Mark

Already have, many times. It's funny, sad, tense, heartwarming and even occasionally shocking at others. The scope of the story was just beyond what I expected. It is so rare that a story one has not prepared oneself for turns out to be as rewarding a read. Picture a whisky drinker, handed a gin martini, who in turn discovers he now loves gin. (Tried for lightning in a bottle twice - Anathem was not a similar experience! On to Snow Crash!)

I chose the book in my post-Ready-Player-One-Ernie Cline afterglow, but this is NOTHING like that story. Okay, it's minutely similar in that a game is involved. For like 1% of the book. This is real world, minor-suspension of disbelief material. The story is so wide, I really don't have a great comparison in my contemporary fiction library in the same vein.

Anything involving the EXCELLENT reading of Hillgartner - so proper, serious, refined - and Richard's borderline-Asperberger's personality.

Yes, but as long as it is... unlikely.

Check it out. Give yourself a moment to fall in love with these characters, then be ready to groan as they fall deeper and deeper into trouble. Be prepared to travel.

A great story and an excellent reading by the author = well worth the time and money. Loved it. I listened to American Gods first, and while that was a very interesting listen, this is both that and an excellent story. His imagery - in both books, frankly - is easily superior to that of his contemporaries. You'll love it.

Anyone who has ever been at their wit's end with bureaucracy or lost on a sea of red tape will enjoy this. It's funny, it's extremely clever, and the characters are all unique, even within the context of a book built on so many quirky and bizarre personalities. As with any good read or listen, you have to catch the pace and rhythm, but once you do, you'll be screaming, "You're CRAZY!" and craving... Egyptian cotton.

This book is truly a beautiful piece of poetic literature. The way Frazier puts the reader/listener there in the place and time is, in a way, a humbling experience. How anyone could call such story "dull" is beyond me - hard to imagine while I'm sitting and listening for long stretches of time after the car is parked, the engine off. Will Patton - typically playing characters I've despised in films because he is so great at being evil - is actually just the guy for this reading. His accents and voice inflections aren't distracting but actually inviting. My only complaint would be the music that seems to appear fairly often towards the beginning. Otherwise - enjoy.