readingwithhippos's review against another edition
4.0
I can honestly say I’ve never read a wackier book. I finished the last page and thought, “That is what it is like inside Nick Harkaway’s brain.” This is a guy whose imagination must do, like, ten thousand pushups a day. And it made me wonder why I trap myself into thinking in the same tired loops every day, worrying about how our toddler refused breakfast again or analyzing my thigh-dimples in the bathroom mirror.
How much brainpower have I wasted? How many hours—nay, days—nay, years!—have I allowed my brain to wallow in the boring, bland, blasé gutter of daily life, when I could have been dreaming up an apocalyptic vision of the future, complete with evil ninjas, machines taking over mankind, and a mime collective with a spokesman named Ike Thermite? This book made my brain’s imagination muscles seem sad, flabby, and out of shape, but once I turned it loose, it really enjoyed the exercise.
And this book was a workout. Harkaway has a vast vocabulary and flaunts it to delightful effect. He’s also totally unintimidated by long sentences. Here’s a taste, from page 425: “No one else has noticed him yet (I can tell because there’s no screaming) but the moment Sippy Roehunter decides it’s time to show the board members what she’s got, or Dan deLine gets a hankering to bare his musculature for the benefit of the Jorgmund Ladies’ Lacrosse Team, it will be hard for anyone to ignore a top-hatted H.G. Wells-looking lunatic sitting in the lotus position on the edge of Dick Washburn’s giant pink sex pool.” Out of context, you have no idea what he’s talking about, but you know you’ve got to hear more, don’t you? I mean, there’s a giant pink sex pool!
There are several pleasing surprises in the book that I won’t ruin for you here, but I will say that the initial adventure set up in the first chapter is over by around page 300, and there’s still 200 pages of book left. I wondered what else Harkaway was going to find to talk about, but then some foreshadowed-yet-still-incredible-twists happened, and I was sucked in all over again. In fact, to my taste, the book went from simply entertaining to truly compelling only after that point.
This book is so twisted, crazy, and downright weird that it is a total escape from real life. If you’ve grown tired of reading books about people like you with problems like yours, if you want a break from literature that reads like a mirror into your own soul, if you want to completely forget about your stable office job or tedious household chores, I can think of no book that will get you there faster. The dinner dishes aren’t going anywhere—they’ll be there waiting for you when you’re done.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
How much brainpower have I wasted? How many hours—nay, days—nay, years!—have I allowed my brain to wallow in the boring, bland, blasé gutter of daily life, when I could have been dreaming up an apocalyptic vision of the future, complete with evil ninjas, machines taking over mankind, and a mime collective with a spokesman named Ike Thermite? This book made my brain’s imagination muscles seem sad, flabby, and out of shape, but once I turned it loose, it really enjoyed the exercise.
And this book was a workout. Harkaway has a vast vocabulary and flaunts it to delightful effect. He’s also totally unintimidated by long sentences. Here’s a taste, from page 425: “No one else has noticed him yet (I can tell because there’s no screaming) but the moment Sippy Roehunter decides it’s time to show the board members what she’s got, or Dan deLine gets a hankering to bare his musculature for the benefit of the Jorgmund Ladies’ Lacrosse Team, it will be hard for anyone to ignore a top-hatted H.G. Wells-looking lunatic sitting in the lotus position on the edge of Dick Washburn’s giant pink sex pool.” Out of context, you have no idea what he’s talking about, but you know you’ve got to hear more, don’t you? I mean, there’s a giant pink sex pool!
There are several pleasing surprises in the book that I won’t ruin for you here, but I will say that the initial adventure set up in the first chapter is over by around page 300, and there’s still 200 pages of book left. I wondered what else Harkaway was going to find to talk about, but then some foreshadowed-yet-still-incredible-twists happened, and I was sucked in all over again. In fact, to my taste, the book went from simply entertaining to truly compelling only after that point.
This book is so twisted, crazy, and downright weird that it is a total escape from real life. If you’ve grown tired of reading books about people like you with problems like yours, if you want a break from literature that reads like a mirror into your own soul, if you want to completely forget about your stable office job or tedious household chores, I can think of no book that will get you there faster. The dinner dishes aren’t going anywhere—they’ll be there waiting for you when you’re done.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
smithel's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book! I was a little worried when the first chapter seemed to be very Mad Max and basically contain Tough Men and Trucks, but it was well worth persevering. It ended up being quite a complex story that I found completely engrossing. It is told from the point of view of an orphaned boy adopted into the family of his new friend Gonzo Lubitsch. The protagonist became Gonzo's more thoughtful, calmer, slightly gentler sidekick, and the novel largely the ways in which they are similar and different to each other shape their lives - and how they survive the end of the world. I'm deducting one star because the occasional "men are men and women are women" stuff occasionally thrown in annoyed me a lot, but on the whole this is a clever book about an interesting and likable character. It's not quite like anything else I've read, and it's always a pleasure to find genuinely creative sci fi.
thalia160's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
rainbowraven's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kibernick's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
DNF. After previously reading and greatly enjoying "Gnomon" by the same author, I was eager to dive into their earlier works. Had to give up after almost three months of not being drawn in. It is a fun book overall but the writing here had tangents which had asides which had more tangents... The choice to . Additionally, . I don't think it was time wasted, but there are plenty of other more engaging books to read.
Spoiler
skip back in time to the MC's childhood in chapter 2 after the big setup in chapter 1 was a little offputtingSpoiler
new characters kept getting introduced on almost every other page, often never to be mentioned again as we move on to yet another quirky scenetonythep's review
4.0
there is much about this book that is extraordinary: unique voice, original premise, colorful characters. something about the ending left me wanting otherwise I would give it 5 stars. looking forward to Harkaway's next book.
erinflight's review against another edition
5.0
The Gone Away World is a mix of beautiful absurdity and startling, sometimes painful, insights about why humans do what they do.
The story is built around a cast of characters it's hard not to care about and a fascinating science-fiction premise (sort of, neither science fiction or fantasy quite fit, but it's somewhere in there ) that felt unique.
This book also has some genuine surprises, that I didn't see coming the first time around. On the second read, I found that there were a few jokes you'd only catch if you knew what was coming.
Overall, this book is brilliant and, in a few years, I'll probably read it again.
The story is built around a cast of characters it's hard not to care about and a fascinating science-fiction premise (sort of, neither science fiction or fantasy quite fit, but it's somewhere in there ) that felt unique.
This book also has some genuine surprises, that I didn't see coming the first time around. On the second read, I found that there were a few jokes you'd only catch if you knew what was coming.
Overall, this book is brilliant and, in a few years, I'll probably read it again.