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L'Expérience Oregon
« Keith Scribner est certainement l'un de nos écrivains les plus talentueux et les plus généreux. Au milieu des anarchistes, des séparatistes, des conflits violents et des projets désespérés, il donne à lire avec une empathie et une grâce exceptionnelles un mariage perdu puis retrouvé, un héros improbable, un monde sensuel et riche. » David Vann
« Un livre vraiment intelligent et croustillant. » The Guardian
À l'encontre de nombreux romanciers contemporains, Keith Scribner ancre son roman hors des grandes villes, dans des espaces éloignés, et s'interroge sur les mouvements politiques extrémistes de la côte Ouest des États-Unis. Récit d'une guerre civile contemporaine tendue entre le désir et la trahison, L'Expérience Oregon traverse le terrain miné des convictions et complications à la fois politiques, sociales et intimement personnelles..
« Un livre vraiment intelligent et croustillant. » The Guardian
À l'encontre de nombreux romanciers contemporains, Keith Scribner ancre son roman hors des grandes villes, dans des espaces éloignés, et s'interroge sur les mouvements politiques extrémistes de la côte Ouest des États-Unis. Récit d'une guerre civile contemporaine tendue entre le désir et la trahison, L'Expérience Oregon traverse le terrain miné des convictions et complications à la fois politiques, sociales et intimement personnelles..
- GenresFiction
525 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
9 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
About the author
Keith Scribner
5 books49 followersKeith Scribner’s fourth novel, Old Newgate Road, will be released by Alfred A. Knopf (Penguin Random House) on January 8, 2019. His three previous novels are The Oregon Experiment, Miracle Girl, and The GoodLife, which was selected for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers series, and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Daily Beast, TriQuarterly, American Short Fiction, Quarterly West, The North Atlantic Review, the San Jose Mercury News, the Baltimore Sun, and the anthologies Flash Fiction Forward (W.W. Norton) and Sudden Stories: The MAMMOTH Book of Miniscule Fiction. He received both Pushcart and O’Henry Prize Honorable Mentions for his short story, “Paradise in a Cup” (TriQuarterly, #121).
Scribner received his BA from Vassar College and MFA from the University of Montana. He was awarded Wallace Stegner and John L’Heureux Fellowships in Fiction at Stanford University, where he went on to teach in the Creative Writing Program as a Jones Lecturer. He currently lives in Oregon with his wife, the poet Jennifer Richter, and their children. He teaches in Oregon State University’s MFA program.
His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Daily Beast, TriQuarterly, American Short Fiction, Quarterly West, The North Atlantic Review, the San Jose Mercury News, the Baltimore Sun, and the anthologies Flash Fiction Forward (W.W. Norton) and Sudden Stories: The MAMMOTH Book of Miniscule Fiction. He received both Pushcart and O’Henry Prize Honorable Mentions for his short story, “Paradise in a Cup” (TriQuarterly, #121).
Scribner received his BA from Vassar College and MFA from the University of Montana. He was awarded Wallace Stegner and John L’Heureux Fellowships in Fiction at Stanford University, where he went on to teach in the Creative Writing Program as a Jones Lecturer. He currently lives in Oregon with his wife, the poet Jennifer Richter, and their children. He teaches in Oregon State University’s MFA program.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
April 28, 2012
Interestingly, this book manages to be both unpleasant and gripping. Admittedly, I picked it up because I was homesick for the Pacific Northwest, and the beautifully detailed descriptions of a crunchy central Oregon town were spot-on, and I read the story to the end because observing the slow-motion train wreck of the story was sickly fascinating. Yet...the story also annoyed me. As other reviewers have mentioned, none of the characters are particularly sympathetic, and most of them are downright unpleasant. The sensory descriptions of smells and tastes are so overwrought that they become revolting (which might have been the writer's intention). As an editor, I also found Writing 101-type errors that irritated me enormously: mentioning the same hallmark characteristics every time a particular character is mentioned, for instance, and endless repetition of some words and images. And at least in the Kindle edition, there were tense shifts that should have been caught in copyediting.
