false <![CDATA[The Sea Came in at Midnight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178983799m/861572.jpg 861572 4 God invented millennia for writers like Steve Erickson. Erickson's previous books have buried L.A.'s freeways in sand, set bonfires in Paris streets, and hitched along for the 1996 presidential campaign. In terms of madness, doom, and sheer human folly, what could possibly be left? Plenty, as it turns out. As <I>The Sea Came in at Midnight</I> opens, 17-year-old Kristin works in a Japanese "memory hotel," where despite her so-so looks she's in high demand. As an American, "Kristin represents the Western annihilation of ancient Japanese memory and therefore its master and possessor, a red bomb in one hand, a red bottle of soda pop in the other." After one of her best clients expires in the booth, she finally tells him her own story--which turns out to be quite a tale, involving escape from a millennial suicide cult and nude solitary confinement at the behest of a man known only as the Occupant. Add in the novel's other threads, which span 40 years and include a dream cartographer, a chaos-based calendar, time capsules, and both real and faked snuff films, and you have a heady mixture indeed. Fans of Erickson's unsettling, dreamlike style are legion, and they won't be disappointed in his latest take on the End Time, Blade Runner-style. But in a way, the millennium is beside the point; with a plot like this one, a mere flipping of digits seems so much apocalyptic icing on the cake. Combing a lyrical surrealism with a jittery, jump-cut technique, Erickson writes like the 21st-century heir of Pynchon and DeLillo. <I>--Chloe Byrne</I> 1621053 1999 The Sea Came in at Midnight total:190|5:63|4:71|3:41|2:12|1:3| 190 749 285 26 5 15 false false Tue Aug 11 14:41:07 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 14:54:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jul 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 14:10:10 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 09:35:32 -0700 2009 The story begins with Kristen, who is working at a "memory ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Feb 12 08:41:45 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 12 10:21:42 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 07:46:40 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 13:30:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Tue Feb 12 17:38:04 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 17:55:49 -0800 2008 Chaotic but incisive.

Difficult-to-summarize drama about the intersections of a teenage girl who applies to an ad for a sex slave, an obsessive map-maker determined to give a shape to the madness of the late 20th century, and the woman who invented the snuff film and now seeks to atone. L...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Apr 13 19:18:38 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 19:19:13 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Apr 14 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Sun Apr 26 08:48:14 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 08:55:29 -0700 2009 1 1 false false Tue Nov 20 02:08:22 -0800 2007 Tue Nov 20 02:15:10 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Oct 17 05:02:19 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 17 05:02:19 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Fri May 18 01:01:04 -0700 2007 Fri May 18 01:01:04 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 18:27:42 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 18:35:01 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Feb 12 17:53:37 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 17:54:38 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 26 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 04 21:11:32 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 28 08:18:53 -0800 2009 Tours of the Black Clock). Unlike his other books, the fantastic elements are a little more discreet. I found the notion of the Apocalyptic Calendar fascinating.more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 10 11:12:56 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 10 11:14:30 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu Mar 08 16:02:59 -0800 2007 Thu Mar 08 16:14:24 -0800 2007 1 0 false false Thu Sep 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 11:13:37 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 07:46:46 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Jan 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 14:31:05 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 14:37:07 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Mon Aug 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 04 12:52:23 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 11 22:04:30 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue Mar 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Dec 30 23:48:18 -0800 2007 Wed Apr 01 09:18:04 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Sep 02 10:48:24 -0700 2007 Fri Mar 20 23:25:06 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=861572