Customer Reviews

Bob the Book

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bob the Book is funny, touching, adorable, and good looking! I fell in love with him instantly! And so will you the moment you meet him! Both boys and girls, gay and straight will fall in love with Bob, because Bob transcends every boundary of gender and sexual orientation. Being a book, he makes it easy for anyone to get to know him, his friends and a world where books have a life outside their titles and their content. This is a very clever device: by personifying Bob and his book friends, the author can more freely (and us with him) explore the subtleties of social realities that keep us all apart. Bob the Book tells the story of other books and the people who buy and read them; people who give them as presents and about readers who use them for other creative purposes. But you need to read the book, in order to find out how!

I was particularly touched by a passage dealing with a gay book burning and the terror felt by the books as they were piled up, made fun of, and threatened by the fire. Does this sensibility sound familiar? But some books survive and we get to know one of their stories, a story of love and survival. And Bob the Book is also very witty and knowing about relationships.

Between laughter and a few tears, I finished Bob the Book thrilled that I met him and desperately wanting to talk to all my booka, assure them that I treasure them, that I'd protect them from harm, and ask them what they thought of me, and how they felt about the way I treated them. As a teacher, I will recommend that all my students read it!

Bob is a gay book, specifically a treatise on male pornography from pre-Stonewall to 1979, and he is in love with another gay book, Moishe, about Orthodox Jews who are gay or bisexual. They are living a cozy life in an independent West Village NYC bookstore, until they are bought by different people, and are forced to abandon each other and learn to get along with their new owners' books. They both make friends along the way, have some disappointments (Bob is jealous of his author's new book, a best seller) and good times (Moishe is proud to be underlined and highlighted by his owner, a college professor using him for research.) And they find themselves involved in the lives and loves of the people who have chose to take them in their homes, and worry not just for their happiness, but what impact it will have on them in the future.

This is Pratt's first novel, and he immediately merits an extra star for what is - by far - the most creatively original idea for a novel I have ever read. It's written to be best appreciated more by an avid reader, who can get the subtle and witty characterizations of the other books they encounter, who take on a personality suited to their subject and origin (including a homophobic, religious book, whose name is Fred.) You'll smile at what your books may be saying about you, behind your back, and apologize if you drop one on the floor. Four stars out of five.

- Bob Lind, Echo Magazine

Saw this guy at a reading and honestly, I had my doubts about the premise, but my husband and I were both in hysterics by the end--as was the entire crowd. Bob is a lovable, wonderful character whom I, for one, couldn't help falling in love with. I'm rooting for him (and copies of him) to fly off the shelves!

The fable is an ancient form with perennial appeal, so when a book turns out to have thoughts, attitudes, memory, and desires, you feel you are on familiar ground. However, Bob the Book takes you beyond the simple fable and its too-often simple moral. Read on one level, it explores how a person--whether multi-celled or multi-leaved--learns to overcome limitations. In Bob's case, those limitations are imposed both by the rules of the world he was brought into, where communication with his own kind is a haphazard by-product of beings he has no control over (or so he thinks at first), and by his own naivete about attraction, love, and the likelihood of life having any "happily ever afters." On another level, it is a wry criticism of our modern consumer society, where books stand in for any object whose production, consumption, and eventual abandonment we might not take so cavalierly if we knew what they thought of us. Layer on top of that some dead-on lampooning of literary genres and pretentions and you have many ways in which to enjoy this delightful little book. I did, and I think others will, too.

I LOVED this book. David Pratt's work is brilliant. Bob the Book creatively entertains us with a wonderfully captivating plot with clever musings about love, life, relationships, sex, and hope. The characters are beautifully crafted, the dialogue perfect. Once started, I could not put this book down. This is one of my all-time favorite books and a must-read. Enjoy!

Rebecca Loomis, Ph.D., M.Ed.

Bob the Book

I really enjoyed "Bob: The Book". In the first place, it begins in an independent bookstore. Bob is very happy in his romance with Moishe. Both are academic books, very much in love so it would seem. Bob is the history of gay pornography. He is very proud of his pictures and wants everybody to see them. Moishe is very proud of his academicness. He wants notes in the margins and underlinings. Bob and Moishe are destined to go their own ways. Bob is going to have lot's of adventures, and Moishe is going to enjoy being treated as an academic book.

