I was gonna talk about Lethems new book: The Ecstasy of Influence but I got half way through before the library took it back, and frankly, unless you're a hardcore fan, the essays and short blurbs might be a bit heady.....
Not having the new book, I decided to re-read an old one: GUN, WITH OCCASIONAL MUSIC.This is Lethems first published novel (which is being made into a movie!). It's so fun. It's a hardboiled detective novel (in the voice of Raymond Chandler) in a distopian science fiction world. Animals have been genetically engineered into a more evolved state and act as servants and lower level employees, babies growth is rapidly sped up so that they are independant in the first year( which leads to them being drunks and cynics). Pretty much everyone has their own personalized state sponsored drug blend for snorting. All media has become non-linear, TV is more like the itunes visualizer and the news is expressed with a soundtrack rather than words. But the best thing about the book is the protaganist, Conrad Metcalf, a classic private dick. Just like Marlowe or Sam Spade. His metaphors and descriptions are hilarious,
“Some people have things written all over their faces; the big guy had a couple of words misspelled in crayon on his.”
Reading this I was reminded how much I love most of Lethems work and how broad his styles are, I recommend almost anything he's written, especially Fortressof Solitude, Girl in Landscape and Chronic City......
Not having the new book, I decided to re-read an old one: GUN, WITH OCCASIONAL MUSIC.This is Lethems first published novel (which is being made into a movie!). It's so fun. It's a hardboiled detective novel (in the voice of Raymond Chandler) in a distopian science fiction world. Animals have been genetically engineered into a more evolved state and act as servants and lower level employees, babies growth is rapidly sped up so that they are independant in the first year( which leads to them being drunks and cynics). Pretty much everyone has their own personalized state sponsored drug blend for snorting. All media has become non-linear, TV is more like the itunes visualizer and the news is expressed with a soundtrack rather than words. But the best thing about the book is the protaganist, Conrad Metcalf, a classic private dick. Just like Marlowe or Sam Spade. His metaphors and descriptions are hilarious,
“Some people have things written all over their faces; the big guy had a couple of words misspelled in crayon on his.”
Reading this I was reminded how much I love most of Lethems work and how broad his styles are, I recommend almost anything he's written, especially Fortressof Solitude, Girl in Landscape and Chronic City......
