Customer Reviews

Tangerinephant

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

 

 

This is a great book! If you're into cyber punk-like oddities -- by authors like William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Jeff Noon, or Jack Womack - then you will love it.

But...it's a bit weirder than the work of the aforementioned authors. It's about this guy, Michael Tangerinephant, who already has enough problems to deal with on earth, but also now has to endure constant alien abductions by The Chill. Only instead of anal probings, he has to star in a variety of bad TV shows.

The real star of the book is its futuristic dystopian setting. It is extremely imaginative.

If you are looking for a book that will suck you in, look no further; this book will keep you reading as you cook, eat, and . . . well, you get the idea. Though Dole's writing style is unique, if you are hoping to have a futuristic society painted in your mind, this is not the book for you. As I read my mind continually racked my knowledge of Star Trek, Blade Runner, The great comic book Transmetropolitan, Farhenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and The Fifth Element. Is this future dark and dirty or bright and colorful? Is there smog? Food in pill form? Are there bars? Chicken Wings? Libraries? Art? What is this "Camp" and why did our protagonist go? How are babies made? Dole has given us about 50% of what could have been an excellent science-fiction novel. His writing style provocative and story-line original and human, all it needed was an undertanding of the society's workings and Tangerinephant's relationship to it.

Maybe you can't judge a book by its cover, but this book has a great cover and a title that introduces Kevin Dole 2's unique word play.

The book was at times: weird; laugh out loud funny; thought provoking. But, what I loved most about it is the way Kevin Dole 2 played with language throughout the course of the book.

A very fun read.

This was the first book I read in the self-styled Bizarro genre and it was hard for me to put down. The language is very interesting, highly poetical at times, but it can have a bit of a learning curve. Exposition is non-existent (not a bad thing) and the language, while descriptive, is generally contextual. At times, it almost seems like Mr. Dole is writing this from the distant future.

This is a highly sexual book in terms of its content. Unlike most cyberpunk narratives, which focus on the degree to which humans have been altered by communication technology, Tangerinephant is more interested in how sexuality has been altered. A prime example is the fact that the protagonist's girlfriend has synthetic vaginas in her armpits and works as a prostitute. This may seem utterly random, until you consider the possibilities. What if someone could have sex with you without really having sex with any of your sexualized parts? It deconstructs the whole notion, and in a world of hereto unheard of perversion and body modification, selling the vaginas in your armpits for money seems socially acceptable.

The ending, I admit, could have been stronger. The real tension in the book isn't between Michael and the Chill, but Michael and his girlfriend, and once that tension resolves, the final battle with the Chill almost seems beside the point. That said, I was still hooked all the way to the end and I was not disappointed when I put it down, except for the part where I wanted more.

This is definitely something fun and different, but don't try it if you're easily thrown off by strangeness.

Calling to mind "Futurama" by way of House of Leaves, Tangerinephant is the ambitious first novel from Kevin Dole 2. In the opening we meet Michael Tangerinephant, whose life has been falling apart due to being abducted by TV-addicted aliens, being the fall-man for a corporate scandal, and being in trouble with his prostitute girlfriend (complete with vagina implants in her armpits).

Using these three plotlines, Dole satirizes our culture's obsession with media, the impact the corporate world has on us, and the difficulties humans have relating to one another. Michael is just an average Joe. Despite his droidlocs and anal blade, the reader will find it easy to relate to him as his world spins out of control due problems not of his own making.

The story moves swiftly as the three storylines constantly overlap, but not all three storylines are handled with equal strength. Michael's dealings with the aliens and his company are constantly engaging, while his story involving Elyse, his girlfriend, gets lost for most of the book. Elyse spends much of the book on the sidelines without an active role in the story. While there is great emotional pay-off at the end, one wishes Dole could have made Elyse active for more of the book. When she does play a major role, her character is funny and provides emotional-grounding to other two far-out plots.

Worthy of note is the unique manner in which the story is told. Dole employs an interesting writing style to relate the unsure reality perspective of Michael. He combines multiple words in order relate multiple feelings being expressed at the same moment. To illustrate, here is an excerpt from chapter one:

"He is sleepy, floating. The green stuff in the tube must be a mild hallucinarcotic. It's in his lungs but no choking, he just feels heavy in the chest and head, he is-

dreaming/smiling/sleeping/fetus-style."

While this may seem jarring at first, the reader quickly becomes accustomed to the writing style. Once one get past this, it allows the reader to become immersed in Michael Tangerinephant's world and the story flows with ease.

Originally winning the Eraserhead's First Novel Competition in 2003 and later published by Afterbirth Books in 2005, Tangerinephant is a surreal science-fiction novel, showing much creativity and originality. Dole is vastly different from much of what is being currently published and, hopefully, we will be seeing more books from this new talent.

The bizarro genre is characterized by funny, inventive novels which, though worth reading, are never very deep or long. Many would make ideal reads for older children and teenagers. So it is with this book.
Michael Tangerinephant lives in a dystopian future world where metal body enhancements are common and the Mafia has inexplicably been taken over by Scotsmen. Prostitutes have vaginas in their armpits, and humans can put themselves into the Internet as in SNOW CRASH (unlike in that novel, they have to watch out for advertisements). I agree with the reviewer who said there isn't enough background detail in the book-I'd love to see more of what this guy's imagination can dream up.
TANGERINEPHANT is a good novella to bring to the therapist's waiting room-it's long enough to last the wait but not too longwinded or distracting. Just make sure to put it in your mom's purse before you go into the office!

First, Dole has writing skills and self-editing skills (must be him since too many Bizarro books are seemingly unedited). Second, he was trying to tell an interesting story. Third, there were too many undeveloped characters that the reader has no way of filling out for himself.

Another thirty pages would have helped this book immensely. The problem wasn't with an unresolved finish; it was that he didn't give me enough to work with. He needs to spend a little more time with each segment before jumping to the next one. I'll look for more of his books in the future.

By the way: this book is MUCH too mature for middle schoolers!!!