8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wild Ride of Words, March 16, 2008
An apartment explodes, and, supposedly, Manuel González is blown to smithereens along with it. Or is he? Brian Francis Slattery's debut novel, "Spaceman Blues: A Love Song," is an explosion of words, all in bright sparks, in all directions, a flaming sky of beautiful chaos. Even when I had trouble following this surreal story, I loved reading it. It almost didn't have to make sense. Sometimes the joy of literary paint splashing on walls, Pollack if this were visual, Monk if this were musical, is enough to enthrall the audience:
"He could find another man, sweet and kind; they could retire to a house upstate with flowing windows, where the roads are framed in green and there are only the assured rhythms of farm equipment, occasional guests, the piling and melting of snow, mud in the spring, angry summers mollified by shade and wind. He could let this rage cut wrinkles into him and dissipate. He could let solace in.
"But he is here now. Subways mumble above his head, the tugboat shudders on its cables. Children swing from spindly walkways, singing songs over the thrum of music and machinery. Every second is another escape from death: it swings by, brushes your clothes, and then wheels around, cheated and livid, and you plant your feet on the crumbling rock, curl your hands into fists. Come and get me." (pg. 111)
As authorities and Wendell Apogee, González's gay lover, track him through Darktown, an underlayer of New York that serves as the dryer to lost socks, the scenes become ever more surreal, wheeling in every direction, mixing with alien life (forms and style), swimming in apocalyptic madness toward the final days on earth. No matter if you lose track of this wild path. Enjoy the dizzy ride.
Slattery is a new voice, and we have too few of those in these cautious days of publishing. Tor, the book's publisher, is to be commended for giving platform to a literary spaceman, singing his literary blues in fresh style.
~Zinta Aistars for "The Smoking Poet," Spring 2008 Issue
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spaceman Blues - WOW, March 29, 2008
There are many good reviews for this book already - they helped me decide to buy this book in the first place. Check them out. The best praise I can personally give this book (that hasn't already been said) is this: After reading Spaceman Blues I bought two more hard back copies and gave them to my friends.
This book is good stuff and if it signals a trend in the genre then I am officially stoked about our reading futures.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well worth the read, September 3, 2007
"Pynchonesque" was an accurate preview; this is a multi-cultural Pynchon brought to the sci-fi set. New Yorkers will recognize the urban landscape. But most of all, this is gripping, dazzling, and fun. Clearly, the one previous review just "didn't get it", although I'd grant that he's right that a comparison with Gibson is not the right one. One more key thing: if you're a fan of the music scene, that is captured effectively here, too.
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