Customer Reviews

Fool on the Hill: A Novel

5 star:		(73)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"You GOTTA read this book," a friend and soon-to-be fellow-Cornellian said with some urgency when he learned that I had enrolled at Cornell University a couple of years ago. Devouring the book almost in one piece once I had started to read it, I soon understood what he meant.

As others have pointed out, this is not a book "about" Cornell - it just uses the campus and its own magic as a setting (although I confess there is a certain nostalgia to reading about the Arts Squad, McGraw Tower and The Hill - everyone who has walked up to the campus at least once knows why this noun deserves capitalization - and not only being able to visualize the scenery but also to drift off into your own memories of the place). This book is a fast-pace, hilarious tour de force interweaving fairy tales of modern-day humans, animals communicating by telepathy, ancient sprites and elfs and, of course, dragons - even if you're just using Cornell as your setting, there's gotta be a dragon in there somewhere.

Borrowing from virtually every writer from Shakespeare and Tolkien to the late 20th-century humorists, Ruff nevertheless manages to forge a style of his own and, in the process, conjures up a cast of funny, tragic and always highly unique and memorable characters - from Mr. Sunshine, the Greek Original who oversees and occasionally meddles with the development of the story, to Luther, the lovable, tragicomic canine hero in search of heaven, the Bohemian students, who enter the story with a bang in small-town Pennsylvania, and of course S.T. (St.) George, the hero and would-be dragon-slayer. - Two-dimensional characters? Predictable ending? Maybe, but who cares? This is, above all, a fairy tale and a farce, not a political satire or a high-brow tale on morals. Yes, Luther discovers that there are purebreds and non-purebreds and as a mongrel, he is not welcome in purebred society. Yes, there is the image of the monkeys in Mr. Sunshine's library whose random and meaningless meddling with life's stories creates chaos in everything they touch (and thus, invokes questions of fate, destiny and the meaning of life). But these are merely pieces of a mosaic; it doesn't do the book justice to reduce it to these details alone and then deplore that they are not fully developed, or that there is a lot of black-and-white painting going on. Have you ever seen a fairy tale where that's not the case?

So, let the book's magic touch you and let its elfs and sprites enchant you, join Luther and his tailless Manx friend Blackjack on their journey from New York City to heaven (or its closest approximation in Ithaca, NY), root for the Bohemians in their dispute with the Rat Frat, and watch George withstand Mr. Sunshine's meddling in his conquest of Aurora Borealis.

If it is true that Matt Ruff in later years disavowed this book, it would appear that Mr. Sunshine has done a bit of meddling here, too - ever since becoming an underground hit shortly after its publication, "Fool on the Hill" has developed an extremely loyal audience and a life of its own, and there's an obvious reason for this. For once, Mr. Sunshine's meddling was actually for the good... and I sincerely wish he's going to leave it at that. This book deserves all the success it has had and more!

Also recommended:
The Hobbit
A Midsummer Night's Dream (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)
Cornell Then & Now

I wrote a review of this book last year and I just re-read it again and wanted to remind people how fabulous this book is.

I discovered this book just after it was published and just before I got into Cornell and I have read it at least ten times since (I am just four years out of good 'ole Cornell). It it one of my favorite books as it combines true life in Ithaca with a world that you always hoped existed somewhere. It has something for everyone - as it combines several full lentgh stories, which could easily be read independently of one another, into an exciting and fun adventure. The Fool On The Hill was Ruff's senior thesis (if I am to believe a professor of his that supposedly helped get it published) - I felt that his book was so fabulous I went out and signed up for a course with his mentor.

If you buy this book, I guarantee that you will loan it out and have to re-purchase it as I know that I have gone through about 7 or 8 copies already. This book will touch the child in all of you.

The book focuses on S.T. George, a writer who finds his muse and loses her, a group of bohemian college students with some magic up their sleeves and a cat and dog on a journey to find "heaven" and rid the animal world of castes (pure-breds vs. mutts) and you kind kind-of get the idea behind Fool.... but it is really SO much more.

I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone that likes to daydream!

Fool on the Hill is one of the most inventive novels I've read in ages, and I very much enjoyed the comedic aspect of it. I think I actually laughed out loud once or twice. (High praise from me indeed. I haven't said that about any novel since Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore.)

I was afraid that Matt Ruff wasn't going to land his plane (err, kite) very well at the end because of the incredibly wild ride that we'd been on so far, but even there he pleasantly surprised me.

I highly recommend this book. Good characters, good scenery, inventive story (from sprites to evil ice birds to groups of animals having philosophical discussions to true love) -- all with a well-paced writing style and light-hearted sense of humor.