All in all, I found the story fascinating enough to hold on through it...but it also left me queasy, and I don't know that I'll look for more of this writer's work.
All in all, I found the story fascinating enough to hold on through it...but it also left me queasy, and I don't know that I'll look for more of this writer's work.
March 17, 2025
Jesus. I haven’t even finished this yet but this guy has a weird pregnancy kink that makes it really difficult to get through his descriptions of ANY female characters. I feel like this might’ve been a decent book if his editor had cut its length in half and erased any evidence of the author’s obsession with pregnant women.
February 11, 2014
I enjoyed reading it, and it gave me plenty to think about.
I wrote a longer review of this analyzing the way the author represented (and misrepresented) anarchism here:
http://birdsbeforethestorm.net/2014/0...
I wrote a longer review of this analyzing the way the author represented (and misrepresented) anarchism here:
http://birdsbeforethestorm.net/2014/0...
January 9, 2018
This is a great novel that takes place in God’s country -- western Oregon. One of the book’s characters even corrects a person who mispronounces Oregon. And the descriptions of the flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest are perfect.
September 27, 2011
I struggled to get through this book. About 1/3 through, I was depressed. A crumbling marriage, a job in jeopardy, anarchists running amok.... I questioned my ability to read a book without a guaranteed happy ending. So, for my own sanity (and for this not to be the third book in a row I stopped reading because I was 'sad') I persevered. I finished. I enjoyed the last third immensely. I'm glad I finished this book; the characters are now happily cavorting in my imagination, and all is well with the world. And also, everything smells differently now.
May 18, 2024
Interesting read about organizers, radicals, causes, how we entertain ourselves or find meaning, work dissatisfaction, free love, affairs, small towns, living where we aren't happy and can't connect, violence, anarchists, destruction of infrastructure, hippies, people who just don't "fit in" but find community one way or another. Though there were a couple scenes I could have done without, re male interest in breastfeeding mother. I did pass it on to a friend, so that's saying something about the book being worthy enough. Read the other reviews here, too.
September 21, 2018
Some people would really like this. I liked the part about Corvallis, although they named it something else. The author and chief protagonist live here and that was cool. It was also extremely well-written. But when it started going the direction of anarchy I had to quit. Not my thing and I ostrich.
January 14, 2026
This book was an interesting read for sure but the constant crude, sexual descriptions of pregnant women was unnecessary. It made my skin crawl during some scenes and I almost put it down several times. Wasn't prepared for the onslaught of scent descriptions on every page either. I made it through but would not recommend to a friend.
June 28, 2017
You can read my full review here: http://creativepersons.dudaone.com/re...
October 13, 2011
Anarchists, secessionists, and floundering academics! Oh my!
Keith Scribner's novel, The Oregon Experiment, follows Scanlon Pratt and his wife, Naomi Greenburg, as they move from New York City to Douglas, Oregon, where Pratt is ready to begin his first tenure-track position in the Political Science Department.
Immediately, tension fills the pages as Naomi tries to cope with the move. She's eight months pregnant, misses New York, and suffers from anosmia. For Naomi, anosmia is crippling, because she used to design scents and perfumes for her career. She has no explanation for losing her sense of smell and it's been gone since before she met Pratt. The loss becomes something the two explore in their relationship. Naomi teaches Pratt how to more fully experience scents and in return he describes the world to her. It smells like lavender pressed into the collar of a well-loved wool coat, he might say.
Due to this aspect of the characters, Scribner delights in describing the world through various scents and smells. It makes for an interesting perspective and adds rich details throughout the narrative.
