War of the Encyclopaedists

by Christopher Robinson, Gavin Kovite

In a superb, rare literary collaboration, two major new talents join their voices to tell the story of a generation at a crossroads, and a friendship that stretches over continents and crises--from the liberal arena of Boston academia to the military occupation of Iraq--in this ambitious and electrifying debut novel.

On a summer night, in the arty enclave of Capitol Hill, Seattle, best friends Mickey Montauk and Halifax Corderoy throw one last blowout party before their lives part ways. At twenty-three, they had planned to move together to Boston for graduate school, but global events have intervened: Montauk has just learned that his National Guard unit will deploy to Baghdad at the end of the summer. In the confusion of this altered future, Corderoy is faced with a moral dilemma: his girlfriend Mani has just been evicted and he must decide whether or not to abandon her when she needs him most. He turns to Montauk for help. His decision that night, and its harrowing outcome, sets in motion a year that will transform all three of them.

Months later, Corderoy and Montauk grapple with their new identities as each deals with his own muted disappointment. In Boston, Corderoy finds himself unable to play the game of intellectual one-upmanship with the ease and grace of his new roommate Tricia, a Harvard graduate student and budding human rights activist. Half a world away, in Baghdad, Montauk struggles to lead his platoon safely through an increasingly violent and irrational war. As their lives move further away from their shared dream, Corderoy and Montauk keep in touch with one another by editing a Wikipedia article about themselves: smart and funny updates that morph and deepen throughout the year, culminating in a document that is both devastatingly tragic and profoundly poetic.

Fast-moving and compulsively readable, War of the Encyclopaedists beats with the energetic pulse of idealistic youth on the threshold of adult reality. "A wise and wise-assed first novel...with sweep and heart and humor" (Mary Karr, author of Liar's Club and Lit) it is the vital, urgent, and utterly absorbing lament of a new generation searching for meaning and hope in a fractured world.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, War, Novels, Unfinished, Book Club, Literature

435 pages, Hardcover

First published May 12, 2015

Reviews

[Snotchocheez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite sure what went wrong here but it just didn't click for me on any level. Perhaps the tag-team authorship led the story narrative astray but it just seemed the can't miss title The War of The Encyclopaedists never could sustain my attention long enough to convey the story (which is simply way too thin to occupy nearly 500 pages). it seemed like Robinson and Kovite had a tough time sorting through what is novel-worthy, so opted to throw in everything that both wrote (whether or not worth reading.)

Of the two plot threads, between two college chums from Seattle, the one who enlists in the reserves, Mickey Montauk, who's found himself n the National Guard to guard Saddam Hussein's Palace circa 2004 has the much more compelling of the two stories, (Before this, the friends fancied themselves geeky, videogame-playing hipsters, throwing houseparties frequented by the pseudo -intelligencia, and co led by Montauk and Halifax Corderoy (embarking unsuccessfully during his friend's Iraq tour of duty. in graduate school at Boston University).

i'm guessing some readers will find this fresh and new; I found the story (or lack of it) a little too (inexplicably) familiar of a strange hybrid between Fives and Twenty-Fives (a vastly superior Iraq War tale) and Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad (replete with charts and graphs and powerpoint drawings). What sounded like an interesting friendship and Iraq engagement on paper turned out surprisingly moribund and flat after no less than 100 pages of progress, repeatedly counting pages, looking to see daylight but failing to encounter any.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this postmodern satire, two Seattle hipsters must face reality when one of them leaves to fight in the Iraq War. Halifax Corderoy and Mickey Montauk mark the summer of 2004 by hosting one their infamous themed parties as “The Encyclopaedists.” It’s the end of an era for these drug-loving pals: Mickey, a National Guardsman, has been called to duty in Iraq, and Hal heads to graduate school in Boston. From now on they keep in touch by updating their pretentious Encyclopaedists Wikipedia article: “an armour of formal diction and analytical calm.” While Hal applies literary criticism to Star Wars and tries to make amends to his ex-girlfriend, Mani, Mickey is in life-and-death situations, looking for car bombs and overseeing local elections. A search for his translator’s murderer descends into farce, and things get complicated when Hal’s flatmate, Tricia, turns up as an independent journalist.

