End of the Road, The [Mass Market Paperback]

Tom Bodett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1990

Bodett captures the essence of life in America--especially Homer, Alaska, where the keys are left in the snowplow in case someone gets stuck after hours. 2 cassettes.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Culled from Bodett's syndicated radio show, these 28 interconnected stories are reminiscent of Garrison Keillor's tales from Lake Woebegon. Here, the setting is End of the Road, Alaska. In short sketches we meet Doug McDoogan, town liar, who is enriched when the art world creates an incomprehensible demand for his "whittlin'." Bud Koening, on his 60th birthday, determines to write the poem about Alaska that he's been putting off for decades. Norman Tuttle, a 12-year-old experiencing his first crush, asks his dad about the facts of life; Tamara Dupree, "vegetarian activist," feuds with a stray cat. Contests are held to see who can guess how soon snow will cover up a signpost, and Stormy Storbock and Ed Flannigan drive cross-country in a lime-green firetruck. While the collection is "old-fashioned" and "homespun," it is also unoriginal, flatly written and predictable, and many of the tales are xenophobic and misogynistic. Bodett's blatant sentimentality is expressed with such gusto, however, that his efforts may well have commercial appeal. First serial to Redbook; Literary Guild featured alternate; author tour.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Bodett, a commentator on National Public Radio and spokesman for the Motel 6 chain, has assembled 27 fairly short pieces, call them fragments, sketches or anecdotes, about life in End of the Road, Alaska, "a remarkable little vicinity plugged full of familiar people." He has nothing very startling to tell about the goings-on: some of the boys got together and gave Clara, who runs the only coffee shop in town, a new urn; Ed, "the roughneck road-grade operator," went bowling with Tamara, "our local vegetarian activist"--that sort of thing. The book just chats away, like a garrulous friend whose visit has been expected and who has now come. And the chatter is good, full of news, gossip, and pleasant humor. With this book, superior to its predecessor, As Far As You Can Go Without a Passport ( LJ 2/1/86), Bodett earns himself shelf space alongside Garrison Keillor.
- A.J. Anderson, Graduate Sch. of Library & Information Science, Simmons Coll., Boston
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam (September 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553287575
• ISBN-13: 978-0553287578
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #953,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book, September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: End of the Road, The (Mass Market Paperback)

This Tom Bodett book ought to be an American treasure and an instant classic. Perhaps the only obstructions to this happening are a lack of good distribution and increasing apathy towards reading. This collection of stories outshines the cassette version with its completeness and the liberty that it affords readers in portraying the characters as they wish to see them. Tom Bodett's reading is top notch, but his writing is even better. His stories are of small town people. Some have a clue, others don't have so much as a prayer of getting a clue, but they all hold your attention while shedding new light on life, love, happiness, and the ever present confusion that goes along with them.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT Hyperbole! The FUNNIEST Book I've ever read, March 20, 2000

By 

S. Chesnut (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The End of the Road (Library Binding)

This Book was required reading for class, and I am so grateful it was! That was nearly 6 years ago, and I still read this book almost every 2 months, or whenever I feel down--It ALWAYS cheers me up. My only complaint is that it is so hard to find. My original copy fell apart because I read it so many times, and I had a heck of a time finding a new copy. I Wholeheartedly recommend this book. IT's a treasure.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Barth roars out of the starting gate, December 13, 2002

By 

Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The end of the road

When you pick the book up you think to yourself, "There's no way this is John Barth" after all after holding the book for several minutes, your muscles aren't aching at all from the weight. Heck the novel is almost pocket sized. Yes, kids, early on Barth was reasonable concise in length (not that I don't like his longer stuff), at least for his first two novels (I think his third was the Sot-Weed Factor) so this makes a good place for novices lacking the stamina to jump right in. And actually for a first effort this is remarkably good and remarkably daring, considering that it was published in the late fifties. It's the story of Jake Horner, a young guy recently hired to teach grammar at a small college, and the infidelity he gets involved in with one of the other professor's wives and what happens because of that. The fairly standard story is completely changed by Horner's narration though. Cynical and uncaring, but somehow oddly admirable, Barth manages to make him seem almost likeable, even when his behavior verges on being that of a total monster (emotionally at least). His verbal sparring with his fellow professor Joe, who's outlook on life is equally extreme as Horner's is nonexistant (you could probably make a case and say that the story is existential in nature but I don't know enough about the philosophy to say for sure). But while the story remains at its heart a tale of infidelity, toward the end it takes a decidedly dark turn as Barth shows that everything has consequences. If the tone and nature of the story was daring for its time, its unsparingly frank view of abortion must have been absolutely shocking and even today is probably enough to turn people off. It shouldn't. While not his best book, it shows a master beginning to stretch his muscles (or at least realize he had muscles to stretch) and announced the entrance of a new literary talent with a voice that could be both uproariously funny and starkly grim all in the same story.