Customer Reviews

The Annotated Nose

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I wish I could nominate for all kinds of more prestigious awards, but there you have it. The Proboscis Award, despite the fact that it is in its first year, is a time-honored badge of distinction, and highly coveted. Over 10,000 reviewers read through over 50,000 submissions, and have arrived at their decision entirely unanimously, without the aid of drugs or coercion.

Really, the most brilliant catastrophe (and design) that I've seen published in my lifetime. Do read it.

Estrin's fifth novel is a puzzle. The conceit is intriguing: a fake classic about a weird guy, on the left side of the page, with commentary by the weird guy on the right side of the page. The book production is gorgeous: beautiful typefaces and artwork and it's literally heavy in your hands.

For someone as obsessed with getting a girl as Mr. Nose is, he could not have made himself more repulsive. After he attracts a girl he then rejects, her fate is ridiculous. The interesting lessons -- and there are many -- about our culture often get buried in the absurdities. If you are intrigued but irritated by Mr. Nose, as I was for virtually the entire book, try Estrin's first novel Insect Dreams, or his second, The Education of Arnold Hitler. Estrin is a brilliant writer, on nearly every page. Estrin's writing about music is not to be missed (requiring a classical music education) and he is genuinely hilarious.