Jokerman 8 [Paperback]

Richard Melo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2004

Jokerman 8 is a posse of forest radicals based out of San Francisco State University that engages in a series of demonstrations and stunts to protest environmental destruction: they sink whaling ships in Iceland and stage a "tree-in" in southern Oregon, then party to let off steam. Along the way, numerous subplots merge the past (1960s) with the present (1990s): a young man tries to escape the draft, and yippies succeed in levitating the Pentagon. Challenging and irreverent, the text moves at a breakneck pace, stopping just long enough to question how the world got the way it is and how it might be fixed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"My first thought when I started reading Jokerman 8 was, 'Damn it, why didn't I write this book?' Then I set to work trying to figure out how to plagiarize it. Finally, I had sit back & give in to its crazy brilliance - which is all its own and unstealable. Written with love for all of us babies blinking in the silent home movies of the 60s and 70s, Jokerman 8 reminds us of who we were meant to be and how we intended to live in this wack-ass world." - Ariel Gore, author of Atlas of the Human Heart "Like the Dylan songbook its title invokes, Jokerman 8 is freewheeling and deeply felt, moving and cymbal-crashing funny. It is also that rarity: an angry, politically-minded work of exuberant high spirits. A great first novel." - Andrew Lewis Conn, author of P: The Novel"

About the Author

Richard Melo also writes for The Believer and the Gobshite Quarterly. This is his first novel. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (August 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932360344
• ISBN-13: 978-1932360349
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,257,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tread Lightly and Stop to Take Pictures, September 6, 2004

By 

Anna Piepmeyer "Anna" (Salt Lake City, Utah United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jokerman 8 (Paperback)

It took me three tries to get out of the basket chair on my porch this morning. Coffee in one hand, the nearly finished reviewer copy of Jokerman 8 in the other, loaned from a friend. I don't know how else to begin a review of a book that starts at such a basic level: humankind's connection to the world, to the universe, to childhood, and to the petty bourgeoisie melodious humdrum of daily life.

I hate that this book is compared to The Monkey Wrench Gang, not out of any particular loathing for Abbey (a damn fine Utahn and a personal hero) but more because the sway of Jokerman 8 follows its theme: gentle impulses. This is not a burn and slash, this is a flow, albeit a tragically funny one at times. Melo has indulged us with the subtle presence of youth; tree spiking and eco-salvation take a backseat to laughter and the revolving door quality of causes and friendships in our 20's.

More importantly, Melo is not starting a cult. Anger is not fuel for Jokerman, as it was for Hayduke and pals.

Why read this? Mainly, because Jokerman 8 will make you remember. Or at least recall THAT moment of sway and simple acceptance; the laughter of youth interfused with political infrastructure; a genuine love of Nature--not only as the outdoors, but as something constantly inherent to ourselves and our ultra-blind staggering through the concrete Wilderness.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read Jokerman. Repeat., August 2, 2005

By 

Rachel Indigo Cerise Baum (Portland, OR, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jokerman 8 (Paperback)

I like how he uses Beatles tunes as a thread to weave through storyline. Read Jokerman just to hear the story of a girl named Jude. :) Plethora of earthy, rich, colorful visuals plop you, amazed into his 60's and 70's Oregon forest rain, startling and fluid movement rush you back in forth from idealistic decades to current time, and you realize idealism still thrives. Read this book with your friends, to your children, out loud around the campfire, because this is a book that will hook monkey hearts who celebrate facts like love and hope, unabashed, are sustainable. This is the book that teaches us how important it is to take turns on each others shoulders.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Novel of Friendship, February 10, 2005

By 

Brandon D. Rogers (Yelm, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jokerman 8 (Paperback)

Stories told around singular events often have the unfortunate distinction of being remembered for the small details, at the expense of the big picture. Think the rape scene in Deliverance or El Gordo's Last Stand in For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Jokerman 8 has no dearth of singular events. Some are quite spectacular, moving and memorable. But a careful reading will reveal that the bigger picture looms over all these events. Just as Hemingway complained that his tale was one of loyalty, and not war, Melo could easily make the case that Jokerman 8 is nothing more than an ode to friendship. The people we love, and more importantly, who return that love, overshadow any incident, whether it's the levitation of the Pentagon or the sinking of a ship.