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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/780851.Gilligan_s_Wake_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Gilligan's Wake: A Novel" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178291008m/780851.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/780851.Gilligan_s_Wake_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Gilligan's Wake: A Novel</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/169392.Tom_Carson">Tom Carson</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12484901?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a really interesting book. To be honest, it's not something I would have picked up or stayed with if it hadn't been recommended to me by Scott, b/c I really hated the first chapter: it's very self-consciously clever, and it bombards you with puns and pop culture references and literary allusions and crazy-person talk, which made me really exasperated. It was like everything I hate about James Joyce and writers who want to be him.
 
 But it's a short first chapter, and the second chapter hooked me pretty quickly. There are a few more annoying "look at me!" Pun Moments, but for the most part, it was pretty fascinating. Also, there are lots of times when Carson uses his language skills for good, not evil: at so many points in the book, he tossed off these really fresh, apt descriptions -- y'know, the kind that are perfect and you wish you'd thought of yourself.
 
 I've never even seen Gilligan's Island (I know! Really!) so there are probably references I missed, but the book isn't really about that. I liked it for the characters, who were interesting and distinct -- each chapter is narrated by one of the castaways, and Carson does a good job creating their voices. He also writes really great satire, and this is a funny-but-harsh look at America in the twentieth century. He also does pomo pretty well, too: the chapters, although separate, are all connected in interesting ways, and the characters interact both with historical figures and other well-known fictional characters. I'm not always great at making the leap from Realistic to Suspending Disbelief, but the way Carson makes his characters metaphors AND psychologically complicated individuals worked for me, and, once I got past the first chapter, everything kind of flowed and I found myself really enjoying all the little connections between chapters without wondering too much about What It All Means. 
 
 To sum up: smart, funny, poignant, deft, and a little bit masturbatory -- but those parts are worth getting through for the book as a whole. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/108010?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Tina's review
rating:
bookshelves: fiction

This was a really interesting book. To be honest, it's not something I would have picked up or stayed with if it hadn't been recommended to me by Scott, b/c I really hated the first chapter: it's very self-consciously clever, and it bombards you with puns and pop culture references and literary allusions and crazy-person talk, which made me really exasperated. It was like everything I hate about James Joyce and writers who want to be him.

But it's a short first chapter, and the second chapter hooked me pretty quickly. There are a few more annoying "look at me!" Pun Moments, but for the most part, it was pretty fascinating. Also, there are lots of times when Carson uses his language skills for good, not evil: at so many points in the book, he tossed off these really fresh, apt descriptions -- y'know, the kind that are perfect and you wish you'd thought of yourself.

I've never even seen Gilligan's Island (I know! Really!) so there are probably references I missed, but the...more This was a really interesting book. To be honest, it's not something I would have picked up or stayed with if it hadn't been recommended to me by Scott, b/c I really hated the first chapter: it's very self-consciously clever, and it bombards you with puns and pop culture references and literary allusions and crazy-person talk, which made me really exasperated. It was like everything I hate about James Joyce and writers who want to be him.

But it's a short first chapter, and the second chapter hooked me pretty quickly. There are a few more annoying "look at me!" Pun Moments, but for the most part, it was pretty fascinating. Also, there are lots of times when Carson uses his language skills for good, not evil: at so many points in the book, he tossed off these really fresh, apt descriptions -- y'know, the kind that are perfect and you wish you'd thought of yourself.

I've never even seen Gilligan's Island (I know! Really!) so there are probably references I missed, but the book isn't really about that. I liked it for the characters, who were interesting and distinct -- each chapter is narrated by one of the castaways, and Carson does a good job creating their voices. He also writes really great satire, and this is a funny-but-harsh look at America in the twentieth century. He also does pomo pretty well, too: the chapters, although separate, are all connected in interesting ways, and the characters interact both with historical figures and other well-known fictional characters. I'm not always great at making the leap from Realistic to Suspending Disbelief, but the way Carson makes his characters metaphors AND psychologically complicated individuals worked for me, and, once I got past the first chapter, everything kind of flowed and I found myself really enjoying all the little connections between chapters without wondering too much about What It All Means.

To sum up: smart, funny, poignant, deft, and a little bit masturbatory -- but those parts are worth getting through for the book as a whole. ...less

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