Like in A Visit from the Goon Squad, the text is interspersed with diagrams, documents, and screenshots. Children of the 1980s-90s, especially, will recognise the many wry period references. The graduate school segments recall The Art of Fielding while the Iraq sections are similar to The Yellow Birds. Robinson and Kovite (an Iraq War veteran) alternate their settings in a fairly seamless whole. Despite the buddy setup, they also write strong female characters. The novel never quite lives up to its literary allusions (Hamlet, and a last paragraph* worthy of The Great Gatsby), but still captures the recent past with humor, nostalgia and critical detachment.


*It starts: “Fools, all of us. Glorious fools born into a vacuum of need, told we could be anything, flailing in a sea of possibility, thinking it a curse, having to design our lives from scratch, forever skeptical of what we create, forever revising, no idea of who we are or what we will make of ourselves...”

Related reading: Glass by Alex Christofi, for the Wikipedia obsession.


Really enjoyed this Kirkus interview with the authors, and this article about their unpublished “drawer novel,” Slaughter at Suez, “a pulp adventure mystery novel set in 1862, Egypt.”

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Want to make a novel feel current, but not too current? Set it roughly ten years in the past before the rise of smartphones, Facebook and Twitter. What you’re left with is a world that’s both familiar yet far enough removed to feel periodic.

Before Halifax and his best friend Mickey Montauk go their separate ways – Hal to graduate school in Boston and Mickey to the front lines of the second Iraq war – they vow to stay in touch, making sure their friendship does not suffer due to the distance. The duo creates a Wikipedia page dedicated to their epic parties thrown in Seattle. Throughout the story, the authors insert screenshots of the fictional Wikipedia page as both Hal and Mickey edit it during their time apart.

I received a free copy from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

Robinson and Kovite juxtapose the irrelevant first world problems of Hal against the daily life of Mickey as he fights a brutal and vicious war abroad. Despite the uneven gravity of each friend’s situation, they work well with one another. When Mickey’s wartime experiences get too intense, there’s a deflating period when the narrative shifts back to Hal.

Both Hal and Mickey are genuinely likeable characters and although I wouldn’t say I’m as self absorbed as Hal, but I found him to be the one I identified with the most. War of Encyclopaedists was a nice break from what I normally read and one that I recommend.

Also posted @ Every Read Thing.

[Jaksen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got one-fourth of the way in, couldn't make heads nor tails of this. I don't know if the book knows itself what it's trying to be. Words like 'pretentious' and 'innocuous' come to mind. So little substance here, like an unflavorful soup you want to pour some onion salt in and add potatoes. I wasn't going to write a review I was so under-impressed, but...

It's about some guys who are friends and one likes a girl but she ends up with someone else and along the way they work on encyclopedia-wikipedia articles, which at the begin. is barely mentioned. They talk a lot and meander around a bit and perhaps the point of their conversations went right over my head. (I concede, that is entirely possible.) I almost fell asleep reading the first forty or so pages but said to myself - hey, give it some time, and then I said nah, why do that? A book should hook you in the first ten pages or so or what's the point?

There is no point, just as there's no point to this book. And no real story, or it's so barely there it's not there at all. The invisible story.

Anyhow, I am grateful for receiving this book through a Goodreads giveaway. I really am. And I figured I'd pass this book on, that someone somewhere might like it more than me. So I placed it in one of those 'free libraries' which are found in some areas of the US. (This was a little shelf of books on a pole located near a popular beach. The book case had a nifty glass door with a latch on it.) But last I checked the book is still there (three months later), along with a bio of Bill Cosby and another without a cover published in 1939. And so...

Added, October 2016, now several months later and the book is still there, but perhaps it has been read and returned. Dunno.

