Captain Jack Zodiac

by Michael Kandel

Cliff Koussevitky is eager to take his family away from their irregular world, but to do it he must lead them through greenhouse gasses, nuclear disasters, and post-apocalyptic future malls with the help of space cadet, Captain Jack Zodiac.

Genres: Science Fiction, Humor, Fiction

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1991

About the author

Michael Kandel (born 1941) is an American translator and author of science fiction.

Kandel was born into Polish Jewish family. He received a doctorate in Slavistics from Indiana University, and is an editor at the Modern Language Association. Kandel is also a part-time editor at Harcourt, editing (among others) Ursula K. Le Guin's work.

Kandel is perhaps best known for his translations of the works of Stanisław Lem from Polish to English. Recently he has also been translating works of other Polish science fiction authors, such as Jacek Dukaj, Marek Huberath and Andrzej Sapkowski. The quality of his translations is considered to be excellent and is especially notable in the case of Lem's writing, which makes heavy use of wordplay and other difficult-to-translate devices.

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not often that I call a book "too weird", but Captain Jack Zodiac comes close to it. The main plot involves a man (Cliff Koussevitky) trying to pull the members of his family back together again. This twist is the setting, which is an amped up satiric dystopian future Earth. Global warming is so bad that people walk around with personal air conditioning units. Russia drops some bombs and invades the country, but people barely notice because they are nothing compared to the street gangs or road rage incidents.

Cliff's daughter has become a mall zombie and his son warps through space looking for adventure by taking pills from a shady drug dealer. There are chapters that seem like little short stories with unrelated plots slammed into the book because the author has a crazy point he wants to share. (The neighbor with the sentient killer garden, a man traveling through levels of the afterlife, a reluctant super hero, etc.)

Captain Jack Zodiac contains a lot of fun and crazy ideas, but it sprials out of control without a tight story and increasingly abstract writing towards the end.

[Caroline Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

On an earth not so different from our own, Cliff is having a very bad day. The garbage workers are on strike, his deceased mother-in-law has possessed the fridge, his daughter has become a mall zombie, and nuclear war looms closer every day. All in all, things are not doing so well in suburbia either - radiation has turned the grass into a living carpet of doom. With things falling apart at home and around the world, Cliff decides to take it all on, and he might - with a little help - manage to change the world while he's at it.

This book was great, and I highly recommend it if you can find a copy. The book doesn't take itself seriously, with Cliff seeing the absurdity of the crazy situations he finds himself in. My only problem is that Captain Jack Zodiac plays such a small part in the book, yet is the title - but that is a small complaint compared to the tongue-and-cheek humor of the book. If you enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction and surrealism, you will love this book.

[Redsteve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great. The world could be best described as "wacky dystopia." Although published in 1992, much of this book is definitely a product of the Eighties (Soviet invasion of the US, AIDS, insane inflation, vanishing ozone layer, traffic jams and road rage, mall zombies, etc.). Overall, the book feels cobbled together from a set of SF tropes and even the "big reveal" at the end was pretty derivative.

[Steven Dunlap · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little know gem. Kendel anticipates "The Matrix" by nearly 10 years. But his version unfolds as a screwball comedy. Strange and hilarious.

[Makayla Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would’ve rated this book 4 stars, but I’m rather conflicted about the ending. Super fun read.