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Entertaining. Glimpses of brilliance. Falls short.

Revisado: 10-09-23

This is an entertaining novel which I listened to as an audiobook. There is so much to like here and flashes of true brilliance. As a university professor and biotechnology entrepreneur, there are motifs in the book that are interesting and exciting. There are also a few shortcomings which keep the book from achieving as much as it could have. In particular, the character of Hugh is drawn too simply, too stereotypically, and two-dimensionally. He is at best rendered as a foil and at times almost as a childishly-drawn cartoon instead of a character. Additionally, the conclusion of the book is rushed, simplistic, and convenient. It's a fairytale ending to a story and characters that deserve better. But the greatest shortcoming of this other promising book is the notion of "dynamic equity" that Mr. Taranto promulgates through his narrative and character Hugh. The notion is perfect fodder for intellectual lightweights, tech-philanthropists, and literary types who imagine themselves to be economists. I'll look forward to the author's next book and hope to never have to read about "dynamic equity" again, whether from him or anyone else. On the bright side, the narration is generally excellent.

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Hollower than the waves he is looking to surf

Revisado: 07-12-22

As an aspiring middle-aged surfer, I decided to listen to this book with some trepidation. I have not read anything by Peter Heller and was not familiar with the narrator, Mike Chamberlain. My trepidation was justified, and I would only recommend this Audible book with the caveat, "proceed with caution."

With respect to the narrator, I will say only that his nasal, sometimes unpleasant voice doesn't enhance the experience of listening to this book. Alas, de gustibus non est disputandum. On a less querulous note, his rendering of Spanish words and phrases is amateurish, and that beautiful language deserves better.

I chose to listen to this book on account of my interest in the author's experience of learning to surf in the middle of his fifth decade. There are many parts of that story that are enjoyable and enriching. What I did not expect or want from Kook is something that the author provides in unwelcome abundance: a soft-headed, ego-centric telling of his evolving romance with his girlfriend and (later) wife, and a muddled hectoring melange of environmental mumbo jumbo that emerges in the most awkward moments against the backdrop of a story supposedly about surfing.

In this last regard, it is not that the author mistakes the gravity of the situation we face with respect to the health of the world's oceans. Rather, it is that he contributes nothing new on this topic, has an off-putting pietistic style, and mistakes one objective good (e.g., global economic growth of 2%) as being fundamentally in conflict with another (e.g., clean and healthy oceans). His thinking on these topics is lazy; his writing sophomoric; his tone hectoring - all hollower than the waves he is looking to surf.

Proceed with caution,

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Not worth purchasing

Revisado: 06-01-20

There is one central promise to this book, which the author simply repeats again and again and again. Thinking in bets. That's it.

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Disappointing story with a cloying narration

Revisado: 12-28-14

What disappointed you about The Book of Strange New Things?

I read a positive review of this book in the New York Review of Books and was intrigued. However, after only making it three-quarters of the way through this book I finally decided to call it what it is - a disappointment. The story drifts lifelessly on and on, the main characters trite and poorly developed, mere cardboard representations of real literary creations; there is no surprise, no delight, no wonder. The scenes are set light years from earth, but the story remains utterly terrestrial and pedestrian. There is not a character in this book that I could stand spending even a elevator ride's worth of time with. Poor, poor inhabitants of this other world that they are in the hands of such a feckless corporate entity and subject to the ministrations of a spineless, wimpering preacher. If the book is a gaping wound of a failure then the narration is simply rock salt torturing the existing laceration. I honestly wonder that the narrator did not fall asleep in the midst of his work as both he and the story endlessly droned on without reprieve or resolution.

What do you think your next listen will be?

It will be something not written by Michael Faber. I will also now have to give second thoughts to trusting reviews in the NY Review of Books, as well. Having just finished listening to and reading Moby Dick, I have in mind to continue dipping in to the treasure trove or existing world literature as a way of cleansing my literary palate of Faber's utter rot.

How could the performance have been better?

I work to not be petulantly unkind here. The narrator added nothing to the telling of the story. Rather, his own whining, limp monotone just served to further weaken the author's already weak construction. The narrator sounded bored throughout - as was I.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Book of Strange New Things?

Probably the first through the last pages.

Any additional comments?

I would like my credit refunded for having had to endure even three-quarters of this disastrous attempt at storytelling,

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