Gold Fools (Green Integer: 80) [Paperback]

Gilbert Sorrentino (Author)

Book Description

Series: Green Integer | Publication Date: September 1, 2000

Three teenage boys, Nort and Dick Shannon and their friend, Bud Merkel, find themselves in the middle of the forbidding Gila Desert on an adventure that will, they hope, lead them to the fabled riches of desert gold. Their guides, the grizzled prospector, Hank Crosby, and the leathery old cowpoke, Billee Dobb, accompany them through blistering heat, savage sandstorms, and the dangers posed by the evil Del Pinzo and his sinister Indian companion, Zapto, men who want the treasure for themselves. In this brilliant, witty, yet fond burlesque of the boys' adventure books, Sorrentino tells the story in interrogative sentences, forcing the reading to answer the very questions of the narrative itself.

Gilbert Sorrentino teaches at Stanford University.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Composed entirely in interrogative sentences, this spoof of boys' adventure books gives the humble question mark a serious workout and taxes readers as well. Gold Fools by experimentalist Gilbert Sorrentino (Mulligan Stew, etc.) charts the adventures of teenage boys Nort and Dick Shannon and Bud Merkel as they traipse through the Gila Desert on a quest for desert gold. Exuberant, inventive and thoroughly maddening, Sorrentino's eccentric work fearlessly tests all kinds of boundaries.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Green Integer (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892295679
• ISBN-13: 978-1892295675
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,300,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go West, Young Reader, March 19, 2001

By 

Steven Moore (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gold Fools (Green Integer: 80) (Paperback)

Damn, this is a funny book! Sorrentino subverts the Western novel with a ludicrous tale of hunting for gold narrated entirely in interrogative sentences. Reminiscent in some ways of the boys' novel parody in "Misterioso," Sorrentino has a field day with the traditions and lingo of the Western, as well as going off on riffs concerning contemporary culture. Throughout, Sorrentino interrogates our use of language, especially our reliance on cliches; a linguistic hygienist, Sorrentino questions any sloppy misuse of language, knowing that sloppy language can lead to sloppy thinking. The Western genre has attracted many innovative writers--Coover, Brautigan, Kesey, even William Gaddis wrote a Western screenplay, unfortunately never produced--but Sorrentino's inquisitorial contribution is the funniest.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gold Fools, November 14, 2001

By 

john caulfield (Old Bridge, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gold Fools (Green Integer: 80) (Paperback)

In many of his novels, Gilbert Sorrentino has left linear storytelling in the dust to give equal voice to the alternative points of view of his characters. In his most successful novels - such as Aberration of Starlight and Odd Number - Sorrentino's method raised serious questions about "reality" and whether "facts" can ever be relied upon within the context of fiction. "Gold Fools" also ventures into an exploration of the "real," although its results are decidedly mixed. Sorrentino's penchant for riffing in all directions is present throughout. And he remains one of the few novelists who relish their political incorrectness in ways that can be uproariously funny. But there's a luridness in this book that seemed more than a little inappropriate, given its foundation as a parody of boys adventure books. And the interrogative structure of the novel - while a considerable technical feat - ultimately seemed more like a stunt than anything that contributed to a deeper understanding of what the author is trying to accomplish. Perhaps this is burdening this obviously lighthearted novel with too much baggage, but some of the writing seemed (uncharacteristically) forced and was a chore to read. In his 1976 review of "A Month of Sundays.," Sorrentino criticized that book's author, John Updike, for his "vivid" writing where, Sorrentino said, "anything goes as long as the surface dances." In many respects, the same accusation can be leveled at "Gold Fools," whose surface pleasures can't mask the emptiness of the vessal containing them.