Now there's a story. :D

[Kara Babcock · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not the type of novel I am meant to enjoy. Even meant as satire, War of the Encyclopaedists just screams “I am the product of an MFA writer.” It flounders in its pretentiousness, then washes up on the rocky shores of “but … but … plot?” before an errant wave knocks it loose and the undertow drags it out to the sea of irrelevance.

Hey, I can write metaphors too. Graduate degree, please!

In all seriousness—

—actually, no, I can’t lie to you, Reader. I started this review tongue-in-cheek and will likely remain that way. So, in very little seriousness…

Christopher Robinson and Gavin Kovite are two young men, one a graduate of a Bostonian MFA program, the other a platoon leader who served in Baghdad. They teamed up and produced a book about Halifax Corderoy and Mickey Montauk, who are two young men, one who studies in a Bostonian literature program and the other a platoon leader who serves in Baghdad….

Oh. I see what you did there.

The “write what you know” advice is sound in most cases, and I won’t knock Robinson and Kovite for taking that route. It’s obvious that Corderoy and Montauk are not them—names like that should clue you into the fact the book is satirical, even if every other clue flies over your head. And I’ll grant them this: the juxtaposition of Corderoy’s semi-privileged but dull and pointless grad school experience with Montauk’s semi-privileged but dangerous and pointless deployment experience is interesting.

Or, at least, it should be. The Montauk parts in Iraq kept me riveted. I don’t subscribe to the idea that war is glorious, and generally I don’t read books about war. But I genuinely enjoyed all the details that Robinson and Kovite include about the training Montauk undergoes leading up to his deployment and his actual tour in Iraq. In particular, they focus a lot on his relationship with the men under his command and his lack of confidence as a leader.

Corderoy’s sections, on the other hand, were uphill filler between Montauk’s, at least for me. I cannot bring myself to care about the fact that this whiny brat is bored by school and just wants to slack off. Excuse me while I play my extremely tiny violin, Mr. Corderoy—what, you borrowed it to do lines of coke off it and then sold it for whiskey? That’s fine, son. Go have unprotected sex with your girlfriend. Because you’re wild and carefree and don’t have any connection or sense of responsibility as a twenty-something in the 2000s. I get it!

The forced pretentiousness of both the novel’s content and style is a response to “Great American novels” about men and youthfulness that have seeped into our collective consciousness. Corderoy and Montauk are spoofs and riffs off Holden Caulfield, Gatsby, Stephen Daedalus, and half a dozen other characters I don’t know about because I tend to avoid such novels. That this could work at all is only because of the very postmodernist/deconstructionist schools that Robinson and Kovite satirize in this story. So … yeah. Paradoxical postmodernist self-criticism.

Unfortunately, that’s why despite enjoying the story on the surface, I can’t say I enjoyed War of the Encyclopaedists. It smugly wears its pretentiousness like a badge of literary achievement, and that rubs me the wrong way. It’s like the comic friend you have who keeps going, “Eh? Eh? See what I did there?” after delivering her latest zinger. I totally saw what you did there, but thanks for pointing it out and ruining the joke.

Of course, the other danger with a satire is that, in attempting to emulate the form or content you’re satirizing, you become that thing. War of the Encyclopaedists has an omniscient narrator—the most pretentious and literary of narrators; to compound this effect, Robinson and Kovite deploy the narrator in the least efficient, most annoying way. Omniscient narrators are like the nuclear weapons of narration: extremely powerful, very easy to mishandle, and prone to being messier and not worth your time. Writers who know what they are doing can use them tactically to good effect. In the hands of some writers, though, omniscient narrators become mushroom clouds of exposition. I don’t, actually, need to know every interior and ancillary thought and feeling that all these characters have. Why not show instead of tell?

If high-concept literary takes on literary-ness from MFA grads are your thing, then you’ll probably like War of the Encyclopaedists. It is competently constructed in that most technical of senses—so technically that anything resembling a soul or spirit has fled. I damn it with faint praise not so much because it isn’t clever but because it just isn’t as clever as it wants to be (or as it thinks it deserves to be)—and that is a sin I don’t quickly forgive in my books.