I saw this novel on the store shelf and bought it on a whim, not having any idea at all to what genre it is or what the story was all about. Needless to say, I've fallen in love with this book and haven't been able to put it down until I finished reading the last pages. Matt Ruff's story is a marvelous blend of fantasy centered in the Cornell University campus and the real town of Ithaca. At first, I was reluctant to read about so many different main characters all in one novel, but Ruff's narrative brilliantly intertwined the individual character plots so seamlessly that it all came out into a neat framework in the end.

He writes about a writer (S.T. George)who is hapless in love, an ethereal muse who happens to be the most beautiful woman on earth, a normal girl and her normal boyfriend, some truly unique Bohemians in Risley, and a dog who searches for heaven. Oh, and add to that some sprites who watch over humans while they are blissfully unaware of this fantasy existence. By looking at this assorted list of characters, one might think that a confusion of names and plots would result from all this. But, Matt Ruff's narrative is clear, fascinating, and well-organized enough to overcome that.

His writing is full of humor. It's sorta like "Animal House" meets Tolkien. The college spirit is definitely there. I am also currently attending Cornell U., so his book brings back fond memories of the place. So perhaps in this sense, one would get more enjoyment from reading this book if he was familiar with Cornell. But regardless of the book's association with Cornell University, the story itself is so hilarious and interesting, that there probably should not be any huge problem of this happening. His story is filled with romance, action, horror, and would dare you to drop the book and take a break - even for one minute! It is that absorbing. This book has become a favorite of mine, and I recommend everyone- Cornellian and non-Cornellian alike- to read it. It is truly an enjoyable read!

This wonderful fantasy novel is set at Cornell, and surely every Cornell student and alum should own a copy. But it's not just for Cornellians.

"Fool on the Hill" is for everybody who's ever fallen in love and everybody who thinks they never will. It's for everybody who pretended in their childhood to fight and vanquish evil. And it's for all of us who've ever sat quietly and tried, out of the corners of our eyes, to spot the magical beings we just knew were lurking around the bend.

Make no mistake, this is not harmless fantasy. Ruff pulls no punches, and characters you care about will get hurt, and even die. But the wonderful way in which Ruff interweaves several different threads, and the irreverence he has for literary conventions, are irresistible.

I must admit I have never understood why this book isn't far more popular, and I hope that people reading this review who've never read Ruff's work will take a risk and order a copy. And if you have a friend at Cornell, send them one, too; they'll love you for it.

A truly wonderous book. I don't mean to overstate the case, but this is the kind of original work that comes around once in a lifetime.

This is the beauty of Amazon.com. After I wrote reviews of Neal Stephenson's "Snowcrash" and "The Diamond Age", someone dropped me a line and recommended Ruff's second novel, "Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy". From there, it was on to Fool, and one of the most sublime reads I've ever had. Best described as a magical mixture of Cornell University life, little invisible sprites and the interior dialog of Cats and Dogs, this is a tighter, more effortless novel than Sewer. Despite the time shifting, incongruous characters and slides into Tolkeinesque fantasy, the book flows seamlessly to its conclusion and sweeps us poor unsuspecting readers along with it.

It's not often that a novel can toy with so many genres and writing styles and still produce a coherent, fully realized story. "Fool on the Hill" goes one better...it's an unmitigated classic.

I stumbled upon Fool on the Hill when amazon.com recommended it. What a find! This book is wonderful--great characters, terrific story and zany plot twists throughout. Overall, the story touches on a theme many of us can identify with--the need for love and metaphorical dragons to slay. I can't recommend it enough!

This novel is nothing less than unique. First off, it must be said that much of Matt Ruff's humor is made through direct and indirect literary references. That being said, one does not have to be an obsessively read literati to enjoy this book. It also has great chararcter development, broad physical humor, and engaging action.

Everyone I have recommended this book to has torn through it in a short period of time. The action sequences are vivid, and vilolent, with well developed characters (that you will care about) being put in harm's way.

This is one of those books that I picked up because I liked the title (Yes, I'm a big Beatles fan). That was about ten years ago and this has never strayed far from my grasp. It's a fun, silly fantasy involving Sprites, talking animals and biker gangs. Yes, it gets kind of violent at times but, really, it's all in good fun. This book is on my short list of re-readable fantasy which also includes Tolkien, Sara Douglass and, yes, Douglas Adams.

I first read this book shortly after it was published and was in the process of realizing how much I wanted to be a writer. Not only did it strengthen my resolve on that front, it has long stayed with me as an excellent example of well-crafted plotting and ensemble storytelling. Ruff gives each and every one of his characters a distinct personality, making the humans, the animals and the fairies all feel three-dimensional. I've reread it five times, recommended it to everyone who will listen and look forward to there never being a movie version!