Instead of soothing Naomi's anxieties, Pratt continually adds to them. Off to a rocky start in his department, he glosses over his career prospects, and seeks out the local secessionist group to study. But can he stay objective? Lured into the ranks by a seductive, earthy, young woman, Pratt soon finds trouble. Add young, naive anarchists into the mix and more than a marriage is likely to explode.
To be unfair to Keith Scribner, I kept thinking, what would this novel be like if T.C. Boyle wrote it? It has the trappings of a T.C. Boyle novel, but lacks the crisp writing and sharp characters. It's completely unfair and shouldn't shadow Scribner's work. Perhaps, part of the appeal is that it does remind me of a T.C. Boyle novel.
While the pacing dips toward the middle, the last 100 pages read quickly as events pick up. Relationships splinter, the FBI investigates, and a local anarchist, Clay, turns to domestic terrorism. It's in Clay that Scribner's compassion for his characters is fully expressed. At the end of the novel there are two versions of events. Events how they really occurred and events how Clay perceived them. Scribner didn't have to do this, but his decision captures Clay in a moment of glory and fulfillment. Scribner takes a character who may alienate some readers and finds a sweet spot in resolving the plot.
The Oregon Experiment examines love, passion, alienation, and community. Scribner creates a satisfying work that sheds light on an area of society, which is usually stereotyped in the media. Overall, the novel is engaging and extremely relevant as Occupy Wall Street protests swarm into business districts across the country.
Keith Scribner's novel, The Oregon Experiment, follows Scanlon Pratt and his wife, Naomi Greenburg, as they move from New York City to Douglas, Oregon, where Pratt is ready to begin his first tenure-track position in the Political Science Department.
Immediately, tension fills the pages as Naomi tries to cope with the move. She's eight months pregnant, misses New York, and suffers from anosmia. For Naomi, anosmia is crippling, because she used to design scents and perfumes for her career. She has no explanation for losing her sense of smell and it's been gone since before she met Pratt. The loss becomes something the two explore in their relationship. Naomi teaches Pratt how to more fully experience scents and in return he describes the world to her. It smells like lavender pressed into the collar of a well-loved wool coat, he might say.
Due to this aspect of the characters, Scribner delights in describing the world through various scents and smells. It makes for an interesting perspective and adds rich details throughout the narrative.
Instead of soothing Naomi's anxieties, Pratt continually adds to them. Off to a rocky start in his department, he glosses over his career prospects, and seeks out the local secessionist group to study. But can he stay objective? Lured into the ranks by a seductive, earthy, young woman, Pratt soon finds trouble. Add young, naive anarchists into the mix and more than a marriage is likely to explode.
To be unfair to Keith Scribner, I kept thinking, what would this novel be like if T.C. Boyle wrote it? It has the trappings of a T.C. Boyle novel, but lacks the crisp writing and sharp characters. It's completely unfair and shouldn't shadow Scribner's work. Perhaps, part of the appeal is that it does remind me of a T.C. Boyle novel.
While the pacing dips toward the middle, the last 100 pages read quickly as events pick up. Relationships splinter, the FBI investigates, and a local anarchist, Clay, turns to domestic terrorism. It's in Clay that Scribner's compassion for his characters is fully expressed. At the end of the novel there are two versions of events. Events how they really occurred and events how Clay perceived them. Scribner didn't have to do this, but his decision captures Clay in a moment of glory and fulfillment. Scribner takes a character who may alienate some readers and finds a sweet spot in resolving the plot.
The Oregon Experiment examines love, passion, alienation, and community. Scribner creates a satisfying work that sheds light on an area of society, which is usually stereotyped in the media. Overall, the novel is engaging and extremely relevant as Occupy Wall Street protests swarm into business districts across the country.
April 9, 2017
Un roman dont le résumé me laissait penser qu'il serait musclé, plein d'actions, de rebondissements et de mises en danger. Mais, en fait, pas du tout. Il s'agit plutôt d'un roman psychologique implanté sur la Côte Ouest des Etats-Unis et ses mouvements citoyens. Un mélange entre groupes radicaux et hippies-bobos. Et au milieu se trouve un couple de citadins qui emménagent dans la région suite au poste que vient de décrocher Scanlon à l'université de Douglas.