[Buchdoktor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robinson und Kovite, ein ehemaliger Literaturstudent und ein Veteran des Irakkriegs, die sich in Rom getroffen haben, schreiben gemeinsam einen Roman über einen Literaturstudenten und einen US-Soldaten während der Besetzung Iraks, die auf den Krieg von 2003 folgte. Ihre Figuren Mickey Montauk und Halifax Corderoy aus Seattle haben sich ebenfalls in Rom kennengelernt. Die jungen Männer zählen sich zu den Enzyklopädisten, leben in einem selbst geschaffenen Universum, das sie in Wikipedia fortschreiben. In loser Verbindung zu dieser Szene aus nur formal bereits erwachsenen Computer-Kids steht das Mädchen Mani. Sie ist Tochter von Einwanderern aus Iran und konnte sich den Anforderungen ihrer Eltern, doch bitte Karriere zu machen, bisher in Träume von einer Existenz als Künstlerin entziehen. Kurz bevor Mickey 2004 als Reservist der Nationalgarde zum Einsatz in den Irak kommandiert wird, heiratet er überstürzt Mani und sichert damit ihren Lebensunterhalt.

"Corderoy zog wieder bei seinen Eltern ein. Nachdem er seinen Job als Teilzeitmanager bei GameStop gekündigt hatte, fand er eine Stelle, bei der er Schüler auf Hochschuleignungstests vorbereiten musste. Jeden Abend vergrub er sich, wenn er nach Hause kam, im Kellergeschoss seiner Eltern, entkorkte eine Eineinhalbliterflasche billigen Chianti und spielte stundenlang EverQuest. Er verspürte wenig Lust, sich seinen Freunden in den Bars anzuschließen; vermutlich würde er auch dort nur trinken, warum also sollte er nicht lieber hier trinken, ganz entspannt in seinem Sessel, und dabei Drachen erschlagen und Erfahrungspunkte sammeln.“ (S. 27)

Montauk, Corderoy und Mani ist auf den ersten Blick ihre Unbedarftheit gemeinsam. Mani möchte sich von der Einmischung ihrer Eltern befreien, macht jedoch keine Anstalten, ihren Lebensunterhalt selbst zu verdienen, sondern schnorrt sich durchs Leben. Montauk hat die Konsequenzen seiner bis 2003 irgendwie coolen Mitgliedschaft in der Nationalgarde nicht bewusst gemacht und Corderoy trägt mit seinem Literaturstudium in Boston, 5000km von Seattle entfernt, ebenfalls nichts Produktives bei. Ihr Leben ähnelt dem Projekt Wikipedia, deren Inhalt sie einseitig, manipulativ bis dämlich finden – und von dem auch sie Teil sind. Ihre Generation ist von PC-Spielen sozialisiert, aus denen sie bisher ihr Wissen über Krieg bezogen hat, und schusselt verplant durchs Leben.
„Warum sollte man sich [bei der US-Wahl 2004] die Mühe machen, den einen reichen weißen Christen durch einen anderen reichen weißen Christen zu ersetzen?“ (Seite 154)

Corderoys Familiengeschichte verdeutlicht geradezu schmerzhaft, dass diesen Kids die Erinnerungsarbeit aus den Biografien ihrer Väter fehlt und dem ganzen Land die kritische Auseinandersetzung mit den Kriegen, die sie bis dahin geführt hatte. Der Fehler war offensichtlich, dass bereits die wenigen Überlebenden des Ersten Weltkriegs zu wenig über ihre Erlebnisse gesprochen haben. Der Ururgroßvater kämpfte 1861 auf der Seite der Konföderierten, der Urgroßvater überlebte den Ersten Weltkrieg, der Großvater wurde im Zweiten Weltkrieg verwundet, Corderoys Vater ist Vietnam-Veteran. Der Sohn trägt seine Uniform anfangs wie ein Faschingskostüm und bezieht sein Wissen über seinen Einsatzort aus einem Heftchen über Interkulturelle Kompetenzen, das ihm leider nichts über die taktische Bedeutung des Schnurrbartes im Mittleren Osten vermittelte. Auf einen Einsatz an einem Kontrollpunkt mitten im besetzten Bagdad sind weder Ausbilder noch Soldaten vorbereitet; dennoch sind sie überzeugt davon, dass die den Irakern die Freiheit bringen. Die Absurdität dieses Krieges spiegelt sich in der gefährlichen Unbedarftheit einer ganzen Nation.

