What got me to read The Gone-Away World (Vintage Contemporaries)
was the tag line on the back saying there would be mimes and ninjas. Then I read another book by Harkaway and was blown away by his prose so this book was inevitable even though it was the first I was planning to read.Having read it, I'm not sure how much I can tell about it other than to say it will easily be one of my favorite reads this year.
It's nuts, literally as insane as you can imagine when they're selling it with mimes and ninjas. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, at least in the current narrative portion, but I have to warn you that it's filled with flashes to the past. It's the narrative conceit here. It's not as much as Wizard and Glass (Stephen King), but it's not too far off either... You've been warned, but I think that helps knowing.
This is one of those books that you have to be along for the ride, not necessarily the plot. There are so very many tangents that you have to just enjoy it. They're all over the place and not just in the fact that you're doing yet another flashback.
While I'm acting like this is a bad thing, it's really not. I just know how much of a shock this kind of narrative can be. Wizard and Glass is my favorite in the Dark Tower series, so that's where I'm coming from.
If you like zany characters, ninjas, weirdness, and definitely mimes in an odd-ball, off-the-wall, tangent-filled, joke-filled post-apocalypse .... then you're totally going to love this.
4.5 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)
3 comments:
I had Angelmaker out from the library at one point long ago and liked the bit that I had read, but then needed to get it back and have never gotten back to it. I've heard little but good reports from those who have read his books.
Angelmaker was my other experience with Harkaway and I loved it. I really jive with his writing style which I admit isn't for everyone.
It was certainly different but I remember really liking the way he wrote.
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