Customer Reviews

Bunny Modern

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Bowman tells a "tall tale" in his typical fashion-lots of wacky situations, all with much more than meets the eye. Many people have panned this book in recent reviews. I don't believe they get the point. It's about a fun read, mixed with the commentaries on literature, human dependence on electricity, and the joys of life and creating new life. However, it does show the dark side of humankind: drugs, violence, greed, and the lack of personal warmth that leads to the strange and failed relationships in this book.

Although Bowman's "let the dog drive" is my personal favorite, this picks up where that left off: a wild ride through many different worlds of thought. So many "what ifs" to make you think! Bowman's style should be cherished, because it is rare. He has parts of Vonnegut, Garcia Marquez, and Earl from creative writing class. Read it today and don't listen to those who "didn't get it".

Vengeance, killer nannies, a future with no electricity--a great idea, but a suprisingly unintersting story in all. Bowman tried to be so "weird", the book was pretentious. As short as the book is, if my New Year's Resolution wasn't to finish every book I started, I never would have gotten past the second chapter. If nothing else the design cover is nice.

Bowman's style is engaging at first, but once one gets past the cleverness of his set-up, things fall apart. The relationship between the narrator and Clare, the nanny protagonist, seems promising when he is observing her from afar, but falls apart once they actually meet in the flesh. Still, i enjoyed the book until the not-so-climactic confrontation in the offices of NBC, a scene which lasted about two chapters longer than it should have.

I picked this book up for 99 cents in a store in Cape May. It ended up being one of my favorite of all time. David Bowman's writing style is highly original along with his ideas. I can see why it may have not been very popular, but once read, it's easy to see why it was so great. If you enjoyed this book, or even if you didn't, I'd still reccomend his other book, Let the Dog Drive. The two are highly different than one another, but both supurb in their own way.

Bowman uses his typical crazy wit and style in telling a strange story. That's what this book is about. There's nothing here to lift you up. There's nothing here to make you contemplate the philosophical in life. But there's plenty to satisfy the escapism that books offer. A unique story with tons of "what ifs" to stimulate your thinking. What a way to wrap so many concepts (i.e. conspiracies, humans' dependence on electricity, the joy of life and the recreating of life, etc.). But it also shows the worst sides of human nature, such as greed, drug use (as an alternative), and the mystifying social interactions that plague the human relationships.

While I still regard "let the dog drive" as a better book, this one is one of my personal faves because there' s nothing else like it out there. Bowman is a true original...bringing in parts Vonnegut, parts Garcia Marquez, parts Earl from creative writing class....

portentious, pretentious drivel. the success Bowman might have had with his first book has clearly gone to his head in this dull, dull book.

While the premise behind this book seemed to have all the makings of an imaginative, Kurt-Vonnegut-esque not-so-distant-future type story, the execution reminded me of a final project submitted for creative writing 101. The dialogue was totally forced, not to mention completely uninteresting. The anticlimax of the denoument was matched only by that of the storyline itself. The plot was shallow, the execution rushed and superficial, the characters completely unengaging and the style of the prose seemed to suggest that Bowman was TRYING to be provocative-- and failing miserably. The nuances of a modern society without electricity were the novels only redeeming qualities-- sort of intersting to think about what today's New York would look like power-less. But I'd rather sit through a blackout for 2 days then read Bunny Modern again.

I loved this book. It's completely irreverant, odd, witty, charming, and says a lot about pitfalls of urban society. Think "Handmaiden's Tale" written by Christopher Moore. It's just that weird. A great read.

After falling in love with Bowman's wild first novel "Let the Dog Drive," I couldn't wait to get my hands on his next novel. "Bunny Modern" did not disappoint me at all. The only summary I can give this novel is that it is about everything that you would never think of on your own. A mystery/detective, science fiction, philosophical and historical love story that is impossible to put down. Bowman creates an incredibly weird, yet undeniably true, postmodern world in which everything is different and nothing has changed. Doesn't make any sense, yet nothing has ever been more true. Just read the book. I think we should all get loaded on Vengeance (the nanny drug of choice in "Bunny Modern" to get riled up) and coerce Bowman into writing another novel quickly!

i could really go on a rant here, but i will spare you all the trouble. bottome line this is a failed attempt at some kind of wacky literay experiment.

trying way, way, WAY too hard to be hip and cutting edge but in the end comes across as trite and inane.

read at your own risk.