Entre l'implication de Scanlon dans ces mouvances, les bouleversements de la paternité, sa femme qui retrouve son odorat hyper développé, les traumatismes et les blessures que chacun cherche à combler dans/à travers l'autre, l'équilibre se trouve bouleversé. Vont-ils le retrouver ou leur couple va-t-il éclater ?
Un roman qui brasse plusieurs angles d'approche et qui mélange de nombreuses réflexions. J'ai adoré l'approche du monde de Naomi à travers son odorat et les descriptions d'odeur que l'auteur donne des personnes, des aliments, des lieux à travers ce personnage. Ça donne l'impression de découvrir un nouveau monde de possibles à travers ce sens parfois négligé.
Les personnages sont assez fouillés et bien construits. Chacun a ses failles et ses blessures et cherche à les combler d'une manière ou d'une autre. Parfois de manière erronée, parfois pas.
Un roman assez dense, par le nombre d'approches que l'on peut en faire, mais parfois, on s'y perd un peu. Si l'auteur ouvre/offre de nombreuses pistes, elles ne sont peut-être pas assez exploités. Au lecteur, de finir le chemin et de répondre aux questionnements personnels que ce livre aura (ou pas) suscités en lui.
Entre l'implication de Scanlon dans ces mouvances, les bouleversements de la paternité, sa femme qui retrouve son odorat hyper développé, les traumatismes et les blessures que chacun cherche à combler dans/à travers l'autre, l'équilibre se trouve bouleversé. Vont-ils le retrouver ou leur couple va-t-il éclater ?
Un roman qui brasse plusieurs angles d'approche et qui mélange de nombreuses réflexions. J'ai adoré l'approche du monde de Naomi à travers son odorat et les descriptions d'odeur que l'auteur donne des personnes, des aliments, des lieux à travers ce personnage. Ça donne l'impression de découvrir un nouveau monde de possibles à travers ce sens parfois négligé.
Les personnages sont assez fouillés et bien construits. Chacun a ses failles et ses blessures et cherche à les combler d'une manière ou d'une autre. Parfois de manière erronée, parfois pas.
Un roman assez dense, par le nombre d'approches que l'on peut en faire, mais parfois, on s'y perd un peu. Si l'auteur ouvre/offre de nombreuses pistes, elles ne sont peut-être pas assez exploités. Au lecteur, de finir le chemin et de répondre aux questionnements personnels que ce livre aura (ou pas) suscités en lui.
September 7, 2015
I really wanted to like this book. It could have been a good book.I waited a day to write about it to give myself a chance to decide if I hated it only because of how it portrayed anarchists. But no.
How often do people write fiction about anarchists, environmentalists, academics, and secessionists in the Northwest? Too bad the author had zero interest in the actual beliefs held by the kind of people he was characterizing.
It could have been a meditation on life, government, authority, organizing, environmental destruction, and the kinds of compromises people make. Instead this is just one of those books that is about terrible people and not much else. Such a shame.
The punk anarchist never actually discusses anarchy. He just wants to blow shit up. But deep down he is just sad and guilty and turned to anarchy because he is damaged. The hippie was just running from her past and into a lot of woo woo. The NY Jewish princess is a feral mother driven by reproduction. Everybody has got mommy issues. Everybody is self absorbed. Nobody does the right thing. Ever.
Yawn.
And what is with the authors obsession with breastfeeding? Did he think he was picking up where Grapes of Wrath let off? Steinbeck should come back from the dead and slap him.
If you want to read a more generous review, also from an anarchist perspective, Margaret Killjoy wrote one here. I for one will tell you not to bother.
How often do people write fiction about anarchists, environmentalists, academics, and secessionists in the Northwest? Too bad the author had zero interest in the actual beliefs held by the kind of people he was characterizing.