Mit über 600 Seiten und in unendlicher Detailverliebtheit präsentiert sich "Der Krieg der Enzyklopädisten" als Roman der Generation in den 80ern geborener Computer-Kids in den USA. Die Detailfülle wirkt auf mich, als wäre keiner der beiden Autoren für Kürzungen im Text zuständig gewesen. Wer sich als Leser darauf einlassen kann, entdeckt in vordergründig banalen Szenen jedoch durchaus Tiefe. Die Details entlarven mit bissigem Unterton eine unglaubliche Banalität im Alltag eines Landes, das bis dahin geglaubt hatte, Kriege würden nur in fernen Ländern stattfinden, deren Namen man bis dahin noch nicht einmal schreiben konnte. Eine Diskussion mit den Autoren könnte interessant sein, inwieweit sie sich als Amerikaner dieser Banalität und der eigenen Unbedarftheit bewusst gewesen sind. Die „Enzyklopädisten“ erzählen als Generationen- und als Kriegs-Roman von Männern, aber keineswegs allein für männliche Leser, sondern auch für die Mütter, Schwestern und Ehefrauen dieser Generation. Wie schon viele Romane hat das Buch – für mich - mit dem Finger auf die Gesellschaft und die Familien zurück gedeutet, die diese jungen Männer erzogen haben.

[Tiamatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edited to add I got this book for free through a Goodreads Giveaway. This is a very smart book about people who are at once smarter and dumber than they think. It's an exploration of the existential navel-gazing that Generation Y gets caught up in, a result of too much freedom making some of us almost scared to do anything, worried about what we should be doing, how to live up to our potential. The characters are full of self-doubt that they mostly hide through irony and detachment. And then the disappointment of life not turning out the way we'd hoped. It's good stuff. I was born in 1985, so I'm in the same age group as the characters in the book, and some of their fears and doubts feel familiar to me. The book also goes into how war affects a person, with one of the characters serving in Iraq. That part of the book is much better than his friend's self-pity in university. The Iraq stuff is written really, really well, probably because one of the writers, Gavin Kovite, actually served in Iraq, which gives a real sense of authenticity to the descriptions.

This was a great book, definitely worth reading.

[Joseph Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: the author is a friend of mine.

That said, I was hesitant to start reading, imagining the awkward conversation if it were dumb or boring. How pleasant then to discover that my fears were completely unfounded. This was an absolute joy to read: moving, insightful, and playful, with both the (unfortunately) familiar self-absorption and self-pity of the post-adolescent young man and the confusion and purposelessness of a soldier in wartime faithfully and honestly rendered, two seemingly unconnected narratives artfully woven together with a literary device that's rich with soulful earnestness and postmodern subtlety.

Very proud to offer my full-throated recommendation!

[Jenny R · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't a perfect book, but its writing is so heartfelt that -- much like the characters themselves -- you give it the benefit of the doubt even when the flaws are visible.

One of the best descriptions I've read of the simultaneous banality and anxiety of modern warfare (and MFA programs)

Robinson and Kovite have created a wonderful, loving work of fiction. Hooah to them.

[cardulelia carduelis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is me after 20 pages in:



Because I was NOT expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. I mean come on it's described as being for 'millenials' which is generally used by impressionable adults to describe rich, bored university students, and it's about two boys coming of age at the awkward period of mid-twenties.
One of them is the stereotypical liberal arts graduate student, bumming around + flaking + abusing substances + self sabotaging . And the other is off to War but is sort of sketchy about why. They are ALWAYS objectifying women.
They're the girls from Lena Dunham's Girls in a different setting: as corrupt and as fascinating.

And yet, deep breath...

