AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Life Askew by Barry Patrick Fitzsimmons ISBN: 0-7596-8990-3 Publisher: 1stBooks Library Pub. Date: August, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 4.62 (8 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Life Really is Askew or, Walker Percy on LSD
Comment: Fitzsimmons densely populates an R-rated Simpsons-like world with characters afflicted with names and physical features that ring with the truth of hyper-reality. Who knows from what depths of the European tradition bubbled up the hero "Roland Spring?" Could it be Cervantes? After all, Roland's inner-ear problem has him tilting... Some mornings I awaken and, scratching my carapace with one of my six legs, feel like "Gregorsam" myself. That aside, perhaps the most interesting character in this wonderful novel is the insane Food Expo itself where Roland does his best to night-manage. This universe of food and foodstuffs (there's even tea for Wiccans) is as benign and malign as the Cosmos (the novel's set in the city of Cosmette) and is itself populated (and visited by) with all manner of people, all of whom Fitzsimmons, again in hyper-real mode, makes recognizable. If you've ever read Walker Percy's "Love in the Ruins" or "The Last Gentleman" or Don DeLillo's "White Noise," you'll recognize a kindred spirit here. Fitzsimmons invests the absurdity of his world with a charge of real emotion. Almost in spite of all the laughs, the author cares for his creation. Words fail to compress the unboundedness of this inventive novel, which you'd never surmise is the author's first. Order it. Now.

Rating: 4
Summary: Life Askew
Comment: Barry Fitzsimmons is one interesting man.

Life Askew is very funny, clever, scary, disturbed, surprising,
foul-mouthed and sweet. I loved it.

Rating: 5
Summary: Dark, Disturbing Satire
Comment: Roland Spring is the night cashier at Food Expo, a man with a strange condition of the inner ear that causes him to list--to one side or the other--in accordance with the tides. A man who sincerely tries to do his best at work and has few personal desires. In short, a loser. But what a loser! A loser you can't help loving, who always comes up smelling like a rose. And then he finds Mynewt (you have to pronounce it in one syllable), his sweet love who turns up in his bed one night and begins changing his life.

Alas, poor Roland becomes infected with the corporate virus, the desire to climb the ladder. And as he does his orderly simple life begins to disintegrate.

Will Roland and Mynewt ever find happiness together? Will ambition and hard work be rewarded? Is there really justice in a world ruled by giant corporations and piratical tow-truck operators? What lies ahead for our nation and our world? You will have to read the book to find out. Once you read the first page you will be hooked.

Author Fitzsimmons writes in a light-hearted manner, with fanciful situations and incredibly funny names, but his vision is darkly satirical. He takes a penetrating look at life in America, exaggerates just a bit, and portrays a vision of our future that is deeply disturbing.

The book has a few flaws. It needs a bit of editing. Sometimes the story drags a bit. But it is brilliant, original, and thought-provoking. If you liked the Good Soldier Svejk, you will love Roland Spring and Life Askew. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.