I enjoyed the relationships between the books and the people who pick them out. It is a real experience. One would be hard put to it to believe that books have feelings like people, but they do in this book. You need to be nice to your books especially your "Complete Works of Shakespeare". In one incident in this book, the "Complete Works of Shakespeare" throws himself on the floor and brings the bookshelf with him to save his owner from "Gay bashing". Very exciting.

On the romantic side, Bob is given as a gift to a worker at a book fair in Boston, MA. He gets to visit his home in New York when his new visits his former owner. But the course of true love never runs smoothly. The couple breaks up. Bob's New York owner brings him home, and returns to his roommate. Bob returns to the book he is now in love with.

Angela is a great fit on the bookshelf. She is the paperback version of Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park". She is a real optimist.

Buy this book! Asks for it at your local library, and they will buy it for you! Above all read this book! It is fun!

This clever book, couched in the disguise of a children's book, is a story about all of us. Straight, gay, young, old. It's a universal journey through the trials and tribulations that life presents for all of us. It's full of good humor and sly wit. It is ultimately very moving.

I recommend it to anyone who wants a light and entertaining read that actually has something to say.

I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me. It's better than CATS.

I picked up "Bob the Book" by David Pratt because I simply had no choice - it called to the booklover in me. Although I wondered how anyone could write a book about a book (albeit a sentient one) and keep it consistently interesting and lively, the very uniqueness of this novel was simply irresistible. Featuring a cast of books and humans as well, "Bob the Book" can be read as an allegory for a gay man's search for love. It can also simply be read as a charming and sometimes humorous fantasy. Either way, it is unlike any book that I've ever read before, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Mr. Pratt's writing is polished and intelligent and easy to read. He has an almost whimsical storytelling tone that hooks the reader, pulling us right into the story and keeping us there. Readers will enjoy Mr. Pratt's comfortable knowledge about books and how he co-mingles a large variety of genres with relative ease: everything from literature, psychology texts, self-help books, to children's books and more.

Not only did "Bob the Book" entertain me, but it appealed to me on a philosophical level as well. The focus of the story is finding love and relationships and value in life. As the characters - of both the human and the printed kind - grapple with their search for love, they find that self-love or self-acceptance is just as key an element as finding someone. They also discover the nature of "real" love as opposed to "ideal" love. While this story has its share of humor, it also contains moments of poignant sweetness that threatened to bring tears to my eyes.

Although most of the characters are books, they are as real and as believable as any humans could be. As I read, I quickly forgot that these characters aren't people, and I simply adored the way the books talk in a voice and cadence that reflects their content. A collection of Shakespeare speaks with a very Shakespearian tone. Likewise, a book of works by Sir Thomas Malory has a Middle English accent, a book on fitness can't look beyond physical exercise, and a thesaurus focuses almost entirely on synonyms.

As personable as the books are, however, we can't completely discount the human characters. They contribute more to the narrative than merely acting as transportation for their books. Alfred and Ron and even Neil's owner Owen have their own dramas, romances, and tragedies that are almost as compelling as those of the main characters.

From the first page to the last, "Bob the Book" is a touching, charming, memorable tale. I would recommend it to anyone who is searching for something well-written yet different. Both serious and playful, this book will make you think, touch your heart, and stay with you for a long time to come.

I am a copyeditor. I read for a living. I love books. Words are food and books are banquets. I own books I love so dearly they are like cherished, sweet old aunts. Books have sustained my life, figuratively and literally.

I love BOB THE BOOK.

I wish I wrote it. I wish I edited it. I can't wait to read it again.

BOB is beautiful, clever, charming, touching, and, of course, deliciously written.

I say "of course" because I have seen David Pratt The Performance Artist, and his use of language is in fact delicious - surgically witty and elegant. I expected a scrumptious feast and enjoyed every chomp and chew.

David Pratt The Author has told the story of the books he has loved and the people he has known and has created a tale that is partly your favorite Saturday morning cartoon and partly the smartest, most emotionally evolved imaginary friend you've ever had. And I am richer for having read it. It has provided the kind of satisfaction I hope to experience when I begin a new book.

I think there should be a sequel - or an entire series, like the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. BOB could take a European vacation or perhaps travel to South America. What say ye, Mr. Pratt?

...but that's the word that comes to mind with this book. What a sweet...delightful...story. But not "sugary". There's an underlying depth that makes the characters feel real. I'll never view my books the same way. And I'm keeping the Tom Clancys far away from the Jim Grimsleys. I've recommended this to my book club friends.