I loved this book.
The characters are undeniably flawed people, particularly Corderoy and Mani, but I got massively invested in them from the start. And I'm putting that down to the writing - which was so easy to read - and that the characters were semi-autobiographical and so had this touch of self-awareness and dimensionality which, again, I wouldn't have expected to come out of this sort of book.

It's a war story and a story about indecision as a young adult and finding your place in the world. It's about literary criticism and the arts and their place in the world.
And I wouldn't say it's beautiful but it captures a little moment in our recent history that feels authentic.

Surprising and very readable: would recommend.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really interesting book. It's hard to sum up. In terms of content and tone, it really reminded me of Eugenides' "The Marriage Plot." The book follows the "Encyclopaedists", two twenty-something hipster males, Mickey Montauk and Halifax Corderoy, as their lives diverge into war and grad school respectively, each facing unique existential and moral crises. Robinson and Kovite capture the highly-intellectual, malaise-stricken attitude of the recent liberal arts college grad. For this reason, I got a lot of enjoyment out of the book, it reminded me of my own experiences as a young indignant 20-year-old. As the book progresses, however, it does start to wander a little and loses some of its narrative momentum. Personally, I think we hover a little too long in Corderoy's self-pitying mental lulls. This lag further accentuates that one half of the storyline (Montauk's) is decidedly more high stakes and more interesting. The juxtaposition of the two characters serves as an interesting thought concept - one at war in Iraq, the other floundering in academia and the first world problems we all take for granted - but that doesn't really give them equal weight narratively. Even for that, though, I think this book has something to say about the weird contradictions and collisions of American culture as well as the almost surreal aspect of the current ongoing wars in the Middle East. Left something to be desired at the end for me, but overall was a worthy read and probably one of the most unique and affecting for the year. For more, go to www.iwantmichikosjob.com.

[Justinbwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vital work. Chronicles a generation, or at least a subset of a generation (generally being white and middle to upper-class) in the time of a war that is remarkable in how little it impacted those in America who lived and continue to live through it, while it tears apart nations and peoples abroad. One of the authors is a part of my social circles, but that is why I feel it captures so well the thoughts and attitudes that drive the characters in the book. It's all distinctly familiar, while identifying and struggling with the fundamental contradictions inherent in these people and the now absurdist world we live in. The war is ridiculous, the anti-war movement is ridiculous. For those with the privilege to be contemplative, it's hard to know what to make of it all and perhaps harder to accept simple realities, since we were nurtured on a much more substantive fiction than the world has actually offered.

The book has its flaws. They have a tendency to reduce women to 2 or 3 words of description, perhaps the result of a prideful perceptive intellect. The story can drift a bit too, Montauk's war story being quite about more solid and compelling than Corderoy's story back home, but then again the authors seem quite cognizant of that. We expect narratives in life but they are hard to construct when traditional trappings of family, tribe, culture and work have all faded away.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

"War and Peace Lite" would make a perfect subtitle, and I mean that in a good way. While Tolstoy's dualities are often difficult to discern, the two "Encyclopaedists", Robinson and Kovite, offer to us in-your-face couplings such as 'cupcake funfetti' and 'body-parts confetti'. The pop culture reference 'Vote for Pedro' is condemned within a certain circumstance, 'Judge Judy' sails along just fine. Are these two writers admitting a lack of experience with the following (mandatory?) meta entry: "War, what is it good for...makes otherwise lackluster narratives compelling"? Two very "lackluster" scenes (minus one star) toward the end of the book make for a sluggish end: a pregnancy/abortion scene and a sleep/study scene, both of which deserved no more than half a page at most but go on way too long. However, the 'war' portions of this book are beautifully written (by Kovite?), who has served in the military (Thanks!). The 'peace' scenes (Robinson?) in some cases are unbelievable: perhaps these scenes are supposed to be like this to strengthen Kovite's role/purpose in this world. But with an existentialist/hopeless type of ending, I just don't know. With a stronger climax and an editor, this could have been a great one.

