Big Machine

A Novel

By: Victor LaValle

Narrated by: Sean Crisden

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Ricky Rice is a middling hustler with a lingering junk habit, a bum knee, and a haunted mind. A survivor of a suicide cult, he scrapes by as a porter at a bus depot in Utica, New York, until one day a mysterious letter arrives, summoning him to enlist in a band of paranormal investigators comprised of former addicts and petty criminals, all of whom had at some point in their wasted lives heard what may have been the voice of God.

Infused with the wonder of a disquieting dream and laced with Victor LaValle's fiendish comic sensibility, Big Machine is a mind-rattling mystery about doubt, faith, and the monsters we carry within us.

©2009 Victor LaValle (P)2017 Tantor

Another Good One From Mr. Lavalle

TBH, took me more than a few tries to get into this one. I love Lavalle's work but I do feel like he likes a good slow burn beginning. However, once I felt things started to pick up, I found myself engaged. Weirdly, it wasn't the central/main story that I was invested in. It was the flashbacks/"How we got here" b stories that held my interest more than anything. There was a point where I was only listening to the central story so I could get back to the flashbacks.

Overall though, I liked this book. The narrator's reading & performance were superb. I liked it, not loved it like I did "The Changeling" but it was good & I loved the very deep & thought provoking sentiments surrounding the topics of trauma, religion/faith, redemption, recovery, & second chances.

I just hate that it ends on something of a cliffhanger and I'm pretty certain that from when the book was published, there doesn't seem to be a sequel in the works. So I'll just have to sit with that I guess.

Peters out at the end

The story had me fully engaged until the end. I was ultimately left with frustration, due to loose plot threads.

Victor LaValle is good. Real good.

Have you ever known failure so deep, it feels biological?”

I like Victor LaValle. The dude is crazy good. I didn’t read anything about this one prior to picking and digging right in. I don’t really need to with LaValle. I know it is going to be weird, interesting, entertaining and smart. I also know that most of the time I won’t know wtf is going on or where it’s going. The only thing I’ll know for sure is that it won’t be what I think it is…and that’s a good thing.

Cockeyed gospels, soul eating cats, chaffing nipples, heavenly voices, churches made from Clay and an epic road trip with the Grey Lady.

There were elements and concepts here that were truly superb and others that felt a little forced and flat. I still liked it though. Not my favorite of Victor’s, but even that is better than a lot of guys (gals) can do.

Great work by an amazing author

I do love this piece. Not quite as much as some of his later works, but this one is solid. The character development is thorough and some of the twists are alluding plot lines are downright surprising. Those washer women…

No more

This is the last Victor Lavalle book I will read for a while. Amazing writer. The plot just doesn’t quite do it for me though. It feels like a huge build up into … nothing really special in the end. Too many unaddressed points and questions. Was not a fulfilling read.

Doubt is a big machine.

Really enjoyed this. Reminded me a lot at points of Murakami's, "Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World." Kind of wacky at points, but very good.

Weird but amazing!

Although there are some mixed reviews for this book, I found it to be absolutely delicious! If you enter this book expecting it to be a run of the mill mystery or thriller, you will be unhappy. This book is magical and confusing, so leave your preconceived notions at the door. It is weird, tragic, horrifying, endearing, and ends in a way that does not resolve ALL of the questions that are introduced. However, this is what makes the book so wonderful! The biting wit of the main character made me lol many times during this story, which was read by the perfect narrator. I mistakenly thought the book was narrated by the author because the voice matches so well with the main character. My only complaint is that I did not love this narrator's voicing of the female characters. A minor issue, really. Also, I found the book to be unnecessarily long, but I definitely enjoyed it. If you are looking for a very different, weird, and thought-provoking story, give this one a try! I'm now a fan of this author and will definitely explore his other books. This one is not your regular cup of tea, folks! Try something new and savor every minute!

Part X-Files, part Lost, part Blue Velvet

"Empathy is important, it's the only thing separating humans from teenage boys"
The most enjoyable book I've listened to in a long time. Filled with wry observations, clever turns of phrase and a truck load of metaphors.
Mystery upon mystery, strangeness upon strangeness this book draws you in and makes you question everything.

No

I don’t know what all the reviews are about. The book is set up to look like something really original but it the text and narration (the first person of the book, not the one reading) are mundane.

The narrator’s drawl was intolerable

I listened to LaValle read The Changling last week and it was amazing. From what I can gather I bet I’ll like this story even better if I read it. I can’t listen to this. Crisden’s inflection choices seem almost random, and he sounds more like Fog Horn Leg Horn than a man from Queens. Totally distracting