Customer Reviews

Skating on the Edge

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're looking for a great escape--and who isn't?--escape into D. G. K. Goldberg's Skating on the Edge. Goldberg whisks you away to a fantasy land, where the real world is something to avoid at all costs, and deftly satirizes our culture with her subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle deliciously dark wit. Can cynicism and romance reside in the same place? They can in this book. I found this to be a delightful read, and as I said, a great escape. So get a copy of this book and go along for the ride. You won't miss the real world a bit.

This book is an absolute howl, as well as a treasure trove of wisecracks and sarcasm that I plan to steal for use in real life from time to time. It's a bit like "The Wizard of Oz" gone berserk, complete with a menagerie of hapless Truth Seekers who keep getting sidetracked (I am mortified to admit that I developed a crush on the Viking who insists on addressing Joan of Arc as "Dude"). Anyone who likes to play with the English language will get a kick out of "Skating" and its weird little narrator, who turns out in the end to be a rank sentimentalist of the most endearing kind.

When I first started reading the book I thought to myself, I can't read this. But then I read a little more and finally I was hooked. The first thing I noticed about this book is the author's style of writing and her unusual use of what I at first thought "unnecessary words". Next thing I knew I was thinking like the author was writing. This is the first book I ever read that influenced my thinking in the real world. Being serious now (another of my personalities) this is a very good book, I would have to put it in my top 5 list of books I have read. I liked it so much when I got to the last few chapters I started reading fewer pages at a time so I could make the book last longer.

This is a very strange book. I give it five stars for originality and because I love to see a writer take chances rather than stick with safe predictable formula.

But I have to admit it might not be for everyone. Fans of formula space opera or fat fantasy trilogies might find it too disturbing. The author doesn't cut the reader much slack. You have to pay attention and keep up. The weirdness input is intense.

I don't know how to describe Goldberg's style. Neal Stephenson on some kind of very dangerous drug?

A very different book, anyway. And very funny.