[Kristen Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book. This book was so much more than I expected the first time I saw it sitting on the bookstore shelf. I’m so happy that it was an impulse buy, because it was absolutely fantastic and worth every moment I put into reading it.

When writing to his deployed best friend seems too much like a girlfriend writing to her sweetheart, Mickey Montauk and Halifax Corderoy come up with a unique solution. They create and communicate through a Wikipedia article entitled “The Encyclopaedists”. They update the article as a form of conversation, using headings - some abstract, some direct - as they deal with their shifting lives (both at home and overseas). They call each other out, tease, and comfort one another through topics like Used Goods and Ice, and it’s so engaging to see how they tie simple topics to events in their personal lives. It’s a FANTASTIC form of story telling, especially in an age where just about everyone is familiar with Wikipedia. The two authors take creative control of their own characters and it shines through brilliantly in the separate writing, and was certainly something very refreshing in the fiction genre!

I won’t say much more about this book, because you should read it for yourself!

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

Generally, I'm not a fan of the interjected asides in the form of letters, emails, poems (in this case Wikipedia entries, throughout a story. However, there are only 7 or 8 of these existential utterances, which move from tongue-in-check to deeply moving.

The relationship between the two young men ring true, the young woman, Mani, somewhat less (for me). The main characters are flawed humans, with all the angst of the young, trying to make sense of their real and imagined pathos. I think I would not like to actually know any of them, but the writing is so wonderful and flawless, I did want to know their story.

I received this (free) Advanced Reader Copy from as a Goodreads First Read (thank you!), with their hope I would write a review...

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was gifted a galley copy from the publisher, and blew through this novel in 2 days. I found it highly enjoyable. The authors chose a unique and fun lense through which to create what is basically a coming of age story. The events, emotions, and characters are all easily relatable. My only criticism would be that the events already have something of a dated feel (9-11, Iraq war, Kerry Campaign) which may hurt the long-term readability of the book.

As a side note: I loved the names- Luc Dubois (lake in the woods), Mickey Montauk (NY), Halifax (Canada or UK) Corderoy, etc. The names were something that I had mental fun with throughout the book. Wondering about the choices and if there was more to them.

All in all- well done and two thumbs up.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher for an advance reader's copy.

After a shaky start, this book developed into a moving look at war, existential angst, and the let-down of becoming an adult. The use of two authors could have been awkward and uneven, but each brought an amazing insight to their respective sections. I also appreciated that they worked to make the women in the book real people, rather than only foils for the male protagonists.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Millennials at war and peace. Fluently written and very readable, but major characters are, perhaps intentionally (but I don't think so) particularly irritating. Maybe that's just Millennials. Or this version of them.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book although the writing was very good. The Wiki page (which I thought was a very unique idea) sharing the experiences of the two protagonists, despite the book's synopsis, plays a very small role in the overall narrative, which was a bit disappointing. I also found the book to be overly long; this may just be a personal preference, but I didn't think there was anything that needed to be said in this book that couldn't have been said in less than the 448 pages that make up the book. However, I thought the authors did a great job of blending their voices. I was unable to tell which writer wrote which part of the book which is a rare occurrence. The narrative was seamless and the writing quite good. The character development was excellent, although I can't say that I really cared for any of the characters (they are not a particularly likable bunch). Some parts of the book seemed to be simply dropped in and didn't really have anything to do with the overall story (which bolsters my point about the length). Overall this is an excellent character study and worth the read.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literary collaborations are rare because they are rarely executed well. War of the Encyclopaedists does not fail spectacularly but it fails to form into a cohesive whole. Robinson's and Kovite's style remain distinct and separated throughout the book. This could be forgiven if their framing device (the Wikipedia entry is part of the reason for the title) was employed more effectively. Instead, it is reduced to being little more than a tedious chapter synopsis that adds very little besides a narrow window into the characters' personal associations. The bifurcated writing could even be overlooked if the characters or plot were expanded. But both remain frustratingly thin (plot especially not needing more than 400 pages), and the characters become vehicles for emotions and situational experiences that are near caricatures of Iraq War news reports and the last decade's economic doldrum. It is doubtless that the Iraq War's impact will offer some enduring literature, but this is not likely to be among them.

