What do You think about Wakefield (2004)?
It seems that most of the people who have read this are familiar with the author's other work. They would possibly be familiar with the author's style. I was not, and it was an unpleasant discovery.The main character rambles constantly, physically and mentally. The philosphy he develops in the book is completely incoherent as far as I can tell. I kept expecting him to stumble upon something of value, something that he considered "the authentic life". I wondered if I'd be disappointed. It turns out he didn't even address the issue. The book rambles from chapter to chapter while waiting for "capital E" Events to begin and then abruptly turns left (with a severe out-of-character action) and ends. The only character I liked was the cab driver. Why couldn't we have had a book about him instead?
—Mike
I'm almost at the halfway point of the audio version, and if something doesn't change my mind in the time it takes me to drive to work in the morning, I'm giving up. The writing comes across to me as intensely male, in a way that makes me feel I could never hope to understand anything that happens inside an XY brain. This book is trying hard to convince me that approximately 70% of U.S. residents have thick Eastern European accents. Perhaps that's true, and I'm simply not talking to the right people. It's also trying to convince me that 90% of all conversations in the U.S. are about art, money, philosophy, ethnicity, architecture, and various amalgams of all of the above. That I can't buy.
—Linda
The devil and Wakefield make a deal, but it is all good and comedic and about general dropping knowledge. Codrescu once said that Wakefield is his most autobiographical, or was that Messiah? It was written in a collection of his essays, which is numerous still.Humph.Anyway. Ex-wife, Marianna, women in various muse forms and the devil as his usual old Nick trickster self.God in eternal slumber dreaming the humans up, various refs to all gods and muses. Not as saintly as Messiah.genius with job solving, a much lighter tone to the destruction and apocalypse that can come to pass.animatronic birds of rarity and inspirationpaying attention to massage, grocery shoppingexhaustiveasshole cyberia camera crew reality control roommcdonalds in paris because it feels familiarborn/dying old man plate glasssimpsons v family guy
—Billy
