Customer Reviews

The Odd Puppet Odyssey: An Adult Epic on a Small Stage

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Every once in a while a gem of a book comes along, and THE ODD PUPPET ODYSSEY is one of them. It is poetry, and it is art -- separately and together. The writing is sharp-edged, accessible, and disturbing. The illustrations are evocative, nuanced, and disturbing. The book is of whole cloth and wholly original, creating a world that you enter, that you have not been in before, and which you cannot easily escape. The poetry provides a rich offering -- of craft, careful observation, imaginatively transformed experiences, and hard-won conclusions. The art is heavenly -- sure-lined, light, and heavy with feeling. A rare achievement.

Enhanced with six full-color illustration by Celeste Ericsson, The Odd Puppet Odyssey is a series of fifteen narrative poems by Richard Gold telling the story of Pongo and Rico, two memorable puppet characters. The satirical pieces are meant for adult readers, as they explore such images as the malevolent presence of Geppetto, sexuality, relationships, identity, and the powerful social forces that shape views of themselves and the world. Sometimes dark or crude, often with keen psychological insights, and bearing a penetrating message about the quest for understanding, The Odd Puppet Odyssey is unique, thought-provoking, and unforgettable. "And as the search goes on / Peeko's doing not bad / except for the fact he despises / for all the love he rejects along the way / and all the little things he's hurt, / which may be the same thing."

THE ODD PUPPET ODYSSEY is a rare thing, a collaborative book of poetry and art presenting an ambitious and fanciful puppet adventure. Don't be misled, though -- this is not for children. It's for those of us who survived our adolescence with memories of the pain and confusion -- and with our sense of humor sharpened by the experience. THE ODD PUPPET ODYSSEY is Pinocchio on Dr. Freud's couch, Kafka at lunch with Lewis Carroll, and Odysseus in Oz. Read it and weep, read it and giggle, read it and marvel that such a wonderful book could be possible amid the mountains of dreck that make up most of what is published today.