:
People with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Aquarians
'Sewer, Gas and Electric' mixes ideology and fantasy in a funny, witty and inventive manner. The novel gives a creative and intelligent consequentialist interpretation of what the world could be like in 2023, while at the same time drawing in philosophical dialogues concerning morality, the environment and unrestrained liberal capitalism.
Would not recommend this book for someone who has difficulty keeping tack of many characters or following multiple plot lines.
May suggest reading Ayn ...more
Would not recommend this book for someone who has difficulty keeping tack of many characters or following multiple plot lines.
May suggest reading Ayn ...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
People interested in futuristic dystopian societies, or Ayn Rand
I finished this a few weeks ago and am still not quite sure what I think of it. I didn't identify with this as strongly as some of Matt Ruff's other work; mostly because it is more Sci-Fi and futuristic than what I typically read. It also has a ton of characters and so can be confusing at times. And, well, some of it is pretty far out there. But all things considered, it was a fun and creative story that traveled in a variety of directions and does inspire some creative thinking. Perhaps li...more
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My favorite of Matt Ruff's books. Like some of his others, it's packed full of characters. This one is very fun, lots of satire and comedy.
It involves robot servants, a flying mutant shark named Meisterbrau, a crew of ecoterrorists who pilot the polka-dotted submarine "Yabba-Dabba-Doo," a hurricane lamp containing the AI representation of Ayn Rand, and a mystery involving a sentient computer which resides underneath Disneyland.
It involves robot servants, a flying mutant shark named Meisterbrau, a crew of ecoterrorists who pilot the polka-dotted submarine "Yabba-Dabba-Doo," a hurricane lamp containing the AI representation of Ayn Rand, and a mystery involving a sentient computer which resides underneath Disneyland.
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Read in September, 2007
A fun book, but drags at certain points. The author is very self-indulgent and makes heavy use of coincidence and deus-ex-machina arrangements so that everything works out in the end. Random chance seems to make as much a contribution to the outcome of the story as any of the characters' efforts.
That said, the world the author describes is rich and interesting. Lots of cool stuff happens and the characters are neat.
That said, the world the author describes is rich and interesting. Lots of cool stuff happens and the characters are neat.
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Read in July, 2007
Hilarious stuff, with eugenics and environmentalism-vs-capitalism to give it depth. The long description of Objectivism (and subsequent arguments about it) was tedious. And, in the end, did anything change? Did the characters grow or learn anything? I know Ruff doesn't like tidy endings, but this utter lack of new insights for his characters gives the ending a weak feel.
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Read in March, 1998
recommends it for:
people who couldn't finish Atlas Shrugged
Somewhere along the way my copy of this disappeared, which makes me sad, because it was a first edition that my ex T.C. bought for me for my 18th birthday. Less of a fairy tale than Ruff's first novel, this is still a dreamy, magical realism tour through a futuristic New York City, full of alligators and hybrids and Ayn Rand in a lamp.
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Read in March, 2007
Wacky, fun and entertaining, while also being very smart and intellectual. Dances with environmental and philosophical topcis through corporate, political, and social storylines, in an impossibly wacky "future". I hadn't laughed so hard or shaken my head at a book like that since I first read Vonnegut.
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very imaginative. i *knew* that the evil of disney would someday be revealed. upon second reading, i've decided i'm really bothered by the whole idea of the pandemic and wonder if it reflects any thoughts of the author. still, this is a very imaginative and fun read. (june 2003)
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Read in January, 2007
Any one who has read the works of Ayn Rand will love this book. While this is NOTHING at all like her works, it is a completely wacky story (where the holographic miniature of Ayn herself, is a character) that will keep you flipping pages as fast as you can absorb.
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
sci fi and other nerds
This was the most fun sci-fiesque book I have read. A malaise holographic Ayn Rand trapped in an oil lamp as a character--a fantasy of mine. A shark that lives in the sewer and is tracked by Bolero played from a watch of long digested Midwesterner? My fav of the Ruffs.
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Read in January, 2006
This was the second time I tried to read this book. I gave up at page 115. There were a lot of amusing things in here and I wanted to like it, but I felt like I was constantly reading digressions and back-stories and there wasn't much forward momentum on
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