It could have been a meditation on life, government, authority, organizing, environmental destruction, and the kinds of compromises people make. Instead this is just one of those books that is about terrible people and not much else. Such a shame.
The punk anarchist never actually discusses anarchy. He just wants to blow shit up. But deep down he is just sad and guilty and turned to anarchy because he is damaged. The hippie was just running from her past and into a lot of woo woo. The NY Jewish princess is a feral mother driven by reproduction. Everybody has got mommy issues. Everybody is self absorbed. Nobody does the right thing. Ever.
Yawn.
And what is with the authors obsession with breastfeeding? Did he think he was picking up where Grapes of Wrath let off? Steinbeck should come back from the dead and slap him.
If you want to read a more generous review, also from an anarchist perspective, Margaret Killjoy wrote one here. I for one will tell you not to bother.
November 25, 2012
A fun and thought provoking novel about a couple who move to a college town in Oregon from the East, he is a newly hired professor and she is pregnant and plans to focus on motherhood until she can resume her career. They soon meet members of the "secessionist" movement and a young anarchist who disdains Scanlon and his professorial research but who develops a crush on Naomi.
When I initially read the reviews and plot summaries I was worried that this book would be a caricature, either a way out book based in an idea where Oregon and Washington may actually secede or be a book that would make fun of Oregon/progressive personalities
It was neither. It was a nicely told story with complex characters, nice plot twists and painting shades of gray in the political arguments set forth in the story. I recommend this.
When I initially read the reviews and plot summaries I was worried that this book would be a caricature, either a way out book based in an idea where Oregon and Washington may actually secede or be a book that would make fun of Oregon/progressive personalities
It was neither. It was a nicely told story with complex characters, nice plot twists and painting shades of gray in the political arguments set forth in the story. I recommend this.
September 19, 2011
Overall, I liked this book pretty well. I read some of the reviews on Goodreads last night as I was almost finished. I can see the point behind point the negative and positive reviews. I tend to agree that the characters aren't particularly likable, but of course that needn't ruin a novel, and frankly I have a hard time imagining that the author would care whether you liked the characters or not. I was struggling to finish this book but another reviewer's remark that the book continued to open up more in her mind after finishing it encouraged me to make the final push. There are a lot of interesting elements going on in this book. I like how Scribner deals with the tension people experience living their lives according to their 'beliefs' (the importance of local economies, seceding from a corrupt government, etc.) and everyday reality. Worth reading for its high points.
October 8, 2012
This was an enjoyable (and quick) read - after taking a few months to make it through The Brothers K, I finished this in just a few days. The Oregon Experiment was a bizarre but somewhat interesting read. The main characters move to a small town in Oregon for an academic job (we're also just in the middle of an academic move, though not to anywhere that remote), and I did find them compelling and well developed. The way that Scribner wove the sense of smell throughout the story was one of the highlights.
The plot, however, didn't grip me nearly so much (I had trouble figuring out if it was supposed to be far-fetched/over the top or if it was intended to be taken seriously). Even the characters started to suffer under the weight of the plot, and ultimately the whole thing wrapped up much too quickly and neatly.
Still, I'd like to try another book of his (maybe the GoodLife).
The plot, however, didn't grip me nearly so much (I had trouble figuring out if it was supposed to be far-fetched/over the top or if it was intended to be taken seriously). Even the characters started to suffer under the weight of the plot, and ultimately the whole thing wrapped up much too quickly and neatly.
Still, I'd like to try another book of his (maybe the GoodLife).
April 7, 2015
This was weird. It is set in a fictional town in Oregon and (sort of) explores the Pacific Northwest anarchist subculture. It seems like a thinly disguised portrayal of Eugene, and it kind of annoyed me that he created a fake town name, because he includes so many real details everywhere else. You can tell that Scribner has been around this subculture of people, but it doesn't seem like he has a very nuanced understanding of them.