[Anna K. Amendolare · Rating 1 out of 5]

Must be, the older I get, the less patience I have with the young and stupid. I find I have less tolerance for YA fiction and discovered I had very little tolerance for the twenty year old characters in this novel. Who are finding themselves. Who are making poor decisions. Who are second-guessing their choices and their actions. Oh for crying out loud, already. I didn't find that I actually liked any of the characters. I wanted to, but alas, they just annoyed me too much. And -- the ending sucked. No resolution, no decisions made, nothing. This was a brief glimpse into the lives of two best friends and the chicks they happen to fall in with at the moment. Nothing really happened throughout and who knows what their future will be. It was unsatisfying.

[Ilyssa Wesche · Rating 4 out of 5]

The insufferable selfishness of the twenty-something is so perfectly captured here. Hal & Mickey reminded me of two parts of the same person that I know and love, so I could root for them even as they made dumb decisions. I got distracted by the alternate forms of communication (Wikipedia, army docs, etc) but I understood their purpose.

Added 5/13/15: Looks like the NYT agrees with me

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of "War of the Encyclopaedists" through Goodreads First Reads; I was not required to write a review. Although this book is not the type of book I usually read (I read a lot of historical fiction and some classics) I did enjoy it. It is very well written and I found the characters very life like and engaging. They have their ups and downs, and they don't always end up on-top, but they kept me rooting for them. Also, it was unpredictable. Not in a crazy, action-packed kind of way, but in a real-life, never-know-what's-gonna-happen kind of way, and I really liked that.

[Jon Mertz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting slice of four lives and how they intersect and unfold. The characters are challenged, it seems, to find their way in life. Some spurt forward at various times and others just seem to sputter. This may be a realistic look at life and how relationships can get you off track or help you out when you need it. A current look at these relationships and the story they tell. Muddled lives, muddled relationships.

[Terence Hawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would be an extraordinary debut for a single writer; that it's a collaboration defies belief. Though one of the authors--and narrators-- was an MFA student in Boston while the other was s a serving officer in Iraq, the prose is entirely seamless and uniformly compelling. It effortlessly--and often hilariously--navigates the wildly disparate worlds of millennial Seattle, academic Boston, and occupied Iraq. This is not to be missed.

[Garden Gal · Rating 4 out of 5]

--Did you read Joyce's Ulysses - or intended to? Does the idea of Shackleton's Endurance echo in your brain? Can you visualize Dr. Seus's illustrations?
-- Perhaps the struggles of Archie and Mehitabel still inhabit your brain.
--Mickey Montauk, Halifax Corduroy, Mani Saheli, and Tricia are not two-dimensional characters; each is a complex human (imperfect by definition).
--This is not a light read; it is a satisfying one.

[K.K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young Seattle hipster moves cross-country for grad school while his best friend goes to fight in the Iraq War. The generation-y apathy is perfectly captured in this fantastic coming of age/war story from a pair of first-time writers. Our two protagonists become more complex with every page as they battle with both Boston's intellectual pretentiousness and Baghdad militants. -Kalani

[Pomodo · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I vow not to be an asshole. Or a coward. To answer all letters sent to me, to eat any and all desserts I can get, to jerk off at least twice a day, to come home safe, to be open if I hurt, to make it my life’s mission not to fuck over anyone, anywhere, no matter how much they deserve it." Brilliant.

[Nancy Oakes]

NOTE: Not a review yet.

I haven't read this yet, but today I received a second copy in the mail. I do NOT need two, so if anyone in the U.S. wants my extra copy, I'll give it to you and pay postage. Leave a comment please, if you are interested.

[Lou Fillari · Rating 3 out of 5]

These characters grated on me. By the end of the novel, I do not feel like these characters changed as much as we were told they've changed.

Maybe they did. Maybe I missed it. My loss, I suppose. They acted like early twenty somethings, because they are, and I don't like the youth of America.