I also found the character of the professor's wife to be irritating, because he gave her the quirk of being "a professional nose" who lost her sense of smell. Too quirky of a character detail and didn't really fit in with the rest of the book.
Nonetheless, I was really interested while reading this book and enjoyed it for the most part. I think it had more potential than was actually realized, especially towards the end.
I also found the character of the professor's wife to be irritating, because he gave her the quirk of being "a professional nose" who lost her sense of smell. Too quirky of a character detail and didn't really fit in with the rest of the book.
Nonetheless, I was really interested while reading this book and enjoyed it for the most part. I think it had more potential than was actually realized, especially towards the end.
November 24, 2016
Scanlon, a young professor with job problems, moves to “Douglas” (Eugene?) Oregon. with wife Naomi and baby, hoping to jump-start his career by studying a secession movement and anarchists in the NW. Scanlon and Naomi soon find themselves over their heads, dealing with destructive Clay, earth-mother Sequoia, plus academic and sexual jealousies.
Super depiction of Eugene: local places shifted around but the ambience kept intact. Scribner explores the reasoning of anti-establishment characters most of us ( I assume) don’t usually meet and gives us a bit of understanding of the folks who throw bricks through windows and plan attacks on the”corporate system” – always making sure that no people are harmed. Everyone in the book is trailing a lot of baggage. Comic, touching. A four-star for most readers, but a must-read for Oregon residents curious about the counter-culture.
Super depiction of Eugene: local places shifted around but the ambience kept intact. Scribner explores the reasoning of anti-establishment characters most of us ( I assume) don’t usually meet and gives us a bit of understanding of the folks who throw bricks through windows and plan attacks on the”corporate system” – always making sure that no people are harmed. Everyone in the book is trailing a lot of baggage. Comic, touching. A four-star for most readers, but a must-read for Oregon residents curious about the counter-culture.
January 15, 2012
Ended up skimming: mildly amusing, but not enough to engage me. Perhaps if I had tons of time and not much else to read it would be better, though. I can't pinpoint why I wasn't interested except to say that I was not in the mood to read about these characters and their oddities, and of course the entire extreme radical enviro folks, who are basically anal retentive conservatives in disguise, gain no sympathy from me at all. Perhaps my failure to enjoy this book was entirely based on that? I'd say, read Bernard Malamud's A New Life for a better academic novel about Corvallis, OR and Oregon State, and if you want to learn about the Oregon environmental movement, no doubt the non fictional works that exist would provide more context and sympathy.
December 13, 2016
The book has some Franzen style elements which I really enjoyed. The characters could be frustrating at times but things resolved in the end with everyone finally giving into what fakers they were that I found it very satisfying. If only Naomi and Scanlon could in any way address their feelings or communicate properly it would have made me less angry but then I guess it wouldn't have been an interesting book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2011
This was a pretty good book. It took a whole slew of things that I not only didn't know much about, but didn't even particularly care about, and turned them handily into downright interesting plot devices.
While I feel like it got a little too hung up on kids and having kids and what having kids means to different people, the less bothersome points made up the difference. And that is probably my own fault anyway: I suppose it isn't the author's fault that I don't care about the minutiae of children.
The long and the short of it is that The Oregon Experiment is well written and interesting, and while I may not be headed out to tattoo quotes from the book on myself, it was a good story.
While I feel like it got a little too hung up on kids and having kids and what having kids means to different people, the less bothersome points made up the difference. And that is probably my own fault anyway: I suppose it isn't the author's fault that I don't care about the minutiae of children.
The long and the short of it is that The Oregon Experiment is well written and interesting, and while I may not be headed out to tattoo quotes from the book on myself, it was a good story.
June 6, 2013
I picked it up because of the connections to the Pacific Northwest, and managed to get all the way through it. But, I can't say that I really enjoyed it.
Scanlon and Naomi move to Oregon for a new start -- he is a professor who studies mass movements. He gets involved in leading a local secession group with a lot of bluster and little action, and they also become entangled with an anarchist who is pursuing more radical action. Characters were all damaged and flawed in their own way.
I guess I didn't rate it higher because I'm cynical and skeptical about the whole anarchy movement, based on recent experiences in Seattle.
Scanlon and Naomi move to Oregon for a new start -- he is a professor who studies mass movements. He gets involved in leading a local secession group with a lot of bluster and little action, and they also become entangled with an anarchist who is pursuing more radical action. Characters were all damaged and flawed in their own way.
I guess I didn't rate it higher because I'm cynical and skeptical about the whole anarchy movement, based on recent experiences in Seattle.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2011
This took me a relatively long time to get through and I wasn't enjoying it in the duration. No offense to the author. Maybe it was me, or being on vacation, or just not concerned about the main topic...I don't know. I didn't like the characters (and there were too many of them for me to keep track of...not that I made the effort to).It sort of came together at the end (which was my favorite part). There were questions I had about some story references, but to be honest, I didn't care enough about the answers to go back and try and figure out where I'd missed the information.
August 29, 2011
"Fringe" folks interact with mainstream consumer types - I found this novel hilarious! Aren't secessionists underrepresented in literature? Another revolution is at work in the book: paying attention to scents is a way back to nature. So this novel may hurt for some people - since it's like recommitting to your wife's inherent godliness after pimping her for a few decades.
The status quo is destroying civilization more than any anarchist ever could. Viva Ecotopia!
The status quo is destroying civilization more than any anarchist ever could. Viva Ecotopia!
November 19, 2011
For a lefty like me, the characters and much of the plot of this story were interesting, but the author wasn't able to make me really believe in it all. It was a slightly too superficial treatment; perhaps it was that Scribner was unable to make me believe in Scanlon's passion for anarchy or radical movements? I'm not sure. Anyway, good story; solid writing; interesting characters . . . it just fell a little short of what it should have been. I give it 3 1/2 stars.
May 25, 2014
As someone who lives in the town Scribner is writing about, I was beyond pleased to recognize some of the spots he talks about in his book. Beyond that, however, I thought his style, tone and word choice were appropriate for the setting, and the storyline was fascinating.
I did grow to dislike most of the characters - which I'm fine with. If a writer makes me feel strongly any one way about characters in his/her book, they are doing something right.
I did grow to dislike most of the characters - which I'm fine with. If a writer makes me feel strongly any one way about characters in his/her book, they are doing something right.
August 14, 2011
If you could do half stars this would be 4.5. I thought it was a great read. The characters were complex and engaging, the setting fabulous, and the plot about a unique subculture was fascinating. The Oregon Experiment weaves together some of the common stories in the PNW that make this area unique and gives it its character. I wish there were lots more books like it.
July 20, 2011
I am sad that I did not like this book since so many other people liked it including Adam Ross who wrote Mr. Peanut (which I loved). This book has nothing to offer its reader except brief hints of interesting elements. So many incidents in the book are so unbelievable I cannot believe his editor left them in the book. A big disappointment!
January 24, 2012
It started out really good, then kind of unraveled into messy extramarital affairs, then abruptly dropped off. After developing the characters so well, I felt like the author dropped the story to quickly. It was, however, quite an interesting insight into the crazy minds of PNW secessionists. Sometimes they actually sounded rational.
December 18, 2013
I had to read this for a class in approximately a weeks time span. I am usually okay with overly descriptive books, but Scribner has a talent for making the reader uncomfortable and uninterested. I ended up not reading the whole thing, and googled the premise and themes. Maybe I carry the resentment of it being an assigned reading, but this was a rough book.
July 12, 2011
An awful book. I picked it up because it was a secessionist tale based in Oregon. But the characters and plot were equally uninteresting to the point of being annoying